Sony NEX 5 Review

Sony NEX 5 Review

With the mirrorless system camera Sony NEX 5, often abbreviated as CSC (Compact System Camera), Sony is not the first manufacturer, but it is the one that makes better use of the miniaturization potential than others, despite the fact that the sensor is about 60% larger than that of Micro Four-Thirds.

Sony has consistently applied constraints to the controls and sensor-shift image stabilizer (to make the product cheaper, probably) and is targeting a new concept primarily at those who are switching to or moving up from compact cameras.

But the image quality should be great – and so should the lenses. This article is a test report that shows how the camera performs in everyday life and also how it measured using the testing software that we utilize to retrieve exact measurements.

Sony NEX 5 Pros and Cons

Pros

• Integrated recording tip and help function
• Practical functions such as HDR recording or Sweep Panorama
• Extremely compact, lightweight, high-quality and attractively designed housing
• High image quality (good lens required)

Cons

• Playback mode without image processing functions
• No (optional) electronic viewfinder
• No system hot shoe (or adapter or wireless flash control)
• Menu-heavy, little customizable operation

 

Ergonomics and Workmanship

The Sony NEX 5 appears very noble in its optional silver or black magnesium housing.

Thanks to the handle, which however falls back behind the high quality of the rest of the case with its ribbed plastic, the camera also lies quite well in the hand, especially as the thumb rests on a small rubber pad at the backside in a non-slip way.

Anyone who thought a Micro-Four-Thirds camera was particularly compact will be proven wrong when they see the Sony NEX 5.

Despite the larger image sensor (crop factor 1.5 compared to 35mm film), it is extremely handy and light – despite its metal housing, it weighs only about 280g! The Sony NEX 5 is so compact that the bayonet protrudes above and below.

In terms of design, the thick bayonet ring forms a unit with the attached lens, which makes the camera body appear even thinner.

The body stands quasi on the bayonet, or rather on the raised “hump” behind it, which houses the metal tripod thread in the optical axis, which is impressive considering its compactness, and the battery compartment flap, which is made of sturdy plastic.

The Info Lithium Battery NP-FW50 used is new. The technology allows a very reliable and above all percentage accurate residual capacity display, which is necessary with only about 330 photos (according to CIPA). 7.2 V at 1,020 mAh is the battery capacity, which is about 7.5 Wh.

When asked, Sony confirmed that the battery does not contain a “security chip”, i.e. there are also be batteries manufactured outside Sony that can be cheaper.

The battery compartment also conceals the memory card slot for either an SDHC card or a Memory Stick (MS).

On the left side of the case, under less high-quality caps, there is a mini-USB and an HDMI mini interface.

There is no cable remote release connection, an optional power supply unit is connected via a battery dummy and a cable gland in the battery compartment.

Also quite poor is the impression of the accessory shoe flap. This is where the supplied flash (HVL-FS7 included) is connected, which can be attached to the camera strap when not in use.

Alternatively, an acoustically decoupled stereo microphone or an optical viewfinder, which unfortunately is not included in the 16mm lens, can be connected to the accessory interface – an electronic viewfinder is not supported by the interface, according to Sony. The mechanical mounting of the accessory shoe appears rather filigree than robust.

 

The Sony NEX 5 is switched on by a raised rotary switch. Although it is easy to reach, it is also exposed, so that it could be accidentally operated in your pocket, for example.

Otherwise, the controls are more of an economy program: shutter release (separate for video and photo), playback button, 4-way rocker with a central confirmation button, whereby the rocker also functions as a rotating wheel, as well as two “soft” buttons are everything.

Soft is not the mechanical property, but the electronic one – i.e. the two keys have no inscription, but are assigned their function via the displayed screen text.

What at first sounds practical and, above all, freely configurable, is implemented far too rigidly. With the exception of the menu colour (black, white, red, blue), practically nothing can be customised on the Sony NEX 5 – no menu or button can be customised to suit the advanced user.

There is not even a quick menu for the important settings. In the recording program, the lower soft key is always assigned the recording tip function. This is quite useful for beginners, however, as it contains 80 useful tips on how to take photos – including a photo course, so to speak.

The four directional buttons, on the other hand, are permanently assigned to flash settings, display overlays, recording modes (self-timer, continuous shooting, etc.) and exposure compensation or quality settings.

 

 

The rear screen is a real gem. Like the whole camera, it is extremely thin, but at the same time it can even be folded up and down in order to be able to take pictures also upside down and/or close to the ground in a rather comfortable way.

However, due to its thin construction, the mechanism is not one of the most stable, but under normal use it should last for several years.

The brightness of the screen is controlled automatically, but in sunlight, the extra bright setting, which can only be activated manually, is recommended.

The 16:9 format is a little unusual, especially as the image sensor comes in 3:2 format – so there is always a black border. The only advantage: Not all display texts cover the scene. Live histogram and grid can of course be displayed. The resolution is extremely fine with 921,000 pixels (approx. 740 x 415 pixels). Those who want to protect the screen from scratches will find a plastic screen in the accessories portfolio.

 

Although the operation and adjustment of the camera is quite simple, especially as a help function optionally displays information texts, it is clearly menu-heavy. Sony orients itself towards beginners who, for example, associate “ISO” with brightness rather than with an important “shooting setting”.

Those who often want to adjust the sensitivity or other parameters (such as DRO or HDR) will not be happy with the Sony NEX 5, as this will result in keystroke and wheel rotation orgies every time.

It is also annoying that one cannot jump from the end of the menu to the beginning but has to scroll up again with great effort.

Depending on the set functions, some menu items may not be selectable – what you have to do to activate them is not explained by the camera – even the help function does not help – e.g. switching the C-AF to S-AF, to activate face recognition, you have to come first.

 

Equipment And Features

The feature list of the Sony NEX 5 is quite long and impressive, though not necessarily overly configurable. For example, there is the Auto ISO function, which works from ISO 200-1,600, which is a useful range (see the section on Image Quality).

It can only be expanded in the night program, where it can be set up to ISO 6,400 – the highest sensitivity of 12,800 can only be set manually. Another remedy for blur is the “Anti-Motion-Blur” function, which records six photos in quick succession and offsets them against each other – depending on the subject, this works surprisingly well.

The functionality is called “iAuto”, meaning that it wants to react particularly intelligently to different situations and relieve the user of the need to think or spare him technical knowledge. It automatically selects the appropriate scene mode program and recognises faces (with prioritisation of adults or children if desired) including smiles (in three gradations) – if desired, it only triggers when it recognises one.

As a precaution, the self-timer can take three photos in a row to ensure that at least one of them is successful.

Sony also has a program for users who want to use the depth of field setting option but do not want to deal with aperture, exposure time and ISO, which is also familiar from the Olympus Pen E-PL1, for example: By simply turning the setting wheel, the user determines how sharp or blurred the background should be – whether a small or large aperture is required is of no interest to him.

The camera simulates the effect digitally, which is sometimes made all too clear by the slight clumping on the screen. The Sony NEX 5 does not have a real “dimming function”.

 

But also proven functions from both compact cameras and DSLRs have found their way into the camera.

Of course, the Sony NEX 5 has semi-automatic and manual exposure including bulb long exposure – but the latter doesn’t make much sense without a snap-in remote shutter release.

In the Alpha-DSLR the HDR function has proven itself. Whereas two differently exposed images were previously superimposed to extend the dynamic range, the Sony NEX 5 can now handle even more extreme contrast situations (see also the comparison images in the sample image gallery via the links below).

Even from the hand, HDR is no problem at all, because the NEX can calculate the image offset thanks to auto-alignment. On the other hand, if you prefer to take an HDR by hand, you have to set everything manually, because the exposure series is hardly sufficient with either 0.3 or 0.7 EV exposure difference and only three exposures.

For dynamic subjects, however, you can use Shadow Lighting DRO to bring out some more detail in the shadows.

The Sony NEX 5 is also capable of the sweep panorama function familiar from compact cameras: you press the shutter release and pan the camera, which rattles along at 7 fps – and not too quietly, the mechanical shutter is unfortunately hardly inferior to a DSLR mirror flap in terms of volume.

The images are then combined to form panoramas with a maximum size of 23 megapixels, which is considerably more than with compact cameras, and cover a maximum of 226° horizontally.

However, you have to pan very evenly – if you are too fast, the camera aborts the process with an error message; if you are too slow, the undetected part of the panning range is filled in black.

In July 2010, Sony upgraded a 3D panning panorama mode with a firmware update – with just one pan, two slightly offset panoramas will be taken in parallel. If you read below, we have included a link to the firmware. The camera will not have any further firmware when we update this article in April 2020.

The storage format is CIPA compliant and also includes a two-dimensional version. For 3D playback, however, you need a 3D television (regardless of brand). I did not test this feature.

In contrast to compact cameras, where the image section can be moved manually in addition to being automatically “retracted” during panorama playback, this is not possible with the Sony NEX 5.

 

Sony NEX-5N LA-EA2 with SAM 85 mm F2.8 [Picture: Sony]

According to Sony, the included flash has a guide number of 7 and can be switched on and off in the screwed-on position by folding it up and down. The lighting angle is 24 mm (KB). Flash exposure correction (+/-2 EV), end of exposure synchronization and long time synchronization are important basic functions.

 

Characteristic of the “diced” operation is the fact that the flash exposure correction is “hidden” in a different menu than the “red-eye correction”, which also uses an anachronistic pre-flash instead of advanced digital retouching. However, the system concept is clearly neglected in the flash. System flashes cannot be controlled wirelessly, nor is there a standard or system hot-shoe adapter.

 

 

The Sony NEX 5 is the first system camera from Sony that can also record video. Sony is going straight to the full, i.e. FullHD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) and AVCHD storage format like a real camcorder.

Alternatively, you can switch to MP4 as the recording format, then you have single video files instead of a stream, which is very handy when you only need short clips separately.

However, the resolution is then a maximum of 1,440 x 1,080 pixels or VGA, 720p (1,280 x 720) is however not adjustable as a “reasonable compromise”. Whisper-quiet autofocus tracking and image stabilization are, however, a matter of course.

The dedicated movie recording button allows you to capture a moving image at any time – but you have to take into account the cropping from 3:2 to 16:9 format (you lose some of the edge at the top and bottom) because it is not indicated before activation. Almost a matter of course for the experienced camcorder specialist Sony is the announcement to develop a camcorder with an e-bayonet – so to speak a NEX, where instead of taking pictures, filming is the main focus.

 

What the NEX, like Sony’s DSLRs, lacks are image processing functions that can be applied in playback mode.

Pictures can be rotated, which seems unnecessary thanks to the position sensor, but there is no trace of RAW development, image effects, detail enlargements etcetera. And when the playback magnifier is activated, the magnification factor is not displayed.

Lens Of The Sony NEX 5

With the NEX, Sony adds a new bayonet to the system camera world. Not only does the camera body set a new miniaturization record, but also the flange focal length shrinks to an amazing 18 mm – hence the name “e-bayonet”, because the number 18 has the letter “E” in English as the first letter in the word.

This allows particularly compact and inexpensive wide-angle lenses, as the complex retrofocus construction is largely eliminated.

As with the Micro Four-Thirds, which has a 20 mm flange focal length, the adaptation possibilities are also very good – even Leica-M lenses find a new home on NEX with the help of an adapter – at least as soon as Novoflex, for example, builds them. However, this can be assumed, as there is already an extensive adapter assortment for both Micro Four-thirds and Samsung NX.

Sony itself offers an Alpha mount adapter, which doesn’t transmit a mechanical autofocus, though – manual focusing is also required here.

It is possible, however, that the electronic autofocus is supported by ultrasonic and SAM lenses – so far there are no clear statements from Sony.

 

The new bayonet works completely electronically – both autofocus and aperture are controlled by motors in the lens. Even without ultrasonic drive, they are so quiet that they do not interfere with video recordings.

However, there could still be potential for optimization in terms of speed. Although Sony claims that the NEX is just as fast as its competitors (Panasonic and Samsung in particular), the lab test shows that the Sony NEX 5 doesn’t quite match the competition.

Focusing takes about 0.5 s including shutter release – the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1, on the other hand, reaches a peak value of almost 0.3 s. However, the Sony NEX 5 has the advantage that the autofocus speed is almost equally fast for all focal lengths and light situations.

This means that the photographer can adjust well to the delay and does not have to take the focal length around ambient light into account. In particularly dark environments, an orange LED provides the necessary light for focusing. However, you have to be careful not to cover it with your right middle finger accidentally, given the compact case. Without focus, the Sony NEX 5 takes 0.11 seconds before it actually takes a picture after the shutter-release button is pressed – a good, though not outstanding value.

The autofocus works with 25 measuring fields and automatically selects the supposedly important detail of the subject.

Unlike in compact cameras, the large APS-C sensor ensures a relatively shallow depth of field. Those switching over should therefore be aware that the camera cannot capture all image details in sharp focus.

For targeted focusing, you can either use the spot autofocus and, if necessary, pan the camera to the correct section after focusing, or you can use the flexible focus point that can be moved freely across the image field.

The Sony NEX 5 also has a tracking autofocus function (C-AF), and for manual focusing, there is an automatically activating magnifying glass with a sufficient magnification, whose section and magnification (7x or 14x) can also be freely selected – even with adapted lenses, in which case the magnifying glass must be activated manually.

So nothing stands in the way of pixel-precise focusing. It is a pity, however, that there is neither a depth of field scale nor an exact distance display – neither mechanically on the lens nor electronically on the camera screen. A practical feature, however, is the possibility to make a manual correction directly after automatic focusing.

 

The image stabilization, which in Sony DSLRs is actually traditionally realized via a movably suspended image sensor, has now migrated to the lenses (movably suspended lens group). The reason for this is the small housing size – with Sensor-Shift it would have been much thicker. The biggest disadvantage resulting from this is that adapted lenses are not stabilized at all, but not all NEX lenses are equipped with image stabilizers – the F2.8/16 mm, for example, has none.

Although it is rather dispensable in wide-angle, it would still be useful in low ambient light. Also not integrated is a restriction of the image stabilizer to horizontal or vertical stabilization, which would be quite practical for draggers.

 

Both the 18-55 mm and the 16 mm have a filter diameter of 49 mm. Since the front lens does not rotate – both lenses are internally focused – polarizing and gradient filters can also be used without any problems.

The lenses also have a bayonet on the front lens. On the 18-55 mm it is used for the lens shade, but it also works vignetting-free on the 16 mm.

There are attachment adapters for the 16 mm, which is very unusual for interchangeable lenses. On the one hand, this is a fisheye adapter (0.62x), which expands the angle of view to just over 180° (14.9 mm corresponding to KB), and on the other hand, a wide-angle converter, which turns the 24 mm (KB) into 18 mm (KB). This suggests that Sony won’t set up the lens program very broadly, at least in the wide-angle range.

The outer shell and bayonet of the lenses are made of metal, but a lot of plastic is used underneath to save weight. This makes the lenses look very high quality at least on the outside and when touching them, but on a closer inspection, this is somewhat relativized, which is not surprising considering the “competitive prices” of 149 dollars and 199 dollars (at market launch more than a decade ago) for the 16 and 18-55, respectively.

Changing the lens is practically easy, because the ring finger of the right hand, which also holds the camera, reaches the bayonet release effortlessly, leaving the left hand free for easy removal of the lens.

Image Quality Of The Sony Nex 5

Both in practice and with the utilization of the testing software, the Sony NEX 5 had to show whether it really kept its promise of DSLR image quality.

It was tested with the 18-55mm standard zoom as well as with an adapted 50mm macro. As we explained already in the past, we test with the lens provided to us by the local distributor, or by the manufacturer themselves. Therefore we cannot normally choose which suitable lens we want to use for the review.

 

In the test, the 18-55 mm shows more than clearly, that it is “only” an inexpensive standard zoom.

The resolution is only really good in the center but especially at an open aperture, there is a more than a clear drop of the resolution towards the edge of the image – at 18 mm, only half of the center resolution is reached there.

When fading down, the resolution increases slightly in the center and strongly at the edge of the image – here the tele end is suddenly the weakest link. The extremely aggressive processing of image details is evident in the artifacts that appear in all structural orientations. These include aliasing and brightness and color moirés, making the Sony NEX 5 less suitable for faithful reproduction of fine structures such as fabrics.

Sharpness is also anything but gentle, with a clear difference between the orthogonal and diagonal lines – the former is very “hard”, the latter rather soft. This leaves an inhomogeneous picture impression but avoids the dreaded formation of stairs.

Further weaknesses of the 18-55mm lens are shown in the distortion. Obviously, the Sony NEX 5 does not correct them, so that a strong barrel shape (3.4%) is visible at wide-angle, but the distortions cannot be overlooked at medium and long focal lengths either – here they are each 1% cushion-shaped.

In contrast, a correction is effective for the edge darkening, but it is not very consistent. Interestingly, fading doesn’t improve the vignetting of up to one f-stop, but thanks to a smooth gradient and not too much strength, the edge dimming is alright.

Less nice is the compression: in addition to three widely spaced resolution levels (14, 7 and 3.5 megapixels), there are two closely spaced compression levels that are 1:10 and 1:14 at 14 megapixels.

This leads to slight compression artifacts even with the best quality, which would not have been necessary especially with an “entry-level camera”, which is certainly often operated in JPEG mode. Alternatively, one can switch to the RAW format, whereby this format has been changed in comparison to the DSLRs in such a way that for the conversion and/or development, a new software (and/or an update of the old one) is needed.

Firmware updates for the Sony NEX 3, Sony NEX 5 and NEX-C3: Lens adapter support

Sony is providing a new firmware update for the NEX-3, Sony NEX 5 and NEX-C3. Version 05 for the NEX-3 and Sony NEX 5 and version 02 for the NEX-C3 bring support for the LA-EA2 lens adapter to the cameras, but Sony says there are no further improvements.

The updates can be downloaded from Sony’s support website for the United States, where an updated guide can also be found so that the user can install the update himself. If you don’t think you can do this, you should ask your dealer or Sony support for assistance.

Sony NEX 5 Datasheet