Hi Guys/Gals, I think the time has finally arrived that I need to pick the new camera, well have untill end of October. Been thinking of getting the "5" as the price has finally start to drop £478 for the twin lense kit. or should I get the "5N" @ £599 is it really worth £120 more. I'm looking at the 5 as it takes 1080 video, as opposed to the NEX-3 or NEX-C3. And since the object that I'm shooting is going to be a Baby, none fast moving, low light. what do you all think...... thanks.
For kids/babys wouldn't a low light capable camera be better? Sony lenses don't go below f2.8 right? The flash sync speed of 1/160th is a bit low as well. A friend of mine got great shots of baby in a bath with stopped motion splashing water...but his camera syncs to 1/500th I think. Sorry if I'm just babbeling unqualified though
Xir: the NEX has excellent noise control at high ISOs and sort of negates the need for extremely fast glass... a couple of fast primes with an E-mount wouldn't go amiss though
Mehh disagree, Tim, I find that 1600 is quite grainy. I never shoot above 400 unless I can help it. I agree that a nice prime E-mount would be good though - as would a proper wide. The 16mm isn't a substitute for my 10-22 As for family footage or even walking around it's absolutely fine. The only problem I have with it is that it gets pretty hot when shooting video and it's SERIOUSLY slow auto-focusing in video so you'll want to manage zoom changes manually.
When I tested the NEX-5, I found ISO 1600 to be as good as the 5D Mark II's files and it wasn't far behind at ISO 3200. The wheels start to fall off a bit at ISO 6400 though... I'll quite regularly shoot the 5D2 commercially at ISO 6400 - the files look stunning in black and white at ISOs this high, but colours do shift (hence black and white). ISO 1600, by its very nature, is grainy - if you picked up some 1600 ASA film, it'd be more grainy than the NEX-5's files at ISO 1600 right out of the camera and if you shoot Raw and use a good noise reduction program (Lightroom 3/Camera Raw 6.x's is more than sufficient), you can make the files look closer to ISO 800 files straight out of the camera
High Iso's are nice and have come a long way in recent years. Sony had some great products with their CCD based DSC-F series (errr 2005ish?) which had fantastic nightshot abilities. Still, nothing tops a fast glass and the lack of a fast prime is the main reason I decided against a systemcamera, though it would be far easier to lug around all the time
Ok, decided on the 5N, Got a friend coming back from Hong Kong so going to get it for £550 or there abouts for the twin lense kit. Talking about fast primes, Sony is releasing a 24f1.8 for the NEX range shortly, looking at the picture it does look rather big though.... not really a pancake in my eyes. Hopefully I'll get some photos in next week and post them....
Generally, warranties on bodies are region specific while lenses are global. I'm not sure how Sony handles it, but you might lose the ability to have your camera serviced if they enforce the ban on grey imports like Nikon or Canon do.
Outing myself as a total amateur...who but pro's get their camera's serviced? I've got two years warranty, and if it busts after that...I'll buy a new one, as the rest value of a two year old used camera is.....not so high. Nikon USA is appearently bitchin' about "Grey Imports", but don't Sony have a worldwide waranty anyway? My warranty (here in Germany anyway) lies with the retailer, not with Nikon (or Sony or whoever) directly. I can see problems arising when claiming something from Hongkong, but this is prosumer stuff at best (not even that, really)
Have friends and family flying in and out of Hong Kong all the time so if the camera plays up it'll be on the the next plane out... and the mate who picked it up for me said he'll drop it in to the Sony Centre out there. . So I'm covered. That said Sony HK do allow the warrenty to be transfered from Hong Kong (15 months) to UK (but only 6 months).... Can wait camera arrives in 6 days....
Having spent more then my fair share of time in Nikon service centers, both in South Africa and in Dubai, I can tell you there are tons of idiots customers that walk in with 5 year old point and shoots and expect them to be serviced. or worse, with new dSLRs and want to know why they don't shoot 500fps like a machine gun (yes, that is a real overheard conversation while in a Canon service center). My personal experience being my D200 and D300 were bought in Dubai and I had to prove that I bought them there while I was living there and using them there before Nikon SA would even clean them. I expect to have to do that again with my D700 (bought in SA) and D300 where ever I live next. Pain in the rear, but one of the reasons I don't buy grey market in the US through B&H. Also the reason I haven't upgraded to a D3x, the price here is insane and the grey market won't allow me warranty and service on a camera that expensive.
