{"id":15106,"date":"2011-09-19T14:53:03","date_gmt":"2011-09-19T14:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philipbloom.net\/?p=15106"},"modified":"2011-09-24T22:58:33","modified_gmt":"2011-09-24T22:58:33","slug":"sonynex5n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philipbloom.net\/blog\/sonynex5n\/","title":{"rendered":"A quick look at the Sony NEX5N. The good and the annoying EDIT: NOW FIXED"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I love cameras. You may realise that. They are my equivalent of handbags (actually I had quite a few man bags too!) I don’t care which company makes them. I have, at the last count about 50 or so cameras in my collection. Out of those, many are just part of my collection, old Super 8mm cameras, old Video 8 cameras, old film 35mm cameras and of course a fair few DSRLs, full size camcorders both HD and SD, mid size HD camcorders like EX1, JVC 201 (no idea why I still have that!), Z1 and then new S35 cameras like the F3 and FS100. Obviously the king of my collection is my RED Epic.<\/p>\n

The ones I use constantly for paid work are the Canon DSLRs, F3, FS100 and RED Epic with a little bit of GH2. I am not a camera snob, and just because I own an Epic does not mean that is all I shoot with. That would be daft. Always the right camera for the right job. Often that is a DSLR…<\/p>\n

I also, like many, never leave home without a proper camera. Be it my trusty Canon S95 or more recently this new camera that I have just got. The Sony NEX5N.<\/p>\n

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Now, I have an NEX5 and to be honest it simply never grabbed me for various reasons.<\/p>\n

The updated version is the NEX5N and it’s much better than the previous one. Key features for me are an improved chip and light sensitivity and this..1080p 25p\/50p for Europe and 24p\/30p\/60p for the USA. Full HD slow motion for a tiny APS-C camera is a big deal for me.<\/p>\n

It takes nice pictures too and has a crazy amount of features. It’s a bit fiddly as there are not many buttons on it, but that is a compromise that has to happen due to the tiny size.<\/p>\n

One feature that is not standard but is a must-buy accessory is the OLED EVF. It has 2.4 million dots and is simply the clearest, sharpest viewfinder I have ever seen, and it has red peaking! It pivots too which is nice. What is not so nice is it will set you back up to $400 which makes the NEX5-N much pricier. The NEX-7 which comes out at the end of the year has a non pivoting version of this EVF but has the same chip in it as the A77. More pixels generally means less light sensitivity when it comes to sensors. Of course until I have shot with either the A77 or NEX-7 I won’t know. All I know is that the NEX-5N in video (limited to 3200 ISO) is pretty damn good, as you can see from the little review video I did of Sachtler Ace tripod below. All shot at 3200 ISO and lit by a computer screen in a VERY dark room using an old Nikon 50mm F1.2 and a Samyang 35mm F1.4. The noise is actually quite grain-like which is nice (although MP4 compression as always cleans it up enormously, as does the compression by Vimeo!)<\/p>\n

Did I mention how amazing the OLED viewfinder is? Seriously. If you get a chance to look through it…do it!<\/p>\n