Digital SLR: Compare features & prices Sony NEX-5N review Back to Results

The Sony NEX-5N is an ultra-slim system camera - you can change the lenses, but inside the compact body of the camera there's a 16Mp DSLR-sized image sensor. As well as offering Full-HD video recording and a tilting touchscreen, the NEX-5N allows you to attach an electronic viewfinder. We put this compact system camera through our expert tests to see if it reaches our exacting standards.
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Posts (3)
User Image wrote:
chris wrote:
Excellent product deserves to be a best buy!!!!
I previously owned a Canon 50D SLR together with a couple of lenses. When I realised that I had actually only taken it out twice last year because it was so bulky and heavy I decided to shop around for a camera which would give me as many features of an SLR apart from the weight.After extensive research I convinced myself to sell the Canon and buy the Sony NEX-5N and although I would have liked the 18-210mm lense I simply could not afford it and settled on the 18-55 & 55-210mm lenses.The really clever thing about this camera is that the compensation for lens deficiencies that I usually carry out using DXO Optics (a software editing programme) is actually carried out inside the camera. Clearly this is the way camera manufacturers should go, as they can build cheaper lenses with pincushion and barrel distortion and simply compensate for it in the software.The only criticism I can make of the camera is that the autofocus is not as good as the SLR when trying to track fast moving objects at maximum zoom.Other than that and possibly the rather expensive add on view finder I am very pleased with the camera and award it 10/10.Chris
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8/6/2012 1:03 PM GDT
User Image wrote:
shopping wrote:
Deserves a best buy status
I've been using this camera for over 4 months now.Image quality is superb compared to my Panasonic GF1 - my previous compact "SLR" type camera.Very light weight. Excellent picture quality - even at high ISOs - 3200 is surprisingly good. Above that things do go downhill with more noise - but still usable in an emergency.Easy to use - as long as you customise the menus and soft button. Initially it was tricky to use but once I had the soft buttons set to the functions I most commonly use it got a lot easier.The kit lens is 18mm to 55mm ( equivalent to 36mm to 82mm in 35mm film format ). Quality is good - though not outstanding. Excellent photos at f5.6 and f8 but soft in the corners outside that range.Lots of genuinely useful features such as sweep panorama and auto HDR.One warning is that earlier batches of this camera had issues with clicking noises while videoing - this has been fixed for the latest cameras.For its size its the best all round image quality available. And while not a pocket camera its certainly more pleasant to carry around than a heavy DSLR.
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7/3/2012 9:46 AM GST
User Image wrote:
pakman wrote:
External microphone
You state that this camera cannot take an external microphone. In fact it can take the same Sony microphone (part number ECM-SST1) as the NEX-5 and NEX-3. It attaches to the connector at the top, so cannot be used at the same time as the optional viewfinder.It is supposed to give better isolation from operating noise than the built-in microphone (e.g. from the sound of the autofocus mechnism). Looking at customer reviews elsewhere on the internet shows divided opinions on whether the microphone is really of better quality than the one that is in the camera itself. It would have been good for Which to have tested this in its report, since the microphone connector is non-standard and the Sony microphone is the only external microphone option available.
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19/2/2012 7:23 PM GST

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