Thread: Nex 5n image quality

Originally Posted by Ghosthunter

The 7 is way out my price range, nice as it is.

I don't buy that. If you did not buy so many similar cameras, you would have much more money to spend as the NEX-7 costs.

My gut feeling, after having taken about 500 shots with my 5N is that it really makes good lenses shine, and not so good look OK, or it gets slightly better results with my Pentax lenses (those that apply) than my K-5 does, and that's not bragging. Wish Pentax/Ricoh had designed something along the same lines, not that Q thing ;-)!

Originally Posted by soundimageplus

Just to chip in here. I got the EVF from Digital Rev via ebay. Took two days via FedEx. Not available in UK as yet as far as I know.

Just don't buy from DZone (either one) on eBay... lots of complaints being registered and the stories all have the same "scam" snif about them.

Canadians can find the EVF still available from Sony.ca 's web store albeit for $399.

On day 1 with my NEX 5N I used the EVF all the time. Today I went EVF-free just to see if I could. I can't... at least not with manual focus lenses and those aren't coming out of my bag any time soon.

If Sony happens to ship me a NEX-7 any time soon, and my manual focus lenses perform well out to the corners on it (they do on the NEX-5N... very well indeed) then I'll have an EVF up for sale but for now I'm keeping it.

Originally Posted by Tord S Eriksson

Been playing around with my NEX-5N and some lenses I have for my Pentax K-5, and I must say I have after that put my K-5 on the back burner! I love that camera, but I think the 5N get more out of the lenses than the K-5. Blasphemy.

Yes.....blasphemy........especially anything on the NEX over 1600ISO.

R

Originally Posted by adanac

Today I went EVF-free just to see if I could. I can't... at least not with manual focus lenses and those aren't coming out of my bag any time soon.

Why not? Maybe it needs getting used to. I have a NEX-5 which has no view finder at all and , except with very bright light on the LCD, I think it is quite useable. I have the 5N + EVF too and I prefer to use it without EVF most of the time, especially in street photography.

Has anyone seen the TV show The X Factor? I don't watch it, but my wife does (and does not understand what it is about as compared to America Idol). Anyway, last night they were heavily promoting the NEX 5n. The line between TV show and adverting was not only blurred but simply did not exist! They had a "photo shoot" of the contestants with the 5n, and each contestant received one, and there were multiple 5n ads throughout the show.

Apparently, the 5n "does everything my professional camera does". Which, I suppose, means it takes pictures

Originally Posted by elroos

Why not? Maybe it needs getting used to.

Eyesight, mainly. I'm slightly far sighted and have 50 year old eyes. I can't squeeze them into compliance like I used to for close viewing. But I don't want nor need glasses for moving about the world, only reading.

I went EVF-free again yesterday and found I was coping for the shooting I was doing - mostly street with a 25mm lens. So maybe "I can't" is too strong a statement.

I can live without the EVF and rely on focus peaking and my far sightedness, at least for some purposes. Street photography, yes, I think I can do that EVF free most of the time, especially when using wider angle lenses like a 25mm that has large depth of field even at f/2.8.

But if I need to nail focus with a 50mm on someones eyes, and do it quickly, I'm going to want the EVF, at least that's how it has shaped up so far.

What I'd really prefer is a slightly larger body camera like the NEX 7 with built in EVF so it's there when I need it, every time.

Anyway... I'm giving the NEX-5N more time, with and without the EVF and look forward to seeing how I feel after a few weeks of active use.

After a traditional Xmas lunch of tzatziki, followed by a salad of water melon, mint, fetta & olives, just before sunset, I went for a walk with a newly arrived Metabones Adaptor.














My initial thoughts on this lens looking at the RAW images and less apparent in flickr's jpegs: sharpness: yes centre and edge, but not with the kind of acutance a Panasonic 20mm f1.7 gives; colour: of course its better than the kit zoom. The Nikon shows up subtle shades within a similar colour, particularly with greens and makes texture more visible. It is quite different too in the way it deals with dynamic range: if anything it brings out a greater range of dark tones and highlights when compared with the kit zoom. In short, it doesn't 'dump' colour, shadow and highlight detail into clumps or blocks of similar tone.

Overall there is a sense of solidity and strength in the image which is lacking in the kit zoom.

The peaking facility makes it a doddle to use and for the time being it will be my standard lens on this camera. Yes, it is heavy and slightly awkward on the body, but then the camera sits on a tripod anyhow and it is a small price to pay for what it can do.

Unlike its performance on my GF1, the automatic white balance works accurately and well with this lens.

Like streetshooter said, when you sell the NEX (as I did) you eventually miss it. I love the GXR, but I miss the articulating screen on the NEX 5. I liked using it at waist level or even lower, since at my age getting down on my knees is not a good idea. Being quit tall it worked well for getting the camera below my eye level.

Some further reflections on 5-N RAW: The colours from straight RAW with auto white balance can be odd. There is an overall yellow cast which I remove in LR. Greens are often too strong and need to be reduced to bring out subtle differences. These two actions clean up the image well. The kit lens isn't bad stopped down but colour can be a little dull in poor light. Nikkor primes bring about a sparkle even in poor light. The camera's real strength is its dynamic range and retention of detail in highlights.