Finally we got more detailled and reliable specs from the new Sony Alpha
Sony Alpha
Sony Alpha
Sony Alpha
Sony Alpha
Sony Alpha
NEX cameras
Image Sensor – Exmor CMOS
14.6 Mega Pixels (14.2M Effective Pixels) -> More than the 12 megapixels from MicroFourThirdsMicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
MicroFourThirds
and the same ammount of pixels of the Samsung NX10
.
Video
1920*1080 30fps (NEX5)
1280*720 30fps
640*480 30fps
File format – (Still image)
RAW
RAW+JPEG
JPEG FINE
JPEG Normal
(Video)
MP4,AVCHD (probablz 17Mb/sec like the Panasonic GH1Panasonic GH1
Panasonic GH1
)
Mount
Sony E Mount
AF
11 Point
ISO
Auto, 100-12800
Photometry
49-segment honeycomb-pattern / Central / Spot
exposure
+- 2.0EV (1/3 EV Interval)
Shutter speed
1/4000 to 30sec / Bulb
Scene mode
(See the leaked images we posted few days ago)
LCD
0.92M 3.0 inch TFT LCD (Same as the Sony A550Sony A550
Sony A550
Sony A550
Sony A550
Sony A550
Sony A550
Sony A550
)
Interface
USB 2.0 / HDMI / Video (PAL/NTSC)
Battery
NP-FW50
Color
Black,Silver,Red,Blue
Memory
SD/SDHC , Memory stick
Panorama
vertical (wide) 4912*1920 (Nor)3424*1920
Horizon (wide) 7152*1080 (nor)4912*1080
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34 Responses
ISO 100 there?
No 24 or 25fps?
:'(
Canon 550D here I go!
dimensions?
touch screen?
movable screen?
still image resolutions?
lenses available at launch?
burst fps?
flash guide no.?
P, A, S, M modes?
There is much to be disclosed yet that can be a deal breaker to some.
Nice!
The A-mount adapter, fps, iq, focus speed, sss, flash capability, lens line up, evf availability, external mic option and size are all not known yet.
Samsung already failed their NX system. Lets see how Sony performs.
The sony 14mp iq from a550 is way better than k20d and nx. So this is hopefully a battle won
Now I can forget about bringing a video cam. A great travel companion!
Why is it that the metering system on the NEX cameras will be better than all current alphas which have a 40-segment honeycomb metering system?
It seems some misinterpreted info about metering system. Main matrix metering most probably should not rely on such small number of segments only,
No 24fps ?
What a disappointment !!!!!
Shame on you SONY……
I’m sure Sony is worried about competing with their video cameras, hence, no 24fps. Kind of sucks but it is what it is. If video is important to you I would recommend getting the T2i. That is the best video you’re likely to get in an affordable DSLR for some time to come. Since I’m primarily interested in pictures I’m still very interested in this camera. I have a question about the panorama sweep function. I’ve read that it takes pictures at lower quality. Is it so low that they’re only suitable for the internet or can you get prints made from them? If you can get prints what size prints can you realistically expect to make and still have great quality?
Why 24 fps is important when there is 30fps to use?
I don’t know much about the video things…… but seems I can convert the 30fps one to 24fps by software easily…….
Well, it is still a gimmick only. I’d love to shoot at 50/60, interlace or progressive. Anyway, I think it will be a good toy if you can live with the big lenses on the compact body other than the pancake.
@Paul Yuen
I don’t know how you can forget the videocam without fast lenses (same as Panasonic)?
excited about the concept but not the specs so far… hope we see in body IS (perhaps a later model, along with FF sensor) and I want to hear about the viewfinder options. If this is a LCD only camera then its just not serious. I hope there is a nice big EVF that one can buy. Also interested about lenses and whether or not zeiss will step into the fray with some e-mount lenses (which would be AWESOME)… fps, flash, and AF speed are all also interesting though I dont expect the AF to be as fast as phase… overall I think these are a great move on Sony’s part but I just think they need to get it right in order to really capitalize …. and putting one of these out with solid fundamentals (great EVF, good fps/AF, flash, solid video, good IQ/noise performance and in body IS) along with an FF sensor is just going to open the flood-gates of all the people that have always drooled about owning a Leica m9 but ruled it out because of the rediculous price (would be fantastic if this e-mount allows for the adoption of M-mount glass… ZM here I come). Frankly a camera like that I’d gladly shell out a premium for…say a bit under what the A850 is right now (and it should be a lot cheaper to make for sony than the A850 so more profit!)
Hi Leo, it is possible to convert 30fps to 24fps, but the quality is not as good as native 24fps. Also it depends on whether it is 29.98fps or 30fps, which are often both called 30fps.
What I want to know, and which is more important for getting good looking video, is whether the exposure can be manually adjusted by altering both shutter speed and aperture independently of each other while shooting video. If you can’t do this then you get video which is unnatural looking, much more so than what comes from using 30fps. This is because you want a shutter speed of 50 or 60 depending on the fps. If you do not have control of this, because the camera alters it automatically, then motion in the video looks weird, even staccato at times.
Also when inside at night with modern house lighting, which is almost universal now, if you don’t have manual control of shutter speed then you will often get banding through the frame. This is hugely distracting dark bands that move up and down the picture, and is present with the e-p1 and d-90 for example, but not with the 550d, gh1, 7D etc.
Also you don’t want the camera to have automatic gain control, where it adjusts the brightness to what it thinks you need, which is a sure killer of creative video, just as it is with still photography.
The best solution is to be able to lock exposure when shooting video, and have the camera do nothing with gain, but let you manually set shutter speed and aperture as you wish. This can result in very beautiful creative video, and is easy to shoot. I have video from very cheap cameras alongside expensive cinema cameras (such as the red one) in the same final cut pro time line, and it works ok, as long as the video is destined for small web shots.
Anyways I can’t wait to see someone who knows about video review the nex 5. Hopefully there is a good review, and I will then be able to finally, for the first time ever, be able to shoot aps-c (S35) equivalent from a tiny compact camera! This opens so many creative doors.
@Miroslav
touch screen? —–> No
movable screen? ——> yes
still image resolutions? ——> 350 dpi
lenses available at launch? ——> 1855, 16mm f/2.8
burst fps? ——> 5 fps
flash guide no.? ——> 7 GN
P, A, S, M modes? ——> OK
@ms I 100% agree with the desire to be able to adapt the e-mount to m-mount. I have m-mount and other small high quality lenses that I want to mount.
I would be interested to know why some other people want to mount larger lenses than this on a tiny body. For my usage at least it seems to defeat the objective of using a compact camera in the first place. If large lenses are to be used then a 550d or equivalent is a good choice.
Well.. native 24p would be nice but it is not a deal breaker. I think most people wont see any difference in 24p vs 30p.
You gain a little more low light capability (shooting 1/48s vs 1/60s).
but if you want to show your videos on the web there is practically no difference.
youtube and vimeo show your video at 24p anyways..
because, of course, it needs less bandwith than 30p.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTkTNH523tU canon 5d 30p
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQgqdNvw7_4 canon 5d 24p
Who can see a differents?
It is a different story for people who want to show their work on a tv (commercials) but who would shoot commercials with his Sony Nex ? ; )
I dont know to much about shooting video yet so let me know if I am wrong..
@Sam
The only large lens that I would want to adapt is my current zeiss 100/2 makro-planar just because its such a magical lens and maybe something in the super-telephoto realm but for regular walk around Id love ZM or (even better) an AF zeiss lens made specifically for E mount…. this is partly why Im so excited about the potential of this system… it could serve as a compact range-finder style camera for travel and then fill in as an SLR (with a good EVF) sufficently enough for an enthusiast like me when I want to shoot macro or wildlife. Just hope they do FF (just have them maybe tweak the current 24mp sensor for noise and reuse that) and do in-body IS and a high quality EVF (something like the Oly). All the other stuff would be VERY nice (fast AF, fast FPS, quality video, etc) but those core components would make for an extremely flexible system.
ms, The A850/900 is slightly noisier than the competition, because Sony decided to go with a dense CFA that gives class leading color seperation . I hope they don’t sacrifice this for high ISO, personally.
@ms
Yes that zeiss 100/2 is awesome!
My thoughts on reading your excellent comments, are that one way forward with these cameras, is to consider a modular approach. (of in future versions if the first nex cameras are not up to it)
In other words if you want to go super light micro compact/throw around at the party style, then you can with the body plus a tiny lens, such as an m-mount jupiter 50mm.
If you want range finder then you add a high quality evf as you suggest, and excellent fast zeiss zm, leica, or voigtlander lenses. You can also add one of the smallest lee rf micro matte boxes if you are shooting outside and want to hold grads for scenery etc.,
If you want to go small slr style then add an adaptor and use your slr lenses.
Film style set up would be achieved by using a small matte box, like the lee rf with nd filters to keep the shutter speed low enough for acceptable motion and depth of field. Also a loupe for focussing, or the evf. Plus a very light tripod head like the tiniest novoflex one.
However all this “day dreaming” is dependent on various things, so we can’t fully hope just yet. Not least that sony is kind and allows third party lenses to be attached to the camera. In other words that the camera allows us to take pictures/video when there is no electronic connection between the body and the lens. This would enable somebody to design an adaptor mount. If you are like me and prefer to manual focus with high quality lenses, then the lack of auto focus is not a problem. And given the high quality of the lcd for these cameras, or using a good evf, then this is even better. For critical focussing I even use an optical loupe which magnifies the rear lcd.
Another factor to bring the “day dreaming” down to earth is that I think that the user interface of these cameras is more orientated to the consumer than the pro, which means that even though this modular set up is possible, the higher end uses are compromises for sure. This is the reason why even though I really want one of these cameras, it will not replace an slr, film camera or range finder for me. It will however I hope enable me to take excellent photos/videos incognito, and not be as expensive as the range finder. So I can go to difficult places where an obviously more expensive camera is a target for thieves/officials etc.
@ Chris, I agree with you. The fact that this camera shoots 30p, rather than 24p, is not a big deal for me (though I would have preferred 24p) because as you say I will not use it to shoot a big project, as I already use all the bigger cameras for that purpose already. These cameras are not designed to replace any of the other bigger slrs, at least for video purposes, they are designed instead to shoot reasonable video in a tiny compact body.
This last point is the really is the point about these new nex cameras is that they are so small!
So if I want to shoot great video, I can take the 7D. If I want to shoot video for a commercial I will shoot with the red. But if I want to shoot video while going for a short walk with my girl friend, or running up a mountain (as it is so light) or at a friends party, without sticking this huge camera and lens in their face, I now can do!
All the while hopefully with less noise than I would do with a smaller sensor etc. So that I won’t be excited with the photos as I take them, and then get home and be let down when I see the noise on my computer. Of course the picture quality is lower, and there are a bunch of compromises, but then life is full of compromises, and I would never demand that such a camera could do everything anyway!
I agree.. what is really interesting about small mirrorless cameras is that I can have them with me pretty much everyday without using a big camera bag.
Of course there are things they cant do or not as good as their dslr counterparts.
But for those more professional occasions I can just bring my dslr system with me.
I thing many people who complain about whatever mirrorless camera and missing features are confused with “want” and “need” : )
This pretty much sums up what we already expected, with some extra information.
It looks good, at least for my needs.
I love reading other people’s comments and ideas for this little camera.
It sounds like this will give me plenty of opportunity to play around with the next few years. 🙂
Now it all comes down to where the NEX3 skimps on any of these NEX5 specs.
Although there is no 24fps, I think it should support 25fps (PAL). In fact Sony is the most experience DV maker in the industry, she should be able to make a firmware for such an option.
It is just an unconfirmed spec, don’t worry.
If this camera supports the regular AVCHD standard than it must support 1080i @ 60 fields per second, 1080p at 24 frames per second, or 720p @ 24 or 60 frames per second. There is no 30fps in the AVCHD spec. Although there is 30 fps in the AVCHD lite spec. Out of all of these I would prefer 720p @ 60 frames per second, but few people seem to feel that way.
well, I will tell you all that I bought a 550d just because I needed a camera and there was none around. I so much wanted a sony video and still camera, believing they are the only ones to approach video the right way. I felt bitter about putting my money on canon, and thought that in about two month I could resell it with a small discount.
an hour later I find that 550d is great and worth every penny. it was on the market when I needed it and I’ll keep it. and even buy more lenses.
sony, fearing no one will buy their camcorders anymore is still reluctant to put vdslr on the market and now they are testing with a low grade product. when canon will offer raw video on their cameras sony might come up with 17mbs video, 30fps only and announce it as a revolution.
and they will still claim that everybody else sucks.
@TD
What I meant by “still image resolutions” are available still image sizes, such as 4000×3000, 1980×1020, 640×480 etc. I don’t intend to shoot at over 8 mpx with any camera ( except for city panoramas or shots of large groups of people ), so those lower resolutions are important to me. We’ve been given available video sizes, but not for still images.
From those modes screenshots, it looks highly likely that NEX3 & 5 will have a touchscreen, especially considering that the review button is on top of camera, next to the shutter button.
Previous rumors indicated that that NEX3 will have 5 fps burst mode, while NEX5 will have a 7 fps. Has that now changed?
Al, I agree. I would much prefer 60fps. You can do some cool stuff with that- like slo mo. Can anyone answer my question about panorama sweep. What size prints can you make from it where the quality will remain good.
@FE Since NEX cameras are going to have advanced modes found on Sony HX5V, you can take a look at panorama samples in its various reviews: http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_cybershot_dsc_hx5_review/review_roundup/ .
They look fine to me, a bit soft, but totally acceptable for what they offer. You can consider those widest panoramas as 3-4 2 mpx images stitched together. I rarely print images, I leave it up to you to calculate max print size :).
BTW, reading these rumors, I find more and more the first two NEX cameras as a cross between HX5 and A550. Let’s hope NEX indeed offer HX5 capabilities with A550 image quality.
A lot of people are caught up on the 30 vs 24p for video but the more important questions are how much manual control will the video mode have and how good will the 1080 mode be. If there is very little you can control in video then anyone who would need 24 fps will probably not even give the NEX5 a serious look. For me the quality of the 1080 mode is much more interesting, it’d be nice if Sony could offer a 1080 mode that goes beyond the quality offered by Canon or Panasonic
I 100% agree with you Richard. There is little point in enjoying 24p when your videos look awful because the exposure can not be controlled to your liking, or if it can then the shutter speed is way to high, or the aperture giving you a different depth of field from what you had in mind, because the camera is automatically controlling these variables and not letting you, the user, directly control them
Thank you Miroslav. I’m guessing you can’t use the Panorama Sweep to print larger than say 4.25″ x 11.5″. I mean, I’m guessing that will tend to be as large as you can print using it and still have a quality print.
Anyone know the exact size of the sensor? Is it 1.5x FOV crop or is the sensor smaller?
I’d say, although it’s not official, that the sensor is the same as in the APS-C cameras, so a 1.5 FOV crop compared to a full-frame camera.