There has been a massive leak at Yangcanggih (Click here). You Can click on the pictures to enlarge the images! As you can see it really has that 180 degree titlable LCD screen “copied” from he [shoplink 12423 ebay]Samsung MV800 (here on eBay)[/shoplink]. The camera is a bit more “massive” compared to the [shoplink 7207]NEX-C3[/shoplink] due the new grip and probably thicker body.
So, you have seen the pictures. Question is….
[poll id=”101″]
97 Responses
Is it just me or do those rings on the lens look a bit different?
And Sony finally learned that nobody really likes the flat and uncomfortable grip of the 3 series.
And built-in flash! Oh right! Now I can safely recommend this to any P&Ser.
it looks different because now it doesn’t have that edge, the front part is perpendicular and straight.
Nex-F3 looks ugly to me. Does it has touch screen?
Judging by the number of fingerprints on the screen, it could have 🙂 Or maybe just a lot of people fiddled with it.
No, it doesn’t use touchscreen. 🙂 It’s just instinct
it’s so ugly, that I now feel good that I bought the C3 a month ago (for my special purposes).
They tried to mimic the grip from nex-7 and 5N, but this one looks ugly.
Nex-7 so rules!
Btw – see how beautiful the Samsung is – how small and the rotating mechanism is very precise – and look Sony’s ugly, metal thing – looks like hand made…
http://www.samsung.com/us/system/consumer/product/ec/mv/80/ecmv800zbpbus/MV800_NEW_KV.jpg
Did Samsung Patent this? I hope not.
no, this new F3 is just the prove that Samsung does even copy a design prior to the original one being on the market.
In the past Samsung even waited a grace period to check if the original was accepted by consumers before they started to duplicate it. Here it went the other way round…..they even copied other idea’s before they had been thought.
🙂
Strange, I had the Nex 5N and don’t see much difference between that and the new F3. I now own the Nex 7 and one thing bugs me I’ve never heard mentioned. On the grip (which is pretty good) to get more space, they’ve changed the battery orientation. The problem is the flash card is right next to the lid, and it’s very difficult to remove without losing your grip. The 5N with the flatter grip, was so easy in contrast. Am I the only one who’s been bugged by this?
Built-in flash and propriety jack? I’m assuming this would mean you could have the external EVF too while using flash at the same time. Not bad haha. Would be nice for a 5N update.
Want to see if any HQ e-mount zooms are announced (e.g. a 16-50mm f2.8, or a 24-70mm f2.8). Would be nice. But for the consumer-end, this camera is great 🙂
Seems like they’ve made it bigger than its predecessors. Probably there were too many complains about the body/lens balance?
Kind of a more industrial design – the white looks gorgeous!
That’s chunky!
I like the look. However what will this gen of the NEX-5 look like? If the NEX-3 has become bigger, does that mean the new NEX-5 will follow suit? And what new features will it have to differentiate itself from the F3 and 7? I’m thinking built in flash and maybe even a lower res built in EVF? Hmmm, I wonder how Sony will handle this.
I like it a lot. Now will the grip house a more powerful battery?
Whoa the grip looks much better now
wow, Sony makes the first appearance of F3 in Indonesia?
btw, is there gonna be NEX-7n by any chances? because I would like to buy nex 7 this week.
It’s very unlikely that the 7 will be replaced this year.
More likely is an announcement at Photokina and stock in shops next spring.
A firmware upgrade is very likely in the next few months.
Give us some A99 leaks 🙂
Why do you next spring? and not this year?
…so, sorry to be late on this, but what’s the deal with this NEX-F3? Is it a step up (improvements) or step down from the C3?
Why would it be a step down?
It’s step left (or right if you prefer it this way).
An alternative type of camera instead of upgrade/downgrade.
I’m not going to lie, that’s the ugliest Alpha I’ve seen. Ever.
not the ugliest, but i myself dont like the design too. C3 design is better IMHO. the design is just too stiff.
take away the grip, and its a nikon j1
I agree, as much as I like the C3, I´m not fond of the F3 design. But I can see why the new design was chosen, the handling will be much better. The C3 is an optical gem, but once you have the 18-55 on, the compact shape is negated, so making it slightly bigger and adding a grip may be welcome to many. 16 Mpix will suffice for many, but I expect the F5 to get 24 Mpix.
+1
+1
The C3 was a really handsome design, actually–shame it was planned obsolescence with the nerfed video capability and no compatibility with the external EVF.
The F3 is actually very reminiscent of the old Cyber-Shot V3, but it doesn’t pull off the chunky look quite as gracefully.
+1
If only the grip didn’t look like it was a last minute addition…
Apart from that, the white one looks pretty sweet.
+ 1
Too ugly, but maybe and comfortable.
COOL very nice ! The beautif NEX ever made ! 😉
it’s definitely more comfortable, compared to C3. 🙂
Nice. The increased height makes the lenses look a lot more reasonably sized.
I like the NEX line but continued to wait for Wi-Fi so I could share high quality images from time to time so I never broke down and purchased one. The Samsung NX1000 in white that’s coming soon finally seemed like a compact large image sensor camera to buy, especially with that nice 30mm f2 pancake. Now this new F3 in white makes me pause a little. If it had wi fi, I’d probably go with a NEX. If this doesn’t have it, the next NEX 5 might. If neither does, then I’ll stick with the NX1000. Way to go sony, really like the white model AND the built in flash! Now where are my pancake lenses?
Looks like it fell off the back of the Pentax truck. The power button design is sheer idiocy. and they made it bigger? Why ruin the lovely design of C3??
Don’t use this site with Google Chrome, the commen reply appear under the wrong ones.
I just bought an Eye-Fi X2 card and I now have perfectly good Wi-Fi on the NEX-5n. And since the Eye-Fi concentrates only on the Wi-Fi, you get way more WiFi features than any camera could offer.
NARSIS CAMERA!!! 😀
Basically I think it looks fine, and the built-in flash is a welcome addition.
But I do have one concern… I think that the release button seems to be hiding behind that ridge, will it really be comfortable to reach?
I hope it is not an ergonomic failure like the a330 and a380 was.
That “ridge” will guide the users’ trigger finger to the release button – once they know which button to press.
If the A330 and A380 were indeed ergonomic failures, it might have been because the index finger was guided to the adjustment dial, not to the release button which is placed on top of the camera. This time your finger falls on what it expects to fall on.
No Cinnabar?
Not pretty, but since a form has been a bit sacrificed while the function has been improved, I’m all for it.
internal flash, evf available, 1080p video.. The only thing the 5 still has over the 3 is the metal housing.
Really curious what the new 5 will bring!
“The only thing the 5 still has over the 3 is the metal housing.”
You don’t say. Why do you even bother comparing previous generation to new generation cameras?
no need to troll.
The new 5 will be a big update (or it will vanish completely)
Do you even know what trolling means?
Now now, kids…be nice and you will get iced cream after supper tonight.
No remote in the F3 just like 3 and C3.
May be the new 5 will have a hotshoe but no evf. This will differentiate the 3 from 5 from the 7 though the C3/F3 and 5N/future 5 will continue to have better sensors than the 7.
Hell, are they able to release a proper lens at a human price for these cameras? WTF they just have to copy the 35mm f1.8 from A-mount.
Now, finally Sony management had come to design a NEX of their own.
Grip looks ugly as if it had been attached after the fact. And who needs a 180 degree screen? – would be more useful if you could bend it freely to the left of the camera.
I was hoping for a fixed-zoom-lens NEX alternative that would have made the package smaller (even smaller than Canon’s GX1). There are lots of folks that want mirrorless but do not want to deal with lenses.
So, basically a compact camera that has it ‘all’. Instead it’s just another slight variation of existing models, a mold of NEX5 and 3, plus this and that.
I was hoping it have a hot shoe like the NEX-7.
OK really nothing new on the F3 aside for the new flippy screen, admin, any hint on the up coming NEX lens?
I welcome the new functional layout however I feel that the Sony design which is normally very sleek and modern has been compromised for a boxy, old fashioned and amateur finish. Like the white colour and good they’ve put the flash in built like the 7. The grip looks hideous although will probably be comfortable in the hand. Not looking good for future designs if this is the route they’re taking
The design reminds me of the Nikons 1, which I find ugly.
However, if thanks to that design, the camera includes pop-up flash and accessory shoe, it’s a good improvement.Hope they have changed the horrible menu of actual generation of NEX too.
My NEX-5N begins to look outdated…
Come on. The design is not as bad as the Nikon1.
Sony’s answer to the Nikon 1 and V1.
Hope they release a kit with the SEL16F28 pancake lens too!
it’s uglier because the grip, the front is not smooth, it’s very square, BUT the grip is much better, it looks more like the NEX-5 series, because I felt a lot of difference when I held a NEX-3 series, the grip is useless.
I still wonder what will happen to the next NEX-5 camera, will it have at least one button or dial more? Because the material can’t be the only major difference, the NEX-5 should have at least one more dial, it would make a whole lot of difference.
Glad to see that they moved away from as small as possible to something more comfortable to handle and better looking (from “camera attached to lens” to “lens attached to camera”).
Hope they go in the same direction with the new nex 5.
if this includes built in flash, then expect built in flash for the next 5-series camera…But let’s think this for a second…What if future 5-series Shares the same body as NEX-7? Because with specs and features like this, the NEX-F5 or whatever comes next, will be better in some aspects and the only thing that comes to my mind is built in EVF And more controls…! With 16MP sensor that could be the greatest NEX-Series camera ever..!
I would be thrilled if there were to be a more affordable smaller brother to NEX-7.
Keep the body like the NEX-7, keep the EVF (maybe lower resolution) and change to the 16.2 MP sensor.
If that were to happen, I would take the jump.
I would be thrilled too with that small NEX7. But please, keep the same EVF as the current NEX7!
Nevertheless, I wonder if it doesn’t make more sense the extinction of the NEX-5N breed, an the birth of a full-frame NEX-9.
This is indonesian site :-D. Usually Sony release stuff later in this part of the world. At least after Singapore.
No built-in EVF so I had to vote “no I don’t like it”
it looks like a digicam with big grip. LOL
Instead of the huge on/off button there would have been space for a physical program dial. Shutter button on the grip will only work comfortable with certain finger length.
Like that the smart accessory terminal is retained. Flash pop-up reminds me of the NEX-7.
Specs Please
+1
Absolutely hated the new strap lugs. I love how my 5N always points down with any lens.
Also, I’d rather have an LCD which I can flip up while holding the camera in portrait orientation.
When will Sony learn that we need more cameras and less lenses?
Ummm, I think you mean more lenses and less camera bodies, correct ?
Sony with the 180 flip LCD seem to have done what they can with the existing tilt screen instead what they ought to have done by making it swivel, so that, the cam can be used in portrait orientation.
If they are trying to follow Samsung, how about a cheap EVF like Samsung’s? They cost <$80 instead of Sony' ridiculously priced $400 EVF?
How efficent could that on board flash be with a big lens attached? Like on middle nex f3. I have sony a200 and with tamron 17-50 there is quite a bit of shadow with an on board flash. Specially on a wide side.
It’d be so simple to make it a swiveling display… why oh why …?
Wow. That’s bigger than I thought. I estimated it was about twice as thick I didn’t realize how much they’d added to every dimension–although I would love that grip on my NEX-3. The shallow grip is very hard to hold for long periods.
http://camerablog.joelrichards.com/2012/04/sony-nex-f3-twice-as-thick-with-flash/
F5 : 24mp & same flash as F3 ?
When can we expect that?
I would rather say the F5/5F to have built-in flash+EVF with the 16MP sensor.
I need to see it physically. From this picture it seems to me ugly. Much much better the current C3 and the first NEX3. The main improvement is the built in flash (good for this entry NEX camera). The idea of the NEX cameras was to have good IQ in an small package. I understand that NEX7 has to be bigger to fit in more stuff, but for the rest of the models they should have kept their current sizes (IMHO).
Well, it’s obviously the old NEX-5 grip with a whole floor put on top of the camera for the flash. On a NEX-5 or 5N the E-Mount is higher than the body, while here the F3 body itself is higher than it’s lens mount. Nevertheless this step at the grip looks a little strange, it should feel quite comfortable.
Great to see they don’t cripple the video mode by firmware to 720p anymore, so if the price is right, this should become a hot seller establishing E-Mount even better as the universal mount for video and photography finally growing together. Would be a pretty awesome strategy offering this camera as cheap as possible to let people invest into gear they could also use with a NEX-FS700.
But seeing these improvements from C3 to F3 what’ll come with the 5N’s successor? To be honest more than a built-in flash I’d prefer a flash sync cable socket to keep the smaller camera dimensions. Plus I’d love to have Cinemascope video format via sensor scaling…
C3 was prettier because of the rounded curves. But I for one do not care about pretty, I care about the ergonomics, and with a REAL grip F3 is big improvement.
Compare this camera against the most obvious competitors, J1, GF5 and EPL3, F3 is the better camera by far.
But need lenses !
The design is interesting. I wonder if Sony will make a Nex 7 with that screen. Photographically speaking who is gonna use that type of screen?
The grip is sooooo ugly.
I like it. Now the people who compalined about not having the EVF and the flash available at the same time can finally stop complaining. This being SAR, I suppose that’s not going to happen.
Access to flash and not a pop-up. They could have made an integrated EVF that pops up and a flash port aka hotshoe instead.
There isn’t a remote shutter possibility though the grip has a lot of room to have one but there is this not useful AF assist LED which gets blocked most of the time anyway.
Doesn’t the remote control for the Sony Alpha cameras work with thhe NEX cameras as well? I was hoping that the F3 would have a built in viwfinder (same class as the A57 finder), but maybe on the 5N successor. If this camera is priced well, it will be a hot seller.
Only the 5, 5N and 7 work with the remote.
It also looks like the acc. port can not take a flash (only EVF or a mic).
This model look like nex5 body.you can see the button arrangement its same with nex5. But on topper side have additional to fit with flash. Hopefully nex5 will be hotshoes!!!
Come on Sony, how about a mode dial instead of an on/off dial.
Though they’ve made it uglier, they’ve chosen form that fits function and added a couple of useful features so I’d go for it.
I thought we were waiting on a very stylish successor, it looks like the ugly nex-5 but they managed to tweak it to look even more ugly. What is wrong with Sony they used to make some sexy gear i love my nex but its butt ugly.
I tell you what there would be a huge market for a company to come up with a sexy body and offer transplants.
Why are the persisting with that stupid huge ring for a lens mount that makes every lens on the camera look like a huge zoom. Just make it flush and have the camera a little thicker, and while your at it move the battery to the bottom of the body so you can move the lens to the centre of the body like every camera for a 150yrs because thats the best place for it!
I for one like the looks of NEX-F3, 5N and 7. 5N is a bit too small, so F3 is just right.
As to your comments about the lens to the middle and the battery to the bottom (you mean remove the grip !), then I find that the current design is the best amongst the mirror-less cameras, you get a real grip and the camera is still small. I dont care about sexy, I care a lot about ergonomics.
If I could suggest something to Sony, then for the next iteration of NEX-3, replace the on/off switch for one of the top-plate dials from the NEX-7 – and call it TWIN-NAVI 🙂