The Sony α NEX-5 is a

digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...

launched on 11 May 2010. It is a

mirrorless interchangeable lens camera A mirrorless camera is a photo camera featuring a single, removable lens and a digital display. The camera does not have a reflex mirror or optical viewfinder like a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, but may have an electronic v ...

with the body size of a larger model fairly compact

point-and-shoot camera A point-and-shoot camera, also known as a compact camera and sometimes abbreviated to P&S, is a still camera designed primarily for simple operation. Most use focus free lenses or autofocus for focusing, automatic systems for setting the expos ...

with a larger sensor size ( APS-C) comparable to that of some digital single-lens reflex cameras. Its major competitors in the market are the cameras based on the micro 4/3 standard created by

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

and Olympus, and a few low end

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Nikon (, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group. Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...

, and even

Sony α Sony α (the lower case to Greek letter alpha, often transliterated as ''Sony Alpha'') is a digital camera system introduced on 5 June 2006. It uses and expands upon Konica Minolta camera technologies, including the Minolta AF SLR lens mo ...

DSLRs. The NEX-5 shoots 14.2 megapixel stills and has a 7 frame/s continuous shotmode. It has the capability to shoot 1920×1080i at 60 frame/s in

AVCHD AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around t ...

or 1440×1080p at 30 frame/s in

MPEG4 MPEG-4 is a group of international standards for the compression of digital audio and visual data, multimedia systems, and file storage formats. It was originally introduced in late 1998 as a group of audio and video coding formats and related ...

. The NEX-5 was replaced by the 16 megapixel NEX-5N in August 2011.

Features

The α NEX-5 has features found in SLR cameras but also some that are normally found in point and shoots. The body of the α NEX-5 is made of magnesium alloy that separates the NEX-5 from the less expensive polymer NEX-3. Also different from the NEX-3 is video quality. The NEX-5 can shoot in

1080/60i HD. There is a 7 frame/s continuous shot mode, with autofocus disabled after the first frame. The APS-C sized sensor has an

ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...

sensitivity up to 12,800. The camera software has special features like twilight mode and sweep panorama. The latter lets the photographer sweep across a city-sky line or similar long view and have the photos automatically stitched into a JPEG image on camera.

Lenses

The NEX-5 along with its sister, the NEX-3, and also the Sony Handycam NEX-VG10 use a new lens mount system developed by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

for NEX series and known as the

Sony E-mount The E-mount is a lens mount designed by Sony for their NEX ("New E-mount eXperience") and ILCE series of camcorders and mirrorless cameras. The E-mount supplements Sony's α mount, allowing the company to develop more compact imaging devices whi ...

. Initially, there were three available lenses: an all-purpose 18–55 mm lens, an ultra wide pancake 16 mm lens, and a wide range 18–200 mm E-mount lens. With the post-November 2010 firmware version 3 installed, and by using the (roughly US$200) Sony LA-EA1 adapter, the NEX series of cameras is able to electronically control the aperture and autofocus of Sony SSM/SAM A-mount lenses, and control the aperture of the other Sony/Minolta A-mount lenses with manual focus only. The (roughly US$400) Sony LA-EA2 adapter also supports autofocus with screw-drive A-mount lenses, firmware version 5 is required for this adapter. Nex 5 w rokkor f2 85mm IMGP1332 wp

Other third-party mechanical tube adapters are also available. These adapters enable the use of Canon FD-mount, Canon EF-mount (without aperture control), Contax G, M42 screw mount, Konica Hexanon AR-mount, Minolta SR-mount (MC/MD), Leica M and screw mount, Nikon F-mount (non-G), Pentax K-mount (non-DA), Olympus OM mount, T2 screw mount and Minolta/Konica Minolta/Sony A-mount lenses. The E-mount flange register is so short that it is possible to mount 45 mm or longer-focal-length non-focusing enlarging lenses on the NEX body, with the use of an intermediate focusing helicoid behind them. Certain third-party mechanical adapters also provide circular control rings that provide some mechanical control of the aperture of Nikon G, Pentax DA and Canon EF lenses, as these do not have a mechanical aperture control ring on their lens barrels.

Model definitions

The incomplete model number of NEX-3/NEX-5 series may include letter(s) at end. The definitions are: * C: Not compatible with

Eye-Fi Eye-Fi was a company based in Mountain View, California, that produced SD memory cards with Wi-Fi capabilities. Using an Eye-Fi card inside a digital camera, one could wirelessly and automatically upload digital photos to a local computer or a ...

function (NEX-3C and NEX-5C only) * A: Supplied with E 2.8/16mm (SEL-16F28) * D: Supplied with E 2.8/16mm (SEL-16F28) and E 3,5-5,6/18-55mm OSS (SEL-1855) * H: Supplied with E 3.5-6.3/18-200mm OSS (SEL-18200) * K: Supplied with E 3.5-5.6/18-55mm OSS (SEL-1855) * L: Supplied with E 3.5-5.6/16-50mm OSS (SEL-1650) * B: Body color is black * N: Body color is black * /N: Body color is gold (NEX-5D/N, Japan only) * /P: Body color is pink (NEX-3D/P, Asia only) * R: Body color is red * S: Body color is silver * /T: Body color is brown (NEX-3D/T, Asia only) * 50i: 50 frames interlaced model * 60i: 60 frames interlaced model For example, NEX-5CK/B 50i is a NEX-5 supplied with E 18–55 mm zoom lens, not compatible with Eye-Fi function, body color black, and with 50i (not 60i) video support.

References

External links

SonyStyle product description
– official Sony website
Sony UK product presentation
– official Sony UK website
DP Review (Digital Photography Review)
– June 2010, an in-depth review of the two cameras
Pop Photo Review
– May 2010 review {{DEFAULTSORT:Sony Nex-5 NEX-5 NEX-5

Features

Lenses

Model definitions

See also

References

External links