Sony NEX-3 looks amazing, any good?

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I currently use a 5D and it's great but a heavy, clumsy brute to haul around. I was in Jessops yesterday and saw the Sony NEX-3 and NEX-5 range of tiny compacts with interchangable lenses. It comes with 18-55 kit lens and there was a 16mm wideangle available.

These little cameras promise full-size DSLR level pictures. I would love to get one for walking, urbexing etc where I do not take all my normal gear. Are they that good? Do they have full manual control over aperture/shutter speed? They look great, very futuristic!
 
The NEX cameras look very interesting for their size...and a with a 1.5x crop factor, they have a bigger sensor than the micro 4/3 equivalents. Interestingly, the NEX-5 has very good high ISO (for a crop cam) according to DXOMark.

Review here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/SonyNex5Nex3/
 
Apparently they do have manual control, but it is all done with menu systems on the screen.

Even with a very nice sensor, I think constantly having to change settings in menus with infuriate me.

Personally, I'd go with pen instead, albeit with more noise/more DoF, simply because you have nice olympus lenses and a better user interface.
 
I have owned the NEX 5 for a couple of months now and used it extensively

My main outfit is a Canon 5D MkII and I have spent years trying numerous 'compact' cameras when the DSLR outfit is too big. The NEX 5 is the nearest I have come to finding the Nirvana of a compact camera which offers DSLR image quality. Lots has been said about its control system but the truth is, once you're used to it, it is very easy to change settings. Also the built in features such as panormaic mode and auto HDR are very quick and easy to set.

The image quality really is very good and the large sensor (to my mind) is better than any of the micro 4/3's sensors I have tried previously (including E-P1, GF1, G1 and G2).

In terms of size it is very light and portable, especially with the 16mm pancake lens attached. With the kit zoom lens fitted it won't go in your pocket but it can be carried all day long over your shoulder or in a small bag without any problem.

Noise control is excellent and, too be honest, there is a lot of crud written about the control/menu system. As I say, after a brief period of using the camera it becomes very intuitive. AF is good and video is excellent (although I barely use this).

Everyone has their personal preference and I am sure Sony will refine the NEX range going forward but, at the moment, I believe it offers the best IQ available in such a portable package.
 
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