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Sony NEX-5 and NEX-3 Compact DSLR Specification

We’ve heard news about Sony will release a compact DSLR camera a while ago, and now the veil have been lifted by Sony NEX-5 and NEX-3 compact DSLR being announced and will be available in July. The coming of this two Sony compact digital SLR made the company to be the fourth that release a mirror less DSLR camera, after Olympus with PEN E-P1 and 12 megapixels Olympus PEN E-P2, Panasonic Lumix G1, and 14.6 megapixels Samsung NX10. All of this compact camera features APS-C sized sensor, interchangeable lenses capability that have been a standard in traditional DSLR camera.

Sensor
Either Sony NEX-3 or NEX-5, both have 14.2 megapixels Sony Exmor CMOS sensor and have larger sensor than other micro four thirds coming from Olympus and Panasonic. This larger sensor hopefully will improve image quality, fewer noise in the images and allows user to have defocus effect on the background. The sensor use backlit illumination with special placement to avoid incoming light obstruction. Sony also allow ISO setting up to 12,000 unto NEX-5 / NEX-3

Viewfinder
All of this DSLR in smaller bodies were made possible by taking out the mirror box assembly and optical viewfinder and have more space by using an electronic view finder, based on LCD. For Sony NEX series, they throw a 3 inch high resolution LCD display with 921 kilodots as your viewfinder.

The LCD can tilt up or down for comfortable viewing in any shooting position. The screen features an auto-brightness control function for good outdoor visibility. Sony claims its TruBlack screen technology enables vivid, high-contrast view of images and camera settings.

NEX-5 and NEX-3 differences

Up till now, we haven’t hinted any differentiation in NEX-5 and NEX-3 in this article, but the information we have for now is that the diferrence lies in their video recording capability. Sony NEX-5 offers more than just HD videos, but Full HD 60i movie capture with 1080i AVCHD format or in MP4 format if you prefer 720p settings. Sony NEX-3 only have 720p MP4 recording only. Both cameras have stereo microphones that allow audio recording in high quality.

Other than feature described above, their casing is also made from different materials, NEX-5 made by magnesium alloy while NEX-3 is made by polycarbonate casing.
Lenses

For now, there are three lenses for Sony NEX-5 and its brother to choose from.

16mm F2.8 wide angle prime lens (model number SEL16F28)
18mm-55mm F3.5-5.6 standard zoom lens(model number SEL1855)
18mm-200mm F3.5-6.3 (model number SEL18200) high magnification zoom lens.

The 16mm prime lens can be optionally used with the VCL-ECU1 Ultra Wide Converter which provides a 12mm view to have wider range without moving backward too much, and VCL-ECF1 Fisheye Converter that save you more time Photoshoping to made your image fisheyed. Both zoom lenses listed above features built in image stabilization.

No Manual Controls
This is either good news or bad news for DSLR, but both Sony NEX allows no manual controls typically seen in SLR cameras because Sony has opted to give quick access using their button user interface.

Availability and Pricing
Sony NEX-5A price is $650, supplied with SEL16F28 lens, while Sony NEX-3A price is $550. The other packet that supplied with SEL1855 lens will cost you $700 for NEX-5K and $600 for NEX3K. These cameras available in black and silver color, plus additionally red color for NEX3 models.

If you choose to buy the lens individually, you can buy SEL16F28 and SEL1855 lenses for about $250 and $300. (The SEL18200 zoom lens will be available this fall for about $800.) Releases dates on all product stated above are at July 2010. It’s almost two month for now and its quite long, I wonder if other manufacturer would enter the compact DSLR too in between these two month