Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Sony's EVIL NEX-5

When I first saw the NEX-3 and NEX-5, the word "Ugly" came to mind immediately, especially the NEX-5 which is slightly smaller than the NEX-3. The picture of the NEX-5 with the kit zoom lens looks like something only a mother would love. It's ugly. As my colleague remarked, they have resemblance to the CybleShot F-717/F-828.

The seemingly huge lens mount takes up more than half of the body, and the mount itself is actually taller than the body. This is what makes the camera look so ugly. But, horses for courses. I am sure some will find it sexy and irresistible.

Ugliness aside, I think this camera/system has potential. The very short lens to sensor register of 18mm, 2mm shorter than the micro 4/3 system, will be of interest to manual focus lens lovers. Unfortunately, due to the larger sensor, most 16mm c-mount cine lenses will not look very good on this camera. I am sure they are mountable but most will produce a round picture with huge dark area, due to the small image circle of the c-mount lenses. On the other hand, M-Mount and Contax G-mount fanatics will rejoice, especially for wide angle lenses. A 24mm lens will still be usable as a mini-wide 36mm, not a 48mm normal lens on the micro 4/3 system.

The price is one area where people will likely find it attractive. It's cheaper than the EP-1 and GF1.

Now where are those uber fast and sharp auto focus Zeiss primes?

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