plus some great features from amateur camsLast week, though, Sony introduced another jaw-dropping step
Tarpsforward in the big
PVC Fabricsensor/small camera race: a tiny machine called the Alpha NEX-5 . It won’t be available until July, but it may be worth waiting for.
Like the Samsung, the NEX-5 contains an APS-C-size sensor — awesome. Yet this camera is amazingly, crazily small. It’s half the weight and volume of a small S.L.R.; in fact, without the lens, it’s about the size of a regular pocket camera (4.4 by 2.4 by 1.6 inches — only an inch thick except at the grip bulge). The lens barrel is actually taller than the camera itself.
Anyway, it’s the smallest interchangeable-lens camera in the world. With lens attached, the tiny NEX-5 looks a little bizarre — even ridiculous, like a mere backplate for a lens. But keep an open mind; it still handles well.
Now, to get this small, Sony had to push the envelope — and pull it, fold it and spindle it. As with most other hybrids, this one has no built-in flash and no eyepiece viewfinder. (A tiny snap-on flash comes with the camera, and a glass viewfinder that works with the standard lens will cost about $200
PVC Fabricand will become available in July.)
And there’s room for only six buttons, compared with about 25 on an S.L.R. Yet the camera offers most of the controls of a typical consumer S.L.R., plus some great features from amateur cams.
The price is right: $600. Or you can save $100 and get the NEX-3, which has a plastic body instead of a metal one. For that price you get a non-zooming 16-millimeter lens (24-millimeter film equivalent) . On the camera, this lens is flat enough to fit in a coat pocket, but beware some distortion at the edges of the frame. For $50 more, you can get either camera with a 18-55-millimeter (3X zoom) lens instead. An 18-200-millimeter (11X zoom) lens will be available this fall for about $800.
With an adapter, you can use any of dozens of existing Sony Alpha S.L.R. lenses — but they’re much bigger and, on these cameras, can’t autofocus.
The photos are fantastic: big, bright, sharp, with true color and
Tarpsthe
PVC Fabricsort of gently blurred backgrounds that you can’t get with a pocket cam.