Pikachures!

[DKaz]

Been playing around with the Sony NEX-5... then returned it. It was a really good camera but lack of viewfinder, the hard-to-control-with-my-big-fingers small lens, and lack of buttons to control it made me return it. Also the flash is not built in and it doesn't have a hot shoe for better flashes but I never took the flash out. I have a Sony Alpha A33 in mind which is a translucent mirror camera not an SLR like the NEX-5 but in a more traditional SLR form factor with real buttons and electronic viewfinder which I was skeptical about compared to an optical viewfinder but it's decent, better than a screen, but haven't made my decision yet! Anyway here are some photos from the NEX-5.

Oh yah I'm a newbie at this so don't hurt me. lol.

The camera itself, shot from my iPhone:







The reason why I wanted to get an SLR camera:


This was shot with the NEX-5 as well, it was a lot darker in the bowling alley than this photo shows with just a few fluorescent lights in front of me but the results were just stunning, in automatic mode:

[derrick]

The photos look good. Make sure you get something that is comfortable in your hand as well as to carry around. A camera is no good if you don't want to take it with you.

And so many of my coworkers have been asking me about DSLRs since they've had their first kid. Really want to capture those memories.

[DKaz]

Thanks.

Yea that's one thing about the NEX-5, I carried it in my bag for the week I had it, weighed nothing and was there when I had a good photo op, I took a good 400 photos in a week, I didn't think I would be so hooked. The NEX-5 feels really really solid for such a small camera, the grip fit my hand really nicely and the magnesium alloy body was solid. There's the polycarbonate bodied NEX-3 as well that just doesn't feel as right in comparison, the hand grip is a different design that just doesn't fit.

The Sony Alpha A33, Canon Rebels, Nikon D3100, etc. are not the much bigger than the NEX-5 when you consider the lens+body and maybe just 50% heavier. I'm leaning towards the A33 because of the translucent mirror technology, I am truly a fan. It still takes great shots like other entry level SLRs (it has the same 14.2MP sensor as the NEX-3/5) but the creme-de-la-creme is the video mode, the quick and silent on-the-fly autofocus during video is amazing (tried it on the NEX-5, truly great stuff) and there is an available clip on external stereo mic accessory available. It fits well enough in the hand for its small size, but I think most small DSLRs are pretty decent in this category.

There's also the A55 which has a bigger 16.2MP sensor and GPS and 10fps vs. 7fps continuous shooting, I really wanted GPS but not for an extra $200...

[DKaz]

I got my Sony Alpha A33, wow this thing is so much bigger than it was in the store if that makes sense lol. I guess I truly have an appreciation now for how compact the NEX-5 was, a great camera that I could inconspicuously carry anywhere yet captured photos almost as well as the A33. That's all I miss about it however. I love how many buttons this thing has, not as much as a higher end DSLR but it's good enough. I just discovered what the dial below the shutter was for last night, ultra cool. I haven't had time to really play with it yet other than taking a few test shots of my son and my self (my first swivel LCD screen, wow lol)

Don't mind my half renovated bathroom, it'll be completed eventually. Really. It will.


Monkey man.


So I think we were supposed to look at the lens, not the swivel screen. lol.

[derrick]

Have fun with the new camera!

[DKaz]

Thanks! Oh I might follow your recommendation in the other thread and get an old Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 lens to play with... if it's in good and working condition I can't go wrong at $50.

[DKaz]

Oh hai, this lens is older than some of you here.

[tonyzoomzoom]

Nice Donald.

I still have my first camera (Canon AE1) which I bought when I was 16 (30 years ago) and the thing still works !!

[DKaz]

Nice, do you still take photos with it? Back then, things were made with quality in mind. I expect this lens to outlast the kit lens that came with my camera! I want to get more old Minolta lens, these things look and feel rock solid.

[tonyzoomzoom]

Not much any more.  Film / processing is too expensive and I'm not very good at it either.

Digital is so much easier for a noob like me.

[Username]

No photography input here, but cute kid!

[serpico007]

Nice Donald.

I still have my first camera (Canon AE1) which I bought when I was 16 (30 years ago) and the thing still works !!

I still have the AE1 Program as well. Bought new in the 80's sometime. But digital is so much easier!

[DKaz]

Thanks Kev.

The AE-1 Programs look neat, but yah I could never go back to film, got my first digital nine years ago and haven't looked back since. Kodak DX3500, crappy camera but it still works like new.

[serpico007]

LOL I had that one too as my first. Only took nice pictures outside with enough light!

[DKaz]

Indeed, the night shots were horrible, no optical zoom, horrible battery life when you used the LCD, but the day shots were nice and the toy plastic body was beyond durable, so I guess the camera wasn't completely craptastic. I guess at just $400 back in 2001 you really couldn't expect much compared to the $700 Canon Powershot A20 or $7,000 Canon EOS-1D.

Hey look:
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/1903/review/dx3500_22mp_3x_digital_zoom_8mb.html

WHAT'S HOT: The DX3500 earned the highest image quality scores of any sub-$500 camera we've tested so far.

[serpico007]

Kodak had decent entry level cameras back then. I moved to Canon Elph but hated the quality, almost as bad as the Sony entry level camera. I keep it for site checks for work now. But if I forget, the Nexus One camera is good enough when I'm on site.

[DKaz]

Hm! You moved up pretty quick, I used mine for nearly six years before I finally got a Fujifilm F20. The thing with its metal body was pretty banged up within a couple of years. My sister goes through a Canon point and shoot each year, yet she keeps on buying a new Canon. I've always hated Sony point and shoots, all the photos my friends have taken of me with their Sony P&S with the flash on, my eyes have been closed. I've never used the flash on the A33/NEX-5 yet.

Yea my iPhone 3GS has always been good to me, it's taken a lot of photos for the first 17 months of Leylund's life and pretty decent ones at that. Easily better than the DX3500 especially in low light applications other than the lack of flash, but I think the iPhone in fact has trained me how to effectively use available light to take photos.

[DKaz]

Meet Koen, born May 9, 2011 at 2:47pm.

[tonyzoomzoom]

Hi Koen !!   

Such a cutie; and grats Donald!!

[Username]

Congratulations Donald!!!

  Kev