Introduction

Ease of Use

The new Sony NEX-3N marks a return to the size and weight of 2011's NEX-C3 model, being markedly smaller and lighter than its predecessor, the NEX-F3. So much so, in fact, that Sony are marketing the NEX-3N as the smallest interchangeable lens camera in the world, weighing a mere 210g and measuring 117.3 x 66.6 x 41.3mm - and they've still retained the NEX-F3's built-in pop-up flash and tilting LCD screen.

Despite weighing so little (without the lens and battery fitted), the NEX-3N still feels solid gripped in the palm, though with a lens attached it's too large for most jacket pockets. It now has a smaller grip than the NEX-F3, with the shutter release button moving from the top of the grip back to the top of the camera. With the supplied 16-50mm power zoom kit lens attached the NEX-5 doesn't look or feel too top heavy, as the lens retracts back into itself when not in use.

The 3 inch LCD screen can be tilted back and forward through a full 180° - if not, unfortunately swung outwards at 90° - to allow for low and high angle compositions we might not have attempted without. You can even fully turn it to the front, proving very useful for self-portraits, although you can't close it inwards against the camera body to help protect it. With 461K dots, it's not as high-resolution as the 921K screen on the NEX-F3, but proved to be more than adequate in real-world use.

The NEX-3N offers the High Definition video shooting of the rest of the NEX series, full HD AVCHD (50i/25p) with stereo sound to be precise, which will be more than adequate for the NEX-3N's target audience. It also features a useful dedicated red camcorder-style video record button for instant thumb-operated video access. on the rear.

Low light sensitivity without flash also theoretically looks set to show rivals a thing or two by ranging from ISO 200 to a maximum ISO 16000 equivalent setting. Impressive stuff, and matching the sort of spec we're used to seeing on mid-range DSLRs. There's no in-body image stabilisation offered by the NEX-3N unfortunately, so this is via the lens only. This appears to work well, at least as effectively as the in-camera or lens based anti-shake methodology deployed by rival brands.

Front	Rear

The NEX-3N's design is pleasingly pared-back, particularly when viewed from the front. Sony branding and black plastic DSLR-style lens release button aside, all we find on the faceplate is a small porthole-shaped window for the AF assist/self timer lamp, and the curved, protruding handgrip with a dimpled surface for a firmer hold. Oh, and the "APS-C" moniker just in case you want to brag about the size of your sensor to your Micro Four Thirds friends.

The top plate looks similarly functional rather than fashionable. The NEX-3N is turned on or off via a flick of a chunky, nicely rigid switch to the far right, rather than via the recessed button that we usually find on cameras with a small form factor. Do this and it's a wait of 1-2 seconds before an image materializes on the LCD allowing the first shot to be framed - slightly slower than we expected in this regard, and no match for a DSLR proper.

A new addition to the NEX-3N that's designed to make it more accessible to upgraders is a power zoom switch, very similar to that found on many compact cameras. This allows the 16-50mm kit lens to be zoomed in three different ways; using the new zoom lever on top of the camera, which is good for one-handed operation, via the zoom ring on the lens, and finally using the zoom control on the side of the lens. If you don't have a power zoom lens attached, the the zoom lever less usefully adjusts the instead digital zoom, and it can also be used to zoom during image playback regardless of the lens that's fitted.

To the left of this switch, on the slope that melds into the back plate, is a dedicated playback/review button, and underneath is the thumb-operated dedicated movie record button. Press this and the user is instantly recording video, whatever alternative shooting mode might previously have been in use; like the same control found on the Panasonic G-series and Olympus PEN cameras, this proves essential with regard to spur of the moment filming.

Also positioned atop the camera is the integrated pop-up flash, now positioned inline with the centre of the lens, which borrows a lot of design cues from the flagship NEX-7 model and is a big improvement on the older NEX-C3's rather "unique" clip-on flash/accessory port. Note that the NEX-3N no longer offers an accessory port for attaching optional accessories like the rather pricey FDA-EV1S electronic viewfinder or the ECM-SST1 microphone. Two small holes either side of the flash for the stereo sound complete the camera's top-plate.

Front	Top

Press the shutter release button down halfway and, after a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment of focus/exposure adjustment, the AF point/s highlight in green accompanied by a beep of affirmation to indicate that the user is good to continue on and take the shot. Do so, and in single shot mode to the sound of a satisfying shutter click, a full resolution JPEG is written to memory in about 2 seconds.

As you'd expect in this price bracket, there is the option to also shoot Raw files, or even more usefully for those who wish to hedge their bets Raw and JPEG images in tandem. These settings are accessed within the Image Size folder and are found within the Quality sub folder. You also get Fine or Normal compression levels offered for JPEGs.

Not everything on the NEX-3N is located exactly where you might expect it to be found. For example, the ISO settings are buried within a Brightness menu option that from the look of the icon that denotes it initially appears to be for adjusting the screen brightness only. One would reasonably expect ISO adjustment to be found within the Camera folder with the other key shooting options, so there's a fair amount of familiarisation with the NEX-3N's quirks required up front.

Just like Olympus and Panasonic, the Sony NEX-3N offers a range of eleven creative Picture Effects, including posterisation, partial colour, retro, high-key, mono and toy camera. These effects can also be applied when using the Intelligent Auto shooting mode. The Soft Skin mode automatically retouches portraits, removing any minor blemishes and wrinkles for a more conventionally good-looking appearance.

The new Auto Object Framing mode uses face detection, By Pixel Super Resolution technology and the rule of thirds to automatically take better pictures of still lifes, moving subjects and macro close-ups. Sony's catchily named Pixel Super Resolution Technology ensures that the resulting image is still a full 16 megapixels in size, and the original uncropped image is also saved for easy comparison.

Tilting LCD Screen	Tilting LCD Screen

The Shooting mode gets its own virtual dial, so at least selecting the options here, including standard P,A,S,M, 9-strong scene mode, intelligent auto and Sweep Panorama, proves easier than some of the other key settings. Even in Intelligent Auto mode users still have the ability to get hands on to a degree thanks to the Photo Creativity mode. This provides easy-to-understand control over a number of key parameters via a series of interactive on-screen sliders, with the real-time preview on the LCD providing instant feedback to the beginner target audience.

In addition to controlling the background defocus, with a half moon shaped indicator appealing on-screen to the side of the scroll wheel, defocus at the bottom of the arc, 'crisp' at the top, you can also change the vividness, brightness and colour of the image, plus add a Picture Effect or the Soft Skin Effect, and set the self-timer and burst shooting options. You can even apply more than one option at a time and go back and individually change them if you wish. One important proviso about the NEX-3N's Intelligent Auto mode is its rather inexplicable limitation of the ISO speed to a top setting of ISO 1600, which artificially limits the usefulness of the camera in low-light.

The NEX-3N's external backplate is once again a sparse affair, the majority of it taken up by the 3-inch widescreen ratio angle-adjustable LCD that stretches from base to top plate. To the right of this is a trio of controls - the top and bottom buttons unmarked until the screen is activated, at which point their purpose is detailed alongside it. The top-most control is revealed as the 'menu' button, a press of which brings up the shooting icons - six in total - the contents of we've already briefly touched on. Instead of the screen-full of text you might expect to be presented with upon press of the menu control, from top left to bottom right of screen, presented instead are Shoot Mode, Camera, Image Size, Brightness/Color, Playback and Setup icons.

The user moves through these options and makes selections via the scroll wheel just below the menu button, which has its own central (and again unmarked) set button. As mentioned this wheel is quite responsive to the touch, which, on a positive note, means that tabbing through options is a swift process, but on the other hand it's easy to slip past the setting you actually wanted when hurrying through them as a photo opportunity suddenly presents itself.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

Set at the four points around this scroll wheel/pad are a means of adjusting the display (top), ISO speed (right) the exposure compensation (bottom) and the self-timer/drive mode options. In addition, the button below the navigation wheel and the center button can optionally be assigned to a custom function of your choice.

By default the bottom button on the camera back provides a means of activating the Help function, which Sony no doubt hopes to provide a crutch for new users trading up from a bog-standard point and shoot compact. Examples of textual advice, complete with small pictorial thumbnail alongside, include 'increase the ISO sensitivity to make the shutter speed faster', and then, the thoughtful addition: 'higher ISO sensitivity may make noise stand out.' Hand holding for those who want it then, while more experienced users can reconfigure the button to something more useful.

Peaking is a feature that provides a level of hand-holding for manual focus users. When turned on to one of the three levels (low, mid, high), this essentially draws a coloured line (red, white or yellow) around the areas of highest contrast in the image when you're manually focusing the camera. Used in conjunction with the magnified focus assist, this makes it a cinch to focus accurately on a specific part of the subject, something that the majority of digital cameras have struggled with. It can even be used in the movie mode, again providing a real boon to your creativity.

At the base of the NEX-3N we find a screw thread for a tripod directly beneath the lens mount, and a compartment storing the rechargeable battery. The memory card slot has moved to the left-hand side of the camera when viewed from the rear, here Sony reaching out to a wider audience by offering SD/SDHC/SDXC compatibility alongside its own Memory Stick. The left hand flank is also where users will find a covered port for HDMI connectivity and USB output. Only the USB cable was provided with our review sample; there's no standard definition AV output. There's also a small built-in speaker for reviewing audio in the field on the bottom and protruding metal strap eyelets on either side of the camera.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Sony NEX-3N produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The Sony NEX-3N has an extensive and very usable ISO range of 100-16000. ISO 100-800 is noise-free, whilst ISO 1600-6400 produces more than acceptable results, and even ISO 12800 and the fastest setting of 16000 are OK for emergency use. The RAW samples illustrate just how much processing the camera does by default, though, as they're much noisier at all ISO values than their JPEG counterparts.

The 16 megapixel images are a little soft straight out of the camera using the default Standard creative style and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera sharpening level. The built-in flash worked well indoors with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and the Bulb mode offering lots of scope for creative night photography. The lens-based Optical Steadyshot system works well when hand-holding the camera at slower shutter speeds.

The effective Dynamic Range Optimizer function extracts more detail from the shadow and highlight areas in an image, without introducing any unwanted noise or other artifacts. The High Dynamic Range mode combines two shots taken at different exposures to produce one image with greater dynamic range than a single image would produce. It only works for JPEGs and for still subjects, but does produce some very effective results. Sony's now tried-and-trusted Sweep Panorama is still a joy to use. The 11 creative Picture Effects quickly produce special looks that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, while the 6 Creative Styles provide a quick and easy way to tweak the camera's JPEG images.

Noise

There are 8 ISO settings available on the Sony NEX-3N. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

JPEG	RAW
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)
ISO 16000 (100% Crop)	ISO 16000 (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are soft at the default sharpening setting. You can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default look.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Sony NEX-3N has 2 different image quality settings available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

16M Fine (4.56Mb) (100% Crop)	16M Standard (3.15Mb) (100% Crop)
16M RAW (16.0Mb) (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Sony NEX-3N are Autoflash, Fill-flash, Slow sync and Rear flash sync, with Red-eye reduction available in the Main Menu. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (18mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (18mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (55mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (55mm)

And here are a couple of portrait shots. Neither the Auto setting or the Red-eye reduction mode caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye reduction	Red-eye reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Sony NEX-3N's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's also a Bulb mode for even longer exposures, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 200.

Night	Night (100% Crop)

Dynamic Range Optimizer

D-Range Optimiser (DRO) is Sony's solution to improve shadow detail in photos taken in contrasty light.

Off	LV1
LV2	LV3
LV4	LV5

High Dynamic Range

High Dynamic Range Optimiser (HDR) is Sony's solution for capturing more contrast than a single exposure can handle by combining two exposures into one image.

Off	1.0EV
2.0EV	3.0EV
4.0EV	5.0EV
6.0EV

Sweep Panorama Mode

The Sony NEX-3N allows you to take panoramic images very easily, by 'sweeping' with the camera while keeping the shutter release depressed. The camera does all the processing and stitching and even successfully compensates for moving subjects.

Standard

Wide

Creative Styles

There are 6 Creative Style preset effects that you can use to change the look of your images.

Standard	Vivid
Portrait	Landscape
Sunset	B/W

Picture Effects

Just like Olympus and Panasonic, the Sony NEX-3N offers an extensive range of eleven creative Picture Effects.

Off	Toy Camera
Pop Color	Posterization
Retro	Soft High-key
Partial Color (Green)	High Contrast Mono
Soft Focus	HDR Painting
Rich-tone Mono	Miniature

Sample Images

As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.

Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.

Product Images

Front of the Sony NEX-3N

Front of the Sony NEX-3N

Front of the Sony NEX-3N / Pop-Up Flash

Side of the Sony NEX-3N

Side of the Sony NEX-3N

Side of the Sony NEX-3N

Side of the Sony NEX-3N

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N / Image Displayed

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N / Turned On

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N / Main Menu

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N / Main Menu

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N / Help Menu

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N / Shoot Mode Menu

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N / Tilting LCD Screen

Rear of the Sony NEX-3N / Tilting LCD Screen

Front of the Sony NEX-3N / Tilting LCD Screen

Top of the Sony NEX-3N

Bottom of the Sony NEX-3N

Side of the Sony NEX-3N

Side of the Sony NEX-3N

Front of the Sony NEX-3N

Front of the Sony NEX-3N

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

Looking and feeling more like a compact camera than ever, thanks to the combination of the new finger-tip zoom lever and the 16-50mm power-zoom lens, the Sony NEX-3N is almost the perfect introduction to interchangeable lens cameras. Significantly smaller and lighter than last year's NEX-F3 model, the new 3N still manages to retain its predecessors built-in flash and 180-dgree tilting LCD screen. It does lose the accessory port, though, so you can't fit an electronic viewfinder, and it also offers a lower resolution LCD panel, slower burst shooting and the still rather obtuse menu system that Sony persist in using.

Image quality is excellent, with results from the proven 16 megapixel APS-C sensor in most cases surpassing the Compact System Camera alternatives, especially if you want to achieve shallow depth-of field effects. Noise doesn't rear its ugly head until ISO 3200 for JPEGs, although the NEX-3N does apply pretty aggressive noise reduction to keep the files clean, resulting in some loss of finer detail. The myriad of creative effect on offer such as HDR, Dynamic Range Optimisation, creative styles, the innovative sweep panorama mode and the range of in-camera Picture Effects help to get the most out of the NEX-3N, especially if you like to experiment away from a computer.

One of the biggest attractions of the new Sony NEX-3N is the lower cost of admission - at an official price of £380 / $450 with the 16-50mm kit lens, it's much cheaper than the previous NEX-F3 model, and remarkably undercuts the company's own high-end compact, the RX100, bucking the recent trend of escalating prices.

The Sony NEX-3N is one of the cheapest compact system cameras on the market, but remarkably it's also one of the more accomplished, providing an intuitive upgrade path for compact camera owners, or simply being a small and light camera that delivers great results. There aren't too many bargains in the camera market, but the new Sony NEX-3N definitely qualifies as one of them.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	5

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Sony NEX-3N.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony NEX-3N from around the web.

Specifications

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