Introduction

Ease of Use

The NEX-5N is outwardly very similar to the NEX-5 model that it replaces, so some of the comments that we made about that camera apply equally to the 2011 update. There are a lot of changes under the hood, though, which we'll cover in more depth.

The NEX-5N's rectangular body shape and blocky grip still looks to our eyes closer to the austere 'built in a Russian tractor factory' style of Ricoh's GXR system camera than the immediately appealing retro finesse of an Olympus Pen, or modernist rubber clad curves of the Panasonic G series. With the supplied 18-55mmm kit lens attached the NEX-5N also looks and feels top heavy, and that's without fitting an existing Alpha DSLR lens proper, compatibility offered with pre-existing optics via the new LA-EA2 accessory adapter which allows phase-detection AF with almost all of the A-mount lenses. The camera does undoubtedly feel solid when gripped in the palm, though with the lens attached it's too large for most jacket pockets.

The LCD screen can be tilted back and forward - if not, unfortunately swung outwards at 90° - to allow for low and high angle compositions we might not have attempted without. Sony has also included High Definition video shooting, now at Full HD 1080p at 60fps with stereo sound with the welcome ability to control shutter speed, aperture and exposure compensation during recording. It even matches Panasonic G-series options and the Olympus E-PL1 by featuring a dedicated red camcorder-style video record button for instant thumb-operated video access, which is useful, while Tracking Focus allows a target object to be selected via the touchscreen LCD, even when the subject is moving, for both stills and video.

The NEX-5N isn't quite the world's smallest and lightest interchangeable lens camera, but at 210g and 23.3mm in depth if not counting its grip or lens mount, it's hardly a large model. Low light sensitivity without flash also theoretically looks set to show rivals a thing or two by ranging from ISO 100 to a maximum ISO 25600 equivalent setting. Impressive stuff, and matching the sort of spec we're used to seeing on mid-range DSLRs.

Front	Rear

Like Panasonic's directly competing GF3 (and unlike the Olympus Pens) there's no in-body image stabilisation offered by the NEX-5N unfortunately, so this is via lens only, the optically stabilized 18-55mm zoom offered as part of a kit deal for £600 / $600 all-in. Though we did get occasional softness, this appears to work well - at least as effectively as the in-camera or lens based anti shake methodology deployed by rival brands.

For sure the provided lens is one of the most important components of the NEX-5N's set up, but with or without it screwed on to the front via Sony's E-mount (as opposed to standard Alpha mount utilized by the rest of the DSLRs in its family) the camera design looks a little 'basic' compared to competitors - certainly when viewed from the front.

Sony branding and DSLR-style lens release button aside, all we find on the faceplate is a small porthole-shaped window for AF assist/self timer lamp, rectangular CR3 battery-sized and shaped handgrip with a slightly revised ridged surface for a firmer hold, plus the shutter release button on the forward-sloping edge at its top.

The top plate looks similarly functional rather than fashionable. The NEX-5N is turned on or off via a thumb-flick of a chunky, nicely rigid switch to the far right, rather than via the recessed button we usually find on cameras with a smaller form factor. Do this and it's a wait of 2-3 seconds before an image materializes on the LCD allowing the first shot to be framed - slightly slower than we expected in this regard, and certainly no match for a DSLR proper.

Front	Tilting LCD Screen

To the left of this switch on the slope that melds into the back plate is a dedicated playback/review button and the 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 latter Panasonic G-series and Olympus PEN cameras, this proves essential with regard to spur of the moment filming.

Also positioned atop the camera are a left and right (stereo in combination) microphone, each sitting either side of the lens mount, with the clip-on flash/accessory port positioned in between. To the right of this is also a small built-in speaker, for reviewing audio in the field.

Incidentally, should you already have a lens attached, screwing the flash into position proves a tad fiddly, as there's not much room to fit your fingers between the curve of the lens barrel - which stands slightly proud of the top and base of the camera - and the front of the flash, which features a small tightening nut via which it is secured in place. Though the flash can be stored flat to the body to aid portability and adds hardly any additional weight or bulk, when in use the head needs to be manually raised at a angle of approximately 45°.

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 an optional 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 satisfyingly brief shutter click thanks to a release time lag of just 0.02 seconds, a full resolution JPEG is written to memory in about 2 seconds, a marked improvement on the previous NEX-5.

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.

Pop-up Flash	Top

Not everything on the NEX-5N is located exactly where you might expect it to be found. For example ISO settings are discovered within a Brightness menu option that from the look of the icon that denotes it initially appears to be for adjusting screen brightness only. One would reasonably expect ISO adjustment to be found within the Camera folder with the other key shooting options. And so there's a fair amount of familiarisation with the NEX-5N's quirks required up front.

Shoot mode gets its own virtual dial though - so at least selecting the options here, including standard P,A,S,M, 9-strong scene mode, Anti Motion Blur, Intelligent Auto, Sweep Panorama and 3D Sweep Panorama, prove easier. Even in intelligent auto mode users still have the ability to get hands on to a degree by controlling 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. New to the NEX-5N are further controls for Brightness, Color, Vividness and Picture Effects, all part of the so-called Photo Creativity Touch interface.

The NEX-5N's external backplate is a similarly pared-down affair, the majority of it taken up by the 3-inch widescreen ratio angle-adjustable LCD that stretches from base to top plate. In our review of the NEX-5 we commented that the screen almost begged to be controlled by touch alone, in addition to the regular controls, and Sony has seen fit to introduce just such a system on this new model. For the first time on a NEX camera you can interact with onscreen icons and menus by touching the screen, and also set the focus point, handy for off-centre shooting and tracking moving subjects, although you can't actually fire the shutter as on some rival cameras. Thankfully you don't have to use the touchscreen at all if you prefer a more conventional approach, as you can still use the external controls to fully operate the camera (you can even turn off the touchscreen altogether if you prefer).

To the right of the screen 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/Colour, Playback and Setup icons.

The user moves through these options and makes selections either via the scroll wheel just below the menu button, which has its own central (and again unmarked) set button, or the new touchscreen interface. 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 three points around this scroll wheel/pad are a means of adjusting the display, exposure compensation (+/- 2EV selectable), and drive mode (single shot, continuous, continuous with speed priority, so focus/exposure fixed from the first shot), or self timer option (2 or 10 seconds). There's also options to enable the camera to be utilized with the aid of a remote - sold separately of course - and a bracketing control for exposure.

Disappointingly you now have to delve into the Camera main menu system to access the various flash modes. The flash options more unusually include rear sync as well as slow sync, plus the regulars of auto and fill in. Somehwat confusingly the NEX-5N's red eye reduction setting isn't also found here - instead it has to be first enabled via the aforementioned Setup folder if you're shooting portraits with flash.

The bottom button on the camera back provides a means of calling up the on-screen shooting tips, via 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 others may feel Sony has wasted one of its very few dedicated buttons on a feature that, like the manual, many will choose to ignore.

At the base of the camera we find a screw thread for a tripod directly beneath the lens mount, and, in the nether regions of the grip, a compartment storing both rechargeable battery and optional memory card - here Sony reaching out to a wider audience by offering SD/SDHC/SDXC compatibility alongside its own Memory Stick.

While the right hand side of the NEX-5N - if viewing it from the back - features a continuation of the ridged grip but is otherwise devoid of ports or controls, the left hand flank is where users will find separate covered ports for HDMI connectivity and USB output. Only the USB cable was provided with our review sample; there's no standard definition AV output.

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-5N produces photos of excellent quality. Noise is very well handled, being virtually absent from ISO 100-3200 and not being too obvious at the fast speed of ISO 6400. At ISO 12800, noise is more easily detectable when viewing images at 100% magnification on screen, but the images are still perfectly usable for small prints and resizing for web use. The fastest setting of ISO 25600 looks good on the specification sheet, but proves much less so in reality. 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.

Colours were vibrant without being over-saturated in the default Standard Creative Style, and you can always choose Vivid if you want even more punch. The 11 creative 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. The Dynamic Range Optimizer and High Dynamic Range modes both work really well, although we'd advise caution over using some of the higher and more extreme levels, while Sony's now tried-and-trusted Sweep Panorama is still a joy to use.

Image stabilisation via the lens is a very useful feature that works well when hand-holding the NEX-5N in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The 16.1 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting. The pop-up flash provides an adequate level of exposure and thankfully no red-eye. Chromatic aberrations were only really noticeable by their absence, a great credit to the 18-55mm kit lens.

Noise

There are 7 ISO settings available on the Sony NEX-5N. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
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 25600 (100% Crop)	ISO 25600 (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-5N has 3 different image quality settings available, with Superfine 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 (4.34Mb) (100% Crop)	16M Normal (3.06Mb) (100% Crop)
14M RAW (16.1Mb) (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Sony NEX-5N handled chromatic aberrations very well during the review, with limited purple fringing mainly present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.

Example 1 (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Sony NEX-5N 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 (27mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (27mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (82.5mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (82.5mm)

And here are a couple of portrait shots. Both the Auto setting and the Red-eye reduction mode caused a small amount of red-eye.

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

Night

The Sony NEX-5N'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 4 seconds at ISO 200.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Steadyshot

The Sony NEX-5N has an antishake mechanism built into the camera body, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Shake Reduction turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Shake Reduction turned on, the images are sharper than when it's turned off.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Shake Reduction Off (100% Crop)	Shake Reduction On (100% Crop)
1/2 / 27mm
1/4 / 82.5mm

Dynamic Range Optimizer

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

Off	Auto
1	2
3	4
5

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	Auto
1	2
3	4
5	6

Intelligent Sweep Panorama Mode

The Sony NEX-5N 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 now even successfully compensates for moving subjects. The main catch is that the resulting image is of fairly low resolution

3D Sweep Panorama Mode

The NEX-5N has an additional 3D Sweep Panorama mode on the virtual on-screen shooting dial alongside the regular (2D) Sweep Panorama. If you're lucky enough to own a compatible 3D HDTV, download the sample below to experience the full 3D effect.

Download the Full Size Image

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-5N offers a range of eleven creative Picture Effects.

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

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony NEX-5N camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Fine JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Sony NEX-5N enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Sony RAW (ARW) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Isometric View

Pop-up Flash

Pop-up Flash

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Help Screen

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

Top of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

While the original NEX-5 and NEX-3 models left us a little cold, the new NEX-5N is an excellent all-round compact system camera (CSC) that successfully appeals to beginners and more experience users alike. While it looks almost identical to its predeccesor, faster focusing, less shutter lag, better video and stills, and an intuitive touchscreen interface are just some of the many improvements that have taken place under the hood, making this the best NEX camera and one of the best CSC's that we've reviewed.

With its tiny body, boxy styling and big lenses, the NEX-5N still lacks the charm of the Olympus PEN series or the futuristic styling of the Panasonic G range, but don't let that put you off what is otherwise and excellent camera that delivers fantastic stills and videos. The new 16 megapixel sensor somehow offers more resolution and an expanded ISO range without introducing unwanted noise artifacts at the faster settings, while full 1080p video at 60fps is simply class-leading. Add in the ability to use both E-mount and A-mount lenses thanks to the new LA-EA2 SLT alpha mount adapter, not to mention the myriad of third-arty adapters that have been released since the NEX series was launched, and you have the basis for a truly versatile system that can be as simple or as complex as you like.

While the touchscreen interface feels like an intuitive and natural addition to the NEX range, it is possible to use the camera fully using the external controls, so much so that you may not realise that the camera can be controlled via the tilting screen at all! For us the faster auto-focusing and greatly reduced shutter lag have a much bigger impact on the camera's handling and are worth upgrading from the NEX-3 / 5 or a simpler compact camera on their own.

With all of this extra functionality available, it's good to see that the NEX-5N retains its predecessors price-point of £600 / $600, earning it a higher score in the value-for-money department. It may not be the smallest (at least with a lens attached) or sexiest compact system camera on the market, but a winning combination of excellent image quality even in low-light, a refined and customisable interface, and fast and responsive operation does make the Sony NEX-5N one of our current favourites. Highly Recommended!

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

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony NEX-5N from around the web.

Specifications

Your Comments