Introduction

Ease of Use

The Sony NEX-F3 is quite similar in design to last year's NEX-C3 model, so a lot of the comments that we made in our Sony NEX-C3 review apply equally to the new NEX-F3. The rectangular body shape lacks the immediately appealing retro finesse of an Olympus Pen, or the modernist curves of the Panasonic G series. Despite weighing just 225g (without the lens and battery fitted), the NEX-F3 still feels solid gripped in the palm, though with a lens attached it's too large for most jacket pockets. It now has a bigger, more bulbous grip than the NEX-C3, with the shutter release button moving from the top of the camera to the top of the grip. The camera inevitably looks bigger as a result, but we really liked the new location of the shutter button, falling very naturally under your right fore-finger whilst also helping to support the rest of the camera. With the supplied 18-55mmm kit lens attached the NEX-5 does look and feel top heavy, an inevitable consequence of the APS-C sensor and the NEX system as a whole.

The 3 inch LCD screen can now 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. The NEX-F3 now 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-F3's target audience. It also features a useful dedicated red camcorder-style video record button for instant thumb-operated video access.

Sony is hoping to win one over on the competition by pitching the NEX-F3 as one of the world's smallest and lightest interchangeable lens camera, at 225g and 33mm in depth counting its camera grip and lens mount. 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-F3 unfortunately, so this is via lens only, the optically stabilized 18-55mm zoom offered as part of a kit deal. 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.

The NEX-F3's design looks a little spartan compared to competitors, 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, the curved battery-sized and shaped handgrip with a dimpled surface for a firmer hold, and two small holes either side of the lens for the stereo sound. 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.

Front	Rear

The top plate looks similarly functional rather than fashionable. The NEX-F3 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 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. To the left of this switch, on the slope that melds into the back plate, is a dedicated playback/review button, and alongside is 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 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 new integrated pop-up flash, which borrows a lot of design cues from the flagship NEX-7 model and is a big improvement on the NEX-C3's rather "unique" clip-on flash/accessory port. To the left and completing the top of the NEX-F3 is an accessory port for attaching optional accessories like the rather pricey FDA-EV1S electronic viewfinder or the ECM-SST1 microphone.

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.

Pop-up Flash	Tilting LCD Screen

Not everything on the NEX-F3 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-F3's quirks required up front.

Just like Olympus and Panasonic, the Sony NEX-F3 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 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-F3'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.

Front	Top

The NEX-F3's external backplate is a 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. 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.

Set at three points around this scroll wheel/pad are a means of adjusting the display (top), the exposure compensation (bottom) and the self-timer/drive mode options. The right position can be configured to suit your way of working - I chose to assign the ISO to this button. In addition, the button below the navigation wheel and the center button can also be assigned to a custom function of your choice, making the NEX-F3 much less cumbersome to use than the NEX-5 and NEX-3 when they were first released (a later firmware update provided similar functionality for those models).

By default the bottom button on the camera back provides a means of activating the new Clear Zoom function. This effectively digitally doubles the zoom range of whatever lens is attached, using Sony's new Pixel Super Resolution Technology to increase the magnification. The Auto Portrait Framing mode uses face detection and the rule of thirds to automatically crop and create tightly framed portrait shots. The same 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.

Memory Card Slot	Battery Compartment

The list of shooting tips has been less helpfully relegated to the main menu, 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 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-F3 we find a screw thread for a tripod directly beneath the lens mount, and, in the nether regions of the grip, separate compartments storing the rechargeable battery and the optional memory card - here Sony reaching out to a wider audience by offering SD/SDHC/SDXC compatibility alongside its own Memory Stick. Unfortunately using a tripod with the NEX-F3 blocks the memory card slot.

While the right hand side of the NEX-F3 - if viewing it from the back - features a continuation of the dimpled grip but is otherwise devoid of ports or controls, the left hand flank is where users will find a separate 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 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-F3 produced images of excellent quality during the review period. The Sony NEX-F3 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-F3. 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-F3 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 (4.62Mb) (100% Crop)	16M Standard (3.21Mb) (100% Crop)
16M RAW (16.1Mb) (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash settings on the Sony NEX-F3 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-F3'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 5 seconds at ISO 200.

Night Shot	Night Shot (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-F3 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

Download the Full Size Image

Wide

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-F3 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

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony NEX-F3 camera, which were all taken using the 16.1 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-F3 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

Front of the Camera / Pop-Up Flash

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Menu

Rear of the Camera / Camera Menu

Rear of the Camera / Shooting Mode Menu

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

Rear of the Camera / Tilting LCD Screen

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Sony NEX-F3 significantly improves on its predecessor with a more versatile 180 degree tilting screen, fully integrated pop-up flash and 1080 50i/25p HD video recording. The resulting camera provides a compelling upgrade path for frustrated compact owners, even if its usability and price still leave a little to be desired.

Looking and feeling more like a compact camera than ever, this new NEX perhaps lacks the retro charm of the Olympus PEN series, but it certainly majors as a viable upgrade option for someone looking for DSLR-like image quality without the size and bulk of such a system. The unwieldy clip-on flash unit of its predecessor has thankfully been replaced by a much better integrated pop-up flash that you can't leave at home or lose entirely, and we also liked the more pronounced hand-grip with the shutter release handily located on top.

Image quality is excellent, with results from the 16 APS-C sensor in most cases surpassing the Compact System Camera alternatives, especially if you want to achieve shallow depth-of field effects, and even rivaling some of the DSLR competition. Noise doesn't rear its ugly head until ISO 3200 for JPEGs, although the NEX-F3 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-F3, especially if you like to experiment away from a computer.

The Sony NEX-F3 may sit at the bottom of Sony's mirrorless compact system camera line-up, but for many people this could be the only camera that they'll ever need. We wish that the LCD screen could be tilted sideways as well as up and down, the user interface was a little more intuitive and quicker to use, and the price a bit lower, but otherwise the diminutive NEX-F3 proves to be a versatile camera that is capable of taking excellent photos and video.

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

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony NEX-F3 from around the web.

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