Thoughts on the new Sony Alpha Nex-5?

Markk655 wrote on 11/25/2010, 12:01 PM
Looking to replace a point/shoot superzoom Lumix camera (5 MP) and a first gen. AVCHD 1440x1080 videocamera all in one piece. I would love a dSLR, but don't want the weight to tote around. It would be used for typical non-business stuff such as vacations, family etc...So, I would be using the internal mic (as I do on my current video cam).

Anyone know or hear anything about the Nex-5 {link=http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10151&catalogId=10551&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666192716]?

From a handheld perspective, any issue with moving to a single unit for stills/video? Problems to look out for? Any test for quality of the internal mic that I can make in my evaluations?

I downloaded a few sample videos and they seem to edit OK in VMS 10 HD. It offers 1920x1080/60i AVCHD or 1440x1080/30p mp4.

For playback on newer TVs and editing ease, what would you choose?



Comments

aquaholik wrote on 12/1/2010, 1:02 PM
I played around with it while in Las Vegas at the Sony Store. I have the Canon Vixia HFS10 and is very happy with the 24Mbps video. Outdoor and well lit indoor footage is simply stunning on my Samsung 55 inch LED. Still photo outdoor is fine but the flash overexposes everything indoor. I have to step back and zoom in a little bit when using flash.

From a handheld perspective, the NEX 5 looks like a great still camera but all zooming will have to be done manually. For still picture this is fine but for on the go family video where you don't have time to compose a shot, a tripod or mono pod will really help. I couldn't find the max bit rate until I downloaded the owner's manual and found out that it is 17Mbps for 1920x1080 60i video and 1440x1080 in the .mp4 mode. I do plan to get one before Christmas since I want a small point and shoot with near DSLR quality and the ability to capture 1920x1080 video when I need it to.
Eugenia wrote on 12/1/2010, 1:22 PM
I would personally go for the Canon S95. It's 720/24p at 21 mbps VBR (up to 24 mbps). It has a pretty big sensor compared to other Canon digicams (almost 2/3s). If you are into artistic stuff, this is nice cam, since it has color control, and exposure compensation/locking. If you are just after family videos, get an AVCHD camcorder instead.
Markk655 wrote on 12/1/2010, 6:07 PM
Thanks for the replies. I actually have a 1st gen. 1440x1080 AVCHD camcorder already. It does very poor stills. My current still camera is a 5 MP P&S and it just doesn't allow the control over DOF that I would want. So, I would like to trade up from that P&S.

At the same time, I was hoping to be able to do some standard family vacation-type footage with it as well since the video (minus the standard 3x zoom) is an upgrade over my camcorder with is at "just" 12 mbps (1440x1080). The idea is that we just travel with a single camera unit rather than 2.


I had discounted most of the P&S, but the S95 is intriguing (thanks for the tip). Still worried about having only the ~3.8x optical zoom for video though. From a stills perspective that isn't much different than the standard kit lens for the Nex-5. One of my concerns is not being able to get close in some of my shootings by video and I have shot at 5-6x with my SD1. The other concern I have was touched on by Aquaholic which is ease of use while with family for video (seems to be much easier to hold onto a camcorder with one hand).

Shouldn't full AVCHD be easier to edit (in the absence of intermediates/proxy files) than h/264/mov in VMS?

So, I am trying to balance some creative needs with some practical issues.

Much less expensive as well!

Eugenia - Was it the S95 that you wrote about on your blog some time ago? By the way, I appreciate your comments (both here and there).
Eugenia wrote on 12/1/2010, 6:26 PM
>1440x1080 AVCHD camcorder already. It does very poor stills.

I bet. The Canon HF-S series are what I had in mind (24 mbps, 8 MP stills). There are new Canon models coming out in January btw, at CES, so you might want to wait for these new models. Hopefully they will do full manual control and better low light.

>Shouldn't full AVCHD be easier to edit (in the absence of intermediates/proxy files) than h/264/mov in VMS?

Yes, Vegas is more optimized for AVCHD than MOV/MP4 decoding, even if it's just h.264 in them for both kinds of streams. Especially pre-Platinum 10, AVCHD reacts better..

>Was it the S95 that you wrote about on your blog some time ago?

I have mentioned it http://eugenia.queru.com/?s=s95 but I mostly wrote about the SX200 IS (http://vimeo.com/6451897), and the SD780 IS (http://vimeo.com/15451359). If the S95 had an additional 30p mode to its 24p, that would have been my main digicam for video. I own a Canon 5D MkII, but I'm unhappy with its bulkiness and constant need to change lenses. I don't even need full manual control for the stuff I do, so something like the S95 would have been perfect for me. But as I said, I need 30p, which I slow-down to 24p, to give my videos a dream look. The two videos linked are shot in 30p, then slow-downed to 24p. But having *just* 24p is limiting for what I try to do. So I keep using my SX200 IS lately instead. It has a 12x zoom (the newer SX210 IS has 14x zoom), but its small sensor has low light problems -- that the S95 doesn't. Bah. Between a rock and a hard place...
Markk655 wrote on 12/1/2010, 7:21 PM
I guess it depends on what I am really upgrading....From my view, I am actually OK with my current video camera (for now!), but the still camera is what needs the larger upgrade. So, I guess I just need to think about which way I want the wind to blow - a still camera that does video or a video camera that does some stills.

Hmmm....
aquaholik wrote on 12/2/2010, 10:34 AM
I thought the Canon Vixia HFS 10 would be all I need since it does 8 megapixel still and the outdoor video shot at 24Mbps is just stunning. This is not to say that the indoor video sucks. It does very well indoor. The Canal Shoppes at Venetian are not that well lit but the video came out fine with very little noise. I believe Canon intentionally blur out detail when there is not enough light. You won't see much noise but you do lose a little bit of detail(not much at all if indoor scene are decently lit). Browsing the desserts selection at all the indoor pastry shops at multiple resorts and then playing them back on my Samsung UN55C6400 is just stunning. The color, the contrast, the sharpness was simply amazing.

It is much easier to shoot one hand and if you are zooming in a little bit, the second hand on the LCD display really stabilize the shot. I can't say you will get the same thing holding the Nex 5 and turning the zoom lens manually. I tried and knows I won't get good video without a tripod.

The biggest gripe is the still picture of the Canon Vixia HFS10. Outdoor without the flash, it is very good. Indoor with flash, the subject's face is overexposed and the background has a red dish tint. Stepping back from the subject and using the zoom lens a little does help but the background color is just not natural. Maybe I am expecting too much from the flash of the Canon. It is amazingly bright and powerful and I expected clear well lit photo but the subject got too much light and the background is too dim. I may have to play around with the setting to see if I can improve on it.

I don't know if the sensor on the Nex 5 is bigger than the Canon Vixia but I highly doubt you are going to get better video judging from what I see with my Vixia. Having said that, I will probably get the Nex 5 if I can't get a better indoor picture with my Vixia.
Markk655 wrote on 12/2/2010, 10:44 AM
Compared to today's technology, I view the HDC-SD1 (video camera) as abeing much more up to date and in all honesty is suitable for my purposes. The P&S camera doesn't. So, I guess I am more interested in a P&S upgrade. of course, once I spend the cash, I would like to find some sort of a hybrid.

I'm still on the fence. One of the big adjustments is how to hold the camera. For handheld video on the Nex-5 (it is a 2-handed pose) to support the lens and allow for zooming. To me, I don't zoom that often in single clips, so I don't that will bother me as much as only having a 3x zoom (instead of 10x) for video.

I guess there isn't a perfect hybrid yet. Either way, I can tell you that SVMS HD works quite nicely with the stills and the video.