We interrupt our regularly scheduled programing for a brief first impressions report on the Sony NEX 3NL-B with the SEL1650 collapsible power zoom lens (16-50mm, 24-75 equivalent field of view). This camera has arguably already been replaced by the newly introduced Alpha 5000, which follows Sony’s new naming scheme, and fits, according to the press info, between the NEX 3N and the 5T. No more NEX. It might not be close-out time on this model quite yet, as the A5000 is not available, but Amazon had a one-day, Lightening Deal, on the 3NL-B last week which, along with its other attributes, made it irresistible (at least to me 🙂

Late afternoon light in the forest. HDR processed in Snapseed

What is to like:

1) image quality. There is only one reason to move from today’s amazing Point & Shoot digital compacts…and that would be to get an increase in overall image quality. Careful comparison shots of the same scenes and subjects with the NEX and my current walk-around-camera, the Samsung Smart Camera WB800F, shows that the Sony has what you would expect from a larger sensor camera: extended dynamic range, better high ISO performance (by far), and finer detail. However the P&S does remarkably well, all things considered. At normal screen resolutions it is very close. Still, overall, I prefer the NEX shots.

Natural light portrait @ ISO 3200

2) compactness. Honestly, the increase in image quality, for my current purposes (web publication and the occasional print) would not be worth it if the NEX were not very nearly as compact as my P&S. In fact, the body of the NEX and the WB800F are almost exactly the same size. Only the 16-50mm zoom on the NEX makes the package slightly larger and a few ounces heavier. Still, the NEX definitely qualifies as a walk-around-camera. It fits in the same bag as the WB800F, and will go in any pocket big enough to hold the P&S. That is an amazing accomplishment for a camera with a full APS sized sensor!
3) the 16-50mm power zoom. Most entry level compact mirror-less cameras with interchangeable lenses come with a fairly narrow kit zoom…maxing out at the wide end at 27-30mm equivalent field of view. I shop for cameras with at least 24mm equivalent for landscape and interior work. The NEX 16-50mm is one of the few kit zooms to fulfill that requirement. Plus it is both collapsible and power. With the camera off, it pancakes into a very short extension on the camera body, which makes the camera pocketable. And, for those of moving from P&S, it works with the familiar power zoom lever around the shutter release. There is a second power zoom lever on the barrel of the lens itself, and, in most shooting settings, a zoom ring as well. A wealth of zooming options…though I find myself using the shutter release lever most of the time. Lastly, with the built in image corrections in the Bionz processor, the 16-50mm zoom is a very sharp and pleasant lens through its whole range: impressive landscapes and group shots, to flattering portraits and close-ups. 75mm equivalent is not very long, but since I carry the Canon SX50HS for reach, that is not a problem in my walk-around-camera.
4) build quality. My Samsung is an exceptionally solid and well made piece of equipment for a P&S. The NEX is even more so. 🙂

Flash shot

5) Overall operation. The NEX 3NL-B was clearly designed to be used in Intelligent Auto or Superior Auto most of the time. (Superior Auto uses the same scene selections as Intelligent Auto, with the addition of modes that require multiple shots…HDR and Hand-held Twilight for instance.) All well and good. I have come to rely on Scene Selection Auto in its various implementations in different makes of camera more and more. What the NEX adds to the mix is Creative Options. In either Auto mode, a touch of the lower button on the control wheel opens the Creative Options menu, where you can pretty much instantly adjust Background Defocus (what you would normally do with Program Shift), Brightness (which you would normally do with Exposure Compensation), Color (White Balance control), and Vividness (selective Saturation)…as well as a range of special effect filters under Picture Effects (these include single color, high contrast black and white, toy camera, Pop (super saturation), Poster, etc.) With these options instantly available for any scene the Auto selects, there is not much reason to use Program at all. In fact, it is a whole new metaphor for image capture…similar to the shift from PhotoShop to Lightroom (or even Snapseed) for processing. With Superior Auto and Creative Options you can accomplish many (most) of the fine adjustments we real photographers like to make in our image capture (when we think we are smarter than the camera automation), but in a more intuitive…less…well, maybe less photographic, or at least less traditional way. This is, in may ways, the natural step-up for folks coming from P&Ss and camera phones: real photography without having to know much about photography. Brilliant really. And of course the NEX does provide Program, Aperture and Shutter Preferred, full manual, and manual Scene Selection for times when you need (or at least think you need) them.

Creative Option: Color warmed the image nicely.

6) control. I am having to learn how to control this camera. It is not like the traditional wheel, knob, and button interface of the Canon SX50HS, nor like the innovative hybrid Touch Screen interface of the Samsung. Basically you have three buttons and a wheel for everything, with a few specialized functions mapped to the four edges of the wheel. The more I use it, the more I like it…but, again, it is a very non-traditional approach. It works and it has its own consistent logic. I will learn.
7) flip up flash. First results from the flip up flash inside, and group shots, have been very promising.
8) flip up LCD. Last but not least. I like low angle, down on the ground, shots and I really appreciate an articulated LCD to facilitate such. The NEX articulation is simple, and somewhat limited, but it does the job.

What is not to like.

1) no wifi 🙁 I have come to rely on the excellent implementation of wifi, and the excellent image transfer app, that is part of the Samsung Smart Camera experience. Samsung is the one camera company that really has wifi connectedness down! This model of the NEX has no wifi at all. The new A5000 will have it, and the current 5L and 6n have it…though I have not used the transfer app so I can’t attest to the strength of Sony’s implementation. There is a work-around. After some research I bought an EZ-Share wifi SD card and downloaded the free app for my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. I have to say, EZ-Share also has the whole wifi connectedness thing down. The card works well, the wifi is fast, and the apps are the only wifi SD card apps that I have found that allow you to easily pick and choose which images to download. With the EZ-Share SD card in place, the NEX has just as just as good wifi connectedness as the Samsung Smart Camera 🙂

Pseudo macro using 2x Clear Image Zoom

2) sweep panorama. Coming from the excellent sweep panorama implemention of the Samsung Smart Camera and my Galaxy S4 smartphone, the panorama on the NEX is totally awkward! You have to set the direction manually (and the setting is buried in the menu system) and the leaf shutter (see below) means that you are taking a number of descrete shots which the camera has to assemble rather than painting the image to memory one line at a time as the Samsung does. And, so far, in limited testing, the results are simply not as good. I will work with it. Maybe I will get better.
3) shockingly high ISO settings in Auto. The increased image quality of the larger sensor comes at a price…it simply takes more light to achieve the same exposure…or, if you can’t get more light (and generally you can’t), it requires a higher ISO setting. The NEX consistently sets ISO to twice what the P&S does in the same situation…and the difference increases as the light level falls. Of course, the noise performance of the sensor is enough better so that ISO 1600 on the NEX actually looks, so far, better than ISO 200 on the Samsung Smart Camera, but still, if you are watching what the camera is doing with ISO, it will certainly give you pause. The proof is in the images though…and I am learning to trust the NEX.
4) the noisy leaf shutter. Evidently electronic shutters do not work well on larger CMOS sensors, so the NEX has a electromechanical leaf shutter. It is loud! I generally turn down the sounds on my P&Ss so they run almost silent. Not going to work with the NEX 🙁

Snowy Scene: Superior Auto, HDR processing in Snapseed

5) macro. The 16-50mm zoom is in no way a macro lens. It gets down close enough to just about fill the frame with a credit card at 50mm (75mm equivalent). Again, there is somewhat of a work-around. Sony has built in something they call Clear Image Zoom technology. They make great claims for their special processing and the quality of images using up to 2x digital zoom and CIZ. Using CIZ at 2x on the 16-50mm zoom allows you to fill the frame with 1/4 of the credit card, and working from a comfortable distance…that is not super-macro, but it is decent walk-around-camera macro. Results so far have been promising. 🙂
6) control. In general, as I say above, I like the way the camera works…however there are a few settings that I forsee wanting access to on a semi-regular basis that are buried way too deeply in the menu system.

So, I know you are all asking, does my purchase and use of the Sony NEX 3NL-B destroy my position as a strong proponent of Point & Shoot photography? Is this the start of the slide toward real photography…2 camera bodies and a bag full of lenses and the I-know-better-than-auto attitude? I don’t think so. For one thing, the NEX 3NL-B is really, and quite intentionally, a Point and Shoot camera with a bigger sensor and the possibility of interchangeable lenes. Even it’s A5000 replacement carries that philosophy forward. Point and Shoot photography is more about attitude than it is about equipment: it is simply letting the camera do all the work it can…and concentrating on the creative aspects of photography…composition and framing. That is the P&S way.

And that is what I will continue to do, no matter what camera I am using. 🙂