Traditionally often called DSLRs, interchangeable lens cameras (ILC) have always promised excellent image quality, speed, and flexibility. But their enormous size and weight, lofty price tags, and intimidating design have forced casual photographers to spotlight compact and superzoom point-and-shoot cameras instead, often leaving those bulky, confusing monstrosities to the professionals. Enter mirrorless models, which scrap an optical viewfinder in favor of shrinking both body size and cost tag, have provided the remainder of us with a welcome mat to the realm of powerful sensors, high-speed shooting, and swappable lenses — with relatively little sacrifice along the way in which.
The 16-megapixel Alpha NEX-C3 builds upon the successes of its predecessor — the NEX-3 — sporting a slimmer body and redesigned APS-C sensor. It also adds a reported 20-percent boost in battery life, improved low light performance, and a slimmer, more attractive design. We spent well over a month using the NEX-C3 as our primary camera for product shoots, trade shows, hands-on videos, and vacations, and were blown away by its performance as both a flexible still snapper and a strong video camera. You need to note that while the C3 does capture 720p video, it can’t shoot in 1080p, so you will need to peer elsewhere if you want full HD. Like several mirrorless cameras, there’s also no optical viewfinder, neither is there a normal hot shoe. Instead, Sony included the identical propriety connector found at the NEX-3 and NEX-5, enabling connectivity with a dedicated external microphone and a limited sort of external flashes, including the compact strobe that ships inside the box. While some photographers may find the NEX-C3 inadequate for his or her needs, we absolutely loved shooting with it, and we expect one can too. Jump past the break to look why.
Hardware
In case you currently own an NEX-3 or NEX-5, there really is not any ought to upgrade to the NEX-C3. As may also be expected after a year available on the market, the NEX series is now more polished, though these types of improvements are cosmetic. To assert that the NEX-C3 looks awkward at the start glance will be somewhat an irony. The 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens ($649, with body) appears gigantic when contrasted against the relatively petite camera, though it’s still smaller than a DSLR equivalent. Popping at the 16mm f/2.8 kit lens ($599, with body) makes the C3 appear a lot better proportioned, but that fixed optic isn’t quite as versatile as its zoom-enabled sibling, though it’s going to work just fine for informal outings. When you get past this initial awkwardness — and trust us, you can get past it — both lenses will feel best suited.
Diving beyond the lens, you’ll notice some cosmetic differences from the NEX-3. Sony constructed the body of 3 panels, which allowed it to shrink and reposition a number of the components, in addition to shake things up with two-tone coloring. The C3 is supplied in black, pink and silver, and all three versions include a magnesium alloy top panel, which houses the ability slider, shutter and playback buttons, and video record control. You’ll also find the proprietary hot shoe mount, AF-assist light, and stereo microphones, that have been repositioned from the highest of the body (at the C3) to front, located simply to the left and right of the lens. This new placement presents an obvious advantage, since one can capture audio directly out of your source in front of the lens.
Moving down the back of the camera, you can see an analogous articulating 3-inch (921,000-pixel) display that Sony included with the NEX-3. The mount itself have been redesigned, however, taking into consideration the LCD to rest flush with the base and sides when in its docked position. You may as well tilt it up at about an 85-degree angle, or down at 45 degrees, letting short folks like us capture overhead shots at, say, a concert, or in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. Sony elected to exclude touch functionality, which seems reasonable for a high-end camera — in any case, the sort of photographer is more desirous about having dedicated controls they are able to fine-tune at the fly, instead of a touchscreen that requires more patience, drains battery life, and picks up fingerprints. To the appropriate of the display, there is a pair of variable buttons, toggling different menu options looking on the mode. There’s also a multipurpose selection ring surrounding a four-way selector, with dedicated controls for display and exposure. And that’s the reason about it — the various buttons perform different functions as you turn through shooting and playback modes, with the onscreen menu clearly identifying each button’s role.
At the right side there’s a longer grip positioned towards front, and a shoulder strap hook. At the left, you will find a reproduction strap connector flanked by mini USB and mini-HDMI ports. Sony switched things up a chunk at the bottom of the camera, separating the SD card and battery compartments — essential to reduce at the body’s width. The dedicated SD card slot is found to the perfect of the tripod connector. A flashing red LED indicates activity, so that you won’t accidentally come out your card while the camera is writing to memory. The battery compartment houses a similar 1080mAh NP-FW50 battery that’s utilized in the NEX-3, and features a small cord pass-through, for those who wish to use a dedicated AC adapter ($120) instead.
Performance and battery life
Photographers decide to shoot with ILCs not just due to obvious flexibility they offer within the lens department, but additionally as a consequence of their speed, manual control capabilities, and massive, high-quality image sensors. The NEX-C3 doesn’t disappoint on any of those counts, offering compatibility with several E-mount lenses, snapping frame after frame with minimal delay, and capturing many of the sharpest, most vibrant images we have seen pop out of any interchangeable lens camera, including higher-end DSLRs. The camera’s image sensor is only one component to the equation — you furthermore may should have some serious, multi-element, high-quality glass. We do not see a necessity for current NEX owners to upgrade, however. Sure, the C3′s 16-megapixel sensor offers a 14 percent boost over the NEX-3′s 14-megapixels, but with nearly all of images bound for the online today, the sole difference you’re prone to see after upgrading is that your memory cards will top off more quickly. Both cameras perform well in low light (at as much as ISO 6400), and feature an equally obnoxious amount of noise when shooting at ISO 12,800.
Because timing is essential in photography, the camera’s speed is important to its performance — a neighborhood where the C3 does just fine, especially considering its size. You’ll be able to select between Single-shot Advance, Continuous Advance, or Speed Priority Continuous. Inside the first mode, the camera powers on and captures its first image in 1.8 seconds. Since we’re only shooting individual images in that mode, you will need to flip to continuous to fireplace multiples, at three frames-per-second. Jumping to the even faster Speed Priority Continuous mode, which fixes focus and exposure from the primary shot, allows you to shoot full-size images at six frames-per-second — not too shabby for a compact mirrorless camera. In video mode, we were shooting in 720p at 29.97fps within under a second of pressing the dedicated record button.
As we already mentioned, there is no 1080p video, as there’s with last year’s NEX-5, but that camera only offers one HD mode — 1080p — so we’re happy to accept 720p, due to the fact that the vast majority of videos we shoot go on to the net. We realize that a number of you must shoot 1080p, though, so it’s unfortunate that this camera cannot. The HD video that we did shoot was sharp, vibrant, and correctly exposed. Audio sounded crisp and clear, even in some very noisy environments. We extensively utilized Sony’s external Compact Stereo Microphone ($130) when shooting in particularly noisy environments, which gave the impression to be particularly helpful, so long as we weren’t attempting to narrate from behind the cam (the mic can capture audio within a 120-degree field, which unfortunately excludes a photographer standing 180-degrees behind it).
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We were pleasantly surprised by the camera’s battery life, especially considering the fact that the C3 uses the very same battery as its predecessor. Still, Sony claims that it was ready to boost longevity by 20-percent. We brought the camera on a four-day vacation, and were nearly in a position to get in the course of the entire trip with no recharge. Our testing didn’t necessarily represent typical usage, either, because we shot over 450 still images, including several dozen extended exposures of at the least ten seconds each, passed the camera around over and over to demo shooting modes, reviewed nearly every image onscreen at least one time, and captured about ten minutes of 720p video. Overall, we’d feel confident using the C3 through several consecutive days of heavy shooting without bringing along a second battery (though they’re available to buy for $80).
Image quality
At the optical front, the C3 comes with either an 18-55mm zoom or 16mm fixed kit lens, that you could also buy separately for $300 and $250, respectively. There’s also an 18-200mm zoom ($800) available now and a 30mm macro ($250) shipping in October. Unlike point-and-shoot users, ILC photographers make long-term investments in a specific camera system, when you consider that lenses from one manufacturer are almost never compatible with a competitor’s camera body. Sony has confirmed its commitment to growing its portfolio of lenses, so in case you are hesitant to leap into the NEX pond since the water level appears a piece low, don’t be concerned — more lenses and bodies are coming, hopefully very soon.
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A technique to simply set yourself apart as a complicated digital photographer is to disregard the megapixel rating, and concentrate on image sensor size instead. Okay, perhaps you should not completely ignore the megapixels, but there is a reason photos from a 12-megapixel smartphone camera don’t compare to these you will get with a degree-and shoot with an identical resolution. As you step up from smartphones to indicate-and-shoots to DSLRs, sensor size increases significantly, though megapixel ratings may actually remain stagnant. It’s these larger sensors than can capture images with much greater detail, especially in low light.
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This new category of digicam typically uses a smaller sensor — including Micro Four Thirds, on the subject of Olympus and Panasonic offerings, or 1/2.3-inch, as you will discover within the 0 Pentax Q 0 . But Sony’s NEX series packs an APS-C sensor — the most important of the bunch, and the identical size found on many full-size DSLRs — enabling more advanced autofocus, superior low light performance, and better-quality image capture. Camera lens size is additionally directly concerning sensor size, that is why — despite its incredibly compact body — the NEX-C3′s lenses are massive in comparison to those designed for the Pentax Q, which, while also an ILC, uses a sensor far smaller than the Sony cam.
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More matured photographers are likely to shoot in manual mode whenever possible, giving them full control over aperture and shutter speed. The C3 has that capability (more on that during a piece), however it also performs quite well in the event you let the camera handle all of the calculations, if that is what you want to do. Like its predecessor, both cameras offer the standard aperture and shutter priority modes, as well as a Program Auto mode, which helps you to dictate other settings because the camera selects aperture and shutter speed. There’s also Intelligent Auto, which automatically chooses the appropriate settings in response to a lot of characteristics to your scene.
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During our weeks of testing, we shot in nearly every condition imaginable, capturing photos in bright daylight during a hike, mixed indoor lighting at trade shows and in an office setting, high-speed at a Broadway show, or even 15-second exposures under the celebrities, lighting our subjects with smartphones as you will see within the sample images gallery. Even in low light, the vast majority of our shots came out sharp and bright, even if captured at ISO 3200. Despite the zoom lens’s maximum aperture limitation, which does not allow it to capture as much light as high-end DSLR optics, we never had to use the flash. Having the ability to bump up the ISO the entire option to 12,800, along side built-in optical image stabilization, helps to make up for the lens’s mediocre maximum aperture.
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9 User interface
In view that the camera has a limited choice of dedicated hardware buttons, a well-planned user interface is fundamental. Fortunately, we found Sony’s UI to be intuitive and comprehensive, though certain frequently used menu items — namely, the memory card format tool — are buried several levels deep. As well as the advanced shooting modes we already covered, the camera’s Intelligent Auto mode replaces the common auto mode included with most point-and-shoots, selecting the precise settings in keeping with your surroundings. If you are attempting to shoot a detailed-up subject, the camera will switch into Macro mode, for instance. Take it outside at night, and you will be shooting in Night View. Each mode adjusts aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to capture the foremost sharp, accurate images.
Another feature geared toward IRC newbies is the flexibility to press the heart select button while in Intelligent Auto to launch the Photo Creativity interface, which allows you to adjust advanced settings using a easy to grasp graphical interface. To choose shallow depth of field, for instance, jump to Background Defocus mode, then turn the choice wheel towards Defocus, that’s also illustrated with a human figure juxtaposed against a blurry mountain peak. Turning the wheel within the other direction will make the whole subject Crisp — during this mode, both the figure and mountain peak are sharp. Other modes include Picture Effect, with Toy Camera, Posterization, and Retro options. There also are similar graphical menus for adjusting Vividness, Color, Brightness, and speed modes. Like nearly every menu option inside the camera, each mode and sub-mode incorporates a sentence-long description — the colour menu, to illustrate, explains “Creates a warm, soft mood, or cool, refreshing look.”
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The contest
The primary mirrorless ILC hit the market in 2008. Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-G1 was the primary to take advantage of the Micro Four Thirds system, which offers compatibility with a wide range of lenses from both Panasonic and Olympus, which also has its own series of mirrorless cams, including the recently announced 7 PEN E-P3 7 . This universal lens mount allows photographers to modify between both camera systems without replacing their entire choice of lenses, so that you can use your Olympus lenses with the brand new 8 Panasonic GF3 8 when it becomes available, for instance. The tradeoff, however, is that these cams use a singular sensor, that’s significantly smaller than the APS-C sensor utilized in the NEX-C3. The result’s a slower focusing system, mediocre low light performance, and a noticeable difference in overall image quality.
You may as well remember the recently announced 9 Pentax Q 9 , which takes the title because the world’s smallest interchangeable lens camera. In an effort to do so small size, Pentax opted for a 1/2.3-inch sensor — a similar size utilized in many (a lot more affordable) point-and-shoot cameras. We weren’t allowed to take home any sample images after our hands-on, but even images we reviewed at the petite LCD looked to be noisy when shot at higher ISO settings. Unfortunately, we do not have high hopes for this camera, and in case you are wondering if the tradeoff in size is worth choosing the Q rather than the NEX-C3, we will be able to say with confidence that it most likely isn’t.
Wrap-up
We’ve got a chance to check an incredible form of gadgets every year, including dozens of point-and-shoot and DSLR cameras. Seldom, however, will we discover a tool that we undoubtedly plan to buy ourselves. The Sony NEX-C3 is one in all few exceptions — actually, we’re even considering outfitting every member of the Engadget team with the sort of compact, versatile ILCs when they hit stores next month. We feel that the camera is priced very competitively (starting at $599, with the 16mm kit lens), and you are not more likely to miss the few features it omits — namely 1080p video capture and a universal accessory hot shoe. That is not to claim that we overlooked these lacking capabilities, however, and this exclusion contributed to our decision to not rate the C3 an ideal-10. Sony’s NEX-3 left us with high expectations for its next generation mirrorless cam, and our level of enthusiasm for this latest camera remains unparalleled. If you have been seeking to upgrade from a compact point-and-shoot, or wish to trim a major amount of fat out of your DSLR kit, then there isn’t any more sensible choice than the NEX-C3.
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