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Though outwardly it looks quite similar to its predecessor, the Sony NEX-5N has made quite a few inner changes that are worthy of note. Its 16.1-megapixel EXMOR APS-C sensor is a slight upgrade of the NEX-5's 14.2 megapixels, but the news is the sensor's new electronic first-curtain exposure mechanism, allowing the NEX-5N to realize a prefocus lag time of just 0.02 second (this new electronic first curtain is also seen in the Sony NEX-7, A77 and A65, which also debuted at the same time).
With a 3:2 aspect ratio, the NEX-5N can provide maximum image dimensions of 4,912 x 3,264 pixels at full resolution. Two further 3:2 aspect ratio resolutions are available: 3,568 x 2,368 pixels, or 2,448 x 1,624 pixels. The NEX-5N also provides a choice of three 16:9 aspect ratio shooting modes, each of which has the same pixel width as its 3:2 aspect counterpart, but with heights of 2,760, 2,000 or 1,376 pixels respectively.
As well as Sony's own Alpha-mount SLR lenses (and the Minolta / Konica-Minolta Alpha-mount lenses which predate Sony's purchase of Konica-Minolta's SLR business), the NEX-5N can also be adapted to shoot with Alpha, C-mount, Canon EF-, EF-S, and FD, Contax G, Contarex, Contax / Yashica, Exakta, Fujica X, Hasselblad Xpan, Leica M, M39, or R-mount, M42 mount, Micro Four Thirds, Minolta A or SR-mount, Nikon F-mount, Olympus OM or PEN F, Pentax K-mount, Rollei, or T2-mount lenses. An impressive list indeed, although, it should be noted that each adapter will have differing limitations, and the majority will be manual-focus only.
Focusing. Of course, when you're not using the LA-EA2 mount adapter, the Sony NEX-5N is limited to contrast detection autofocusing, just like any other compact system camera would be. Sony's AF system in the NEX-5N offers 25-point autofocusing, and has a working range of EV 0-20 at ISO 100 equivalent, with an f/2.8 lens. The company says that it has implemented a new autofocus algorithm that improves focusing performance and speed, and indeed, we found it to be very fast by compact system camera standards, and even competitive with many SLRs. There are some other important differences compared to previous NEX-series models, too. Key among these comes thanks to the NEX-5N's new touch-panel display (more on that later): it's now possible to trigger autofocus operation by touching your desired subject on the LCD panel. Touch autofocus is something we've seen on a few competing compact system cameras, where we've found it to be quite intuitive, but it's brand-new for Sony. It's particularly handy for movie shooting, thanks to the full-time movie autofocus.
As you'd expect, it's also possible to focus manually with the Sony NEX-5N, either after an autofocus operation has been performed (Direct Manual Focus, in Sony parlance), or without any prior autofocus operation. When focusing manually, Sony offers two Manual Focus Assist zoom levels to aid in determining the precise point of focus, either 4.8x or 9.5x. Also included is the "focus peaking" display which was introduced in the NEX-C3. This makes it easier to identify the point of focus by highlighting the areas of strongest image contrast. When enabled, three highlight colors are available (white, red, or yellow), and the peaking function can operate at one of three sensitivity levels (high, mid, or low.)
Display. On the rear panel of the Sony NEX-5N is an articulated TFT LCD screen that, unless you have the optional electronic viewfinder attached, is the sole method of framing and reviewing images or movies. Like that of its predecessor, the NEX-5N's panel can be tilted approximately 80 degrees upwards, for waist-level or low-to-the-ground shooting, or around 45 degrees downwards for shooting over a crowd. The panel's basic specifications are also unchanged, with a three-inch diagonal, 16:9 aspect ratio, total resolution of 307,200 pixels (921,600 dots), and Sony's TruBlack anti-glare design. There's also still an automatic brightness control with five-step manual override, plus a Sunny Weather mode which increases brightness still further for better visibility under bright ambient lighting.
Exposure. The Sony NEX-5N offers a choice of nine basic operating modes, unchanged from the NEX-5: Intelligent Auto (iAuto), Programmed AE, Aperture-priority AE, Shutter-priority AE, Manual, Sweep Panorama, 3D Sweep Panorama, Anti Motion Blur, and Scene Selection. This last will automatically set the camera up for one of eight common scene types, as selected by the photographer. Available scene modes are Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports Action, Sunset, Night Portrait, Night View, and Hand-held Twilight.
The Sony NEX-5N offers a generous selection of ten white balance modes, including Auto, six presets (Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, and Flash), a direct color temperature setting (2,500 to 9,900 Kelvin), a color filter setting (15-steps of green to magenta bias, and 15-steps of blue to amber bias), plus a Custom white balance mode. There's also a white balance fine adjustment function available.
Face detection. Even among SLRs, face detection during live view is a fairly common feature these days, and for compact system cameras its pretty much standard. The Sony NEX-5N does a step further, though, in offering the ability to register the faces of eight specific individuals, who will then be automatically recognized and prioritized over other faces when determining focus, exposure, and flash output, as well as during post-exposure image processing. The NEX-5N is capable of simultaneously detecting and accounting for up to eight faces in any given scene, and also includes a Smile Shutter function with three-step sensitivity, which will automatically capture an image when your subject is smiling. Of course, face detection can be disabled, should you wish.
Flash. The Sony NEX-5N doesn't feature a built-in flash strobe, and nor does it include a hot shoe. Thanks to its Smart Accessory Terminal 2, which is backwards-compatible with the Smart Accessory Terminal found on earlier NEX-series cameras, it can however, accept proprietary external strobes. A Sony HVL-F7S flash strobe comes bundled with the NEX-5N, and is the same model offered with the earlier NEX-5. When not in use, it folds down flush against the top surface of the camera body, providing the smallest possible footprint, and it's enabled simply by raising it to stand proud about an inch over the camera's top deck. With a guide number of seven meters (23 feet) at ISO 100, it's reasonably powerful given its size, and since it draws power from the camera body, you needn't carry an extra battery type with you. Recycle time is manufacturer-specified at around four seconds. Although it is rated for 16mm coverage, we found it to yield rather uneven illumination at wide angle even with the NEX-5N's 18-55mm kit lens. With some lenses, vignetting is also likely to prove an issue, given the relatively modest height of the strobe when raised.
Creative. The Sony NEX-5N includes quite a range of creative controls to help photographers get the look they're after, with a minimum of time spent in the digital darkroom. A selection of eleven Picture Effect modes are available, five of them new since the NEX-5 (with one mode having been removed.) The new modes include Soft High-key (which replaces the NEX-5's High-key mode), plus Soft Focus, HDR Painting, Rich-tone Monochrome, and Miniature. The Posterization (color or black & white), Pop Color, Retro Photo, Partial Color (red, green, blue , or yellow), High Contrast Mono, and Toy Camera are all held over from the earlier camera.
The NEX-5N also offers an in-camera Sweep Panorama function, which captures and stitches together multiple images as you sweep your lens across a panoramic scene. When set to Wide mode, Sweep Panorama can create a horizontal scene with a resolution of 12,416 x 1,856 pixels, or a vertical scene with a resolution of 2,160 x 5,536 pixels. In standard mode, the horizontal dimensions are 8,192 x 1,856 pixels, while vertical panoramas occupy 2,160 x 3,872 pixels.
3D Imaging. In addition to the standard Sweep Panorama function, the NEX-5N includes a 3D Sweep Panorama mode, which was added to the earlier NEX-5 model via a post-launch firmware update. Since the NEX-5N only has one objective lens, the stereo effect is created using some clever mathematics to reconstruct a 3D image as the subject passes across the lens' field of view. The result is saved as a single multi-picture object file that contains two separate JPEG images, one for each eye, allowing it to be viewed on 3D-capable Sony Bravia displays In Wide mode, 3D Sweep Panoramas occupy 7,152 x 1,080 pixels, while in Standard mode the resolution is 4,912 x 1,080 pixels. There's also a 16:9 mode, which saves a 1,920 x 1,080 pixel panorama suitable for full-screen HDTV viewing.
Unlike many competing cameras, the Sony NEX-5N provides full control over movie exposure, with a choice of Program, Aperture-priority, Shutter-priority, or fully Manual recording. It also allows Tracking autofocus, as well as use of Creative Style and Photo Creativity effects during movie capture. Recording is started and stopped with a dedicated Movie button on the NEX-5N's top panel, and audio is captured by default with a built-in stereo microphone. As an alternative, Sony's ECM-SST1 external microphone accessory mounts on the Smart Accessory Terminal 2, and can provide directional audio coverage at either 90° or 120°. A built-in monaural speaker caters to movie playback, and has an eight-step adjustable volume setting.
Playback. To let you immediately judge composition, exposure, and the like, the Sony NEX-5N provides an optional Auto Review function that can display images on-screen for two, five, or ten seconds immediately post capture. After capture, Playback mode lets you review single images, with optional shooting information, RGB histogram, or blinking highlight/shadow warning. In addition, images can be enlarged up to 14x to confirm fine details. Two index views are available, showing either six or twelve frames at once.
EVF. I shot both with and without the new FDA-EV1S electronic viewfinder, and again found myself using the LCD more often than the EVF, especially out in the daylight (I say again because I did the same with the new Sony A77 and A65, which have viewfinders based around the same OLED panel). My reasons are similar, but not entirely weighted the same. I still found the EVF more difficult to use in bright sunlight, but the main reason I'd have preferred to leave it off is that I like the NEX-5N without anything on the top. The EVF just kept flipping around too much, got in the way as I held it, and sometimes snagged against my shirt. I even had the rubbery eyecup fly off once, as it's a little too easy to remove. I did like the way it tilted up so I could look down into it while shooting from a very low angle, but I could do the same with the NEX-5N's LCD, so it wasn't as big a plus as the same feature is on a camera like the Olympus E-P3, whose LCD screen doesn't articulate.
Out shooting snaps of the family, I was grateful for the Program shift in Program mode, as I don't like to think about aperture changes all the time while shooting casual family shots, but when I want to tighten up the depth of field, or even increase it, it's nice to know it's just a turn of the rear dial to greater control. The two sliding scales on the back tell me what's shifted in which direction, and I can quickly get the shot I want. On a camera without two control dials, it's a great way to shoot. The same scale appears in Aperture priority, of necessity, since there's no physical aperture ring to look at. The onscreen scale is better than just a number, because at a glance you get a reminder of what the mounted lens can do, especially important for an interchangeable lens camera. The scale also changes as you zoom with a variable aperture lens. Good stuff. This scale is only available on one of the four display screens, but it's the one I prefer, because it gives you the most important information about your shooting conditions and the camera's capability.
Once I got the hang of it, shooting rapid-fire with the Sony NEX-5N, the A-mount adapter, and the electronic viewfinder (FDA-EV1S) attached was quite similar to shooting with the A77. The shutter sound was a little different, though, making me wonder if the electronic first curtain is still enabled with the phase-detect autofocus system enabled. My results, though, were disappointing. Most of my shots were either out of focus or back-focused. The buffer didn't capture as many shots as I was used to from the A77, either. As I tried to capture a kicker trying for a field goal, the buffer ran out just after his windup, right before his foot swung for the ball.
At that point, the battery was down to 49 percent, but when I removed the lens and adapter, I was still able to shoot with the standard E-Mount lens, shooting a few more videos and stills, but football action was out for the rest of the evening. It's not a fair situation to test the NEX-5N, not entirely. True, they do make the adapter, and it lets you use these big lenses, but it's not the camera's main intent. I'm not sure I'd recommend using the NEX-5N combined with the LA-EA2 for sports shooting, as its fastest continuous mode doesn't support tracking autofocus, but though the unit said "FINAL" on its sticker, it's possible that the accessory isn't quite up to snuff as of review time. Of course, you can shoot sports like we used to before motor drives, one shot at a time, but it's less than ideal. The NEX-5N still has what it takes for well-lit sporting events with the proper lens, preferably an E-mount optic sized for the body, just make sure your subject isn't moving toward the camera.
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