Sony NEX-5N APS-C mid-range Compact Camera Specification And Price

Price (with 18-55mm zoom lens)	• US: $ 699 • UK: £ TBC • EU: € TBC
Body material	• Magnesium-alloy top and front • Plastic back and battery casing
Sensor	• 23.4 x 15.6 mm Exmor APS HD CMOS Sensor • 16.1 million effective pixels
Image sizes	3:2  • L: 4912 x 3264 (16M)  • M: 3568 x 2368 (8.4M)  • S: 2448 x 1624 (4M) 16:9  • L: 4912 x 2760 (14M)  • M: 3568 x 2000 (7.1M)  • S: 2448 x 1376 (3.4M)
Image sizes (Panorama)	Sweep Panorama  • Wide Horz: 12416 x 1856 (23M)  • Wide Vert: 2160 x 5536 (12M)  • Standard Horz: 8192 x 1856 (15M)  • Standard Vert: 2160 x 3872 (8.4M) 3D Sweep Panorama  • Wide: 7152 x 1080 (7.7M)  • Standard: 4192 x 1080 (5.3M)  • 16x9: 1920 x 1080 (2.1M)
File qualities / formats	• RAW (Sony .ARW 2.2) • RAW + JPEG Fine • JPEG Fine • JPEG Standard
Movie	AVCHD • 1080 60i/p up to 28mbps • 1080 24i/p up to 24mbps MPEG-4 • 1440 x 1080 29.97fps 12mbps • 640 x 480 29.97fps
Dust reduction	• Coating on low pass filter • Sensor-shift
Lenses	• Sony E-mount • Sony Alpha lenses, Minolta and Konica Minolta AF lenses via adaptor (MF only, exclude power zoom lenses/tele-converters)
Image Stabilization	'Optical SteadyShot' system on selected lenses
Auto Focus	• Contrast AF • 25 multi-point • Centre-weighted • Flexible Spot
Shooting modes	• iAuto • Scene Selection • Anti Motion Blur • Sweep Panorama • 3D Sweep Panorama • Manual Exposure • Shutter Priority • Aperture Priority • Program Auto
Scene modes	• Portrait • Landscape • Macro • Sports Action • Sunset • Night Portrait • Night Scene • Hand-held Twilight
Sensitivity	• Auto (Range varies depending on shooting mode) • ISO 100 * • ISO 200 • ISO 400 • ISO 800 • ISO 1600 • ISO 3200 • ISO 6400 • ISO 12800 • ISO 25600 *
Metering modes	• Multi-segment (49 segment Honeycomb pattern) • Center-weighted • Flexible Spot
Exposure compen.	• -2.0 to +2.0 EV • 0.3 EV steps
Shutter Speed	• Electronically controlled, vertical traverse, focal-plane shutter • 30 to 1/4000 sec • Bulb
Aperture values	Depends on lens, 0.3 EV steps
White balance	• Auto • Daylight • Shade • Cloudy • Tungsten • Fluorescent (Warm, Cool, Day, Daylight) • Flash • Color temperature/filter (2500 - 9900 K) • Manual (Custom) • Manual (Custom set)
Dynamic range optimizer	• Off • DR0 (Auto, LV1 - LV5) • HDR (Auto, 1EV - 6EV)
Color space	• sRGB • Adobe RGB
Creative Styles	• Standard • Vivid • Portrait • Landscape • Sunset • B&W
Picture Effect*	• Toy Camera/Normal/Cool/Warm/Green/Magenta • Pop Color: Color B&W • Posterization • Retro • Soft High-key • Partial Color-Red,Green,Blue,Yellow • High Contrast Mono • Soft Focus-Mid,Low,Hi • HDR Painting-Mid       Low Hi • Rich-tone Mono. • Miniature Auto Top Middle (Horizontal) Bottom Right Middle (Vertical) Left
LCD monitor	• 3.0 XtraFine touch-sensitive* TruBlack LCD • 921,600 dots • Angle adjustable 80 degrees up/45 degrees down
Flash	• External flash (supplied), attachable to Smart Accessory Terminal • GN : 7 meters • Flash Sync: 1/160sec
Flash modes	• Auto • On • Off • Fill-flash • Slow Sync • Rear Sync. • Red-eye reduction on/off selectable
Drive modes	• Single-frame • Continuous • Speed Priority • 10 sec 3 or 5 images • Bracket Cont 0.3 EV • Self Timer
Continuous shooting	• Continuous Shooting • Speed Priority Continuous (~10fps)
Self-timer	• 10 or 2 seconds
Connectivity	• HDMI out (with PhotoTV HD and BRAVIA Sync) • USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Storage	• Memory Stick Pro Duo • SD/SDHC/SDXC
Power	• NP-FH50 Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery (supplied) • Battery charger included • Optional AC adapter
Battery Life (CIPA)	~430 images
Dimensions	110.8 x 58.8 x 38.2 mm (4 3/8 x 2 3/8 x 1 9/16 in.)
Weight (with batt and card)	269 g (9.5 oz.)
Supplied accessories	Shoulder strap; Battery; Charger; USB cable (miniB); CD‑ROM; Flash

Touch interface

 

If you've used any of the previous NEX cameras before, you will have no trouble picking up a 5N and immediately starting shooting. All of the menus are much as before, just slightly modified to facilitate the touch interface. The fact that it is initially easy to overlook the capacitive touchscreen says a lot about its general unobtrusiveness (the touch interface can even be turned off completely in the menu if you prefer). That is not to say that the new touchscreen interface doesn't add to the overall user experience, instead the 5N's touch-screen functions have been added in such a way that they are intended to complement the existing 'traditional' button-and-dial interface, rather than replacing it.

Although the interface on the NEX-5N looks nearly identical to the C3, minor changes have been made throughout to accomodate operation by touch. Most notable is the change from a wheel layout of options on the right to a vertical list that invites touch scrolling.

The introduction of a touch-screen means nothing if it does not enhance the user experience and offer a truly simplified mode of operation, and in this respect the 5N is off to a good start. However, the only added feature that is not available through the conventional controls is a touch to activate focus tracking function. This is a much easier way of choosing an object to track than using the control dial, but we would have like to seen Sony do more with the 5N's touch screen, in the way of an equivalent to the 'touch shutter' functions we've seen in recent Olympus and Panasonic Micro Four Thirds cameras.

Electronic First-Curtain shutter

New to the NEX series (and shared with the NEX-7) is the addition of an electronic first curtain shutter. By default, electronic first-curtain shutter is turned off, but can be activated via the 'front curtain shutter' option in the 5N's setup menu. Sony claims a reduced shutter lag time of 20ms by eliminating the need to close then open the shutter before exposing the image. Our initial impressions are that the NEX-5N is indeed noticably more responsive than the NEX-5. An electronic shutter also has the potential benefit of eliminating any vibration that might be caused by the first shutter actuation, which may be useful in macro photography or extreme telephoto photography (although shutter-induced vibration problems aren't a huge problem for most mirrorless cameras).

In-camera 'Lens Compensation'

New in the 5N (and Alpha SLT-A77/65) is optional in-camera optical corrections. Sony calls these tools 'lens compensation' and lens compensation comes in three flavors - 'shading', 'chromatic aberration' and 'distortion'. When these functions are activated (separately or en-masse) in the setup menu, the 5N will attempt to reduce the respective effects based on Sony's profiles of current E-mount lenses. Sony has indicated that the number of profiles that the camera holds will be expanded via firmware updates as the system expands.

Photo Creativity mode / Picture effects

With Version 04 of the NEX firmware (introduced with the NEX-C3) came a suite of photo creativity modes that allow for easy in-camera photo effects, providing a results-orientated approach to creative control for users upgrading from compacts. However while the Photo Creativity options were previously available while recording in Raw+JPEG, this is no longer possible in the 5N. Though the effects have only ever actually affected the JPEG files, they're now only available when in JPEG-only mode. In the beginner-friendly iAuto mode, the center button was previously labeled as 'Photo Creativity' but on the 5N is denoted as a 'camera with sparkles' icon.
The 5N has the same capability as the NEX-C3, but instead of approaching the idea of image manipulation as a series of applicable filters, the 5N presents them as adjustable parameters along the bottom of the screen, most likely in an attempt to accommodate the touch screen interface.