Sony Nex or Nikon D5100

[kilgoretrout]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to upgrade from a Canon point and shoot to either a Sony camera in the NEX line or a Nikon D5100, and I'd appreciate help picking between them. I'm interested in picking up photography as a hobby, and want this camera to be my entry into the hobby. The price of both kits with the 18-55mm lens is in my budget, and I don't expect to buy any other equipment until I'm more experienced.

I'm trying to understand the technical limitations of the more compact format of the NEX line and how this will affect me. As far as I can tell it has a limited offering of compatible lenses, lacks an optical viewfinder, has a weaker flash that is attached externally, uses contrast focusing (which is slower), and has fewer buttons on the camera body and more in menus.

The reduced sized and weight of the MIL format is appealing to me. However, I'd like some advice from people more experienced in photography about whether the reduced functionality might make me bored of the hobby before I give it a good chance. For example, I have no idea how significant it is that there are far fewer lenses on the Sony.

Thanks in advance!

[bigben6]

Without question DSLR, that being said, I already own one, for you I would say get them both in your hands, and shoot both of them. I like having a ton of lens options to borrow buy or rent. It's heavy though. From reading the DSLR still holds the edge in IQ just because of the sensor size and developemtn time the DSLR has behind it, but i have yet to see that proven with side by side shots.

Shoot both yourself then decide or come back with more refined questions!

[inkista]

bigben6: the Sony NEX cameras actually have the same size sensor as a Nikon crop-body dSLR: a 1.5x crop sensor. So, noise performance/IQ is pretty much the same. This is why people like them.

@kilgoretrout: The lens is the other half of the camera. Only two things "touch" the light to make the picture: the lens and the sensor. Everything else is gravy. With an interchangeable lens system, lenses are like the tools you have in your toolbox. The more choice you have, the more you can do.

That the NEX lens selection is slim is a factor, but as time goes by, it will become less of one. Given that you say you're going to start with an 18-55, and you won't be buying anything else for a while, the thinner lens selection may not be an issue for you, as by the time you're ready to add to the lens lineup, Sony may well have come up with the lens you want. By the end of 2012, they should have at least one of most of the major types of lenses.

If lens choice is a large enough factor for you to trade off sensor size, you may want to also consider micro four-thirds cameras. There are about 25 lenses for u4/3, while Sony NEX has only 7. But you can also keep in mind that micro 4/3 is only ahead of NEX development by two years, and has the advantage of lenses being made by two separate companies (Panasonic and Olympus) and that there is some overlap in the lenses on offer.

This is a good guide to lens basics.

Obviously, Nikon's lens choices pretty much eclipse both micro four-thirds and NEX, with more than twice as many lenses as the two systems combined.

OTOH, with a Nikon D5100, there is the focus motor issue, which may possibly slim down lens choices for you. With the Nikon D3100 and D5100, the lens has to have an autofocus motor in it (AF-S) to autofocus. Manually focusing isn't a huge issue, but if you like to shoot subject matter that moves quickly, or your eyesight isn't great, it can be more problematic. This is only an issue with Nikon entry-level bodies. A D90 or above (or a Canon/Pentax/Olympus/Sony α dSLR) and the issue goes away.

So, one of the big questions to ask yourself is: what do you want to shoot? If what you want to shoot falls within what the NEX cameras/lenses can accomplish well, then you're probably ok going with NEX. But if you want to shoot outside that range of subjects, than you might have to be ok with waiting for the lens you need to arrive in the system. With Canon or Nikon, chances are you woudn't have to wait.

[bigben6]

inkista has good advice, my other thought though was why sony, why not the nikon mirorless? I would tend to stick with nikon or cannon, i just have to believe given the current state of DSLR that those two will continue to be the leaders...

[inkista]

The Nikon 1 cameras, however, have a significantly smaller 1" (CX) sensor. It's about halfway between most P&S sensors and four-thirds. The crop factor is 2.7x. It's also an even newer system with even fewer lenses.



The Nikon 1 is more of a perfect upgrade (well, once the price drops about $200) for a soccer mom who wants a P&S-ish camera, with fast action capability. The autofocus and burst shooting on it are amazing. But dynamic range and noise performance are going to be not-as-nice as even micro four-thirds, let alone APS-C.

[jdepould]

The nice thing about the NEX mount is that it's really shallow, and you can get a whole slew of adaptors for other lenses, including Nikon and Leica.

[Nicole]

I think inkista covered most of the points. I just figured I'd chime in as someone who has one of the NEX cameras and also a DSLR. In terms of some of the technical points you mentioned, I don't find the lack of an optical viewfinder on the NEX to be much of a problem personally. The screen is still visible in the sun and I like that it tilts (though that's obviously not a "bonus" if you're comparing to the D5100). In terms of most of the functionality being in the menus, you're right, but there's a bit but... with that one. With the latest firmware, you can set most of what you need to be in quick reach with the custom buttons. I find I'm never going further than that about 95% of the time (the other 4% I've handed the camera to someone else, the other 1% is me going deeper into the menus). Probably the biggest limitation for me with the NEX is the lack of lenses at affordable prices. As inkista said, this might not be a problem for you if you're going to take time to get more lenses and more lenses are due out next year. But one of the things I constantly find myself wishing for is a little more reach, and my only option is a 18-200mm lens that costs much more than the camera and frankly is out of reach for me). So in a way, that might be limiting if you decide that you do want something else sooner rather than later. I will say that I do love my NEX and I'm quite happy with the decision to get it most of the time.

However, depending on how much you want to pursue the hobby, the major downfall is that lenses from the Sony system aren't going to let you move up to say a nicer camera in the Sony range as far as I'm aware. In contrast, if you buy lenses for the D5100 they will work on all the Nikon cameras (with some limitations that you don't really need to worry about just yet). So while buying lenses seems a long way away you could find that with the NEX system you're limited to just that. Whereas with Nikon or Canon you have a lot more room to grow and bring your older gear along with you.