Should I buy a Sony nex-3?

[mattolsen]

I'm a new user to this forum and I was simply wondering what anyone thought about the Sony nex-3. I'm a novice photographer who's thinking about buying a new digital. I currently use an old Canon AE-1 and an Olympus point and shoot and my aim is to find something somewhere in between the two.

I prefer to shoot mostly outdoor nature stuff and night time cityscape. I really love macro shots and I travel to Central America/South America for scientific research so the fact that the nex is small but better than a point and shoot appeals to me.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[inkista]

Depends, to me, on whether you plan to purchase compatible Sony e-mount lenses or adapt vintage manual focus glass. If the prior, you may want to consider looking at micro four-thirds instead. Yes, the sensor is smaller, but the high iso and image quality is still quite good (if you're not a pixel peeping obsessive) in real world terms, and the lens selection is much larger. Currently, the NEX's mount only has three lenses: an 18-55 kit, an 18-200 superzoom,and a 16mm f/2.8. None of these are amazing. And the fast prime isn't particularly fast.

If you're willing to adapt lenses, though, then your selection once again blossoms with a large variety of high-quality options, particularly from the Sony Alpha mount. But then the size of your lens/camera combination won't be quite so compact any more. In a few years, thanks to Sony's recent opening up of the NEX mount to third party manufacturers, this picture should change, but if you really want a small mirrorless compact, I'd actually vote for micro four-thirds right now.

My personal choice was to simply get another small compact P&S camera and sit out the next three or four years and see what comes up. Pentax, Nikon, and Canon have yet to enter this arena, but if they do, it could get really interesting.

[Nicole]

I quite like my NEX-3 for what it is. I only have the 16mm and the 18-55mm lenses. I won't be trying to shoot macro with it any time soon. But that wasn't why I got it. I got it as a pocketable camera that had features I wanted.

Now, if Nikon came out with one, yes, I'd trade the Sony in a heartbeat. However, until that point I'm quite happy with it.

[DonSchap]

getting an SONY SLT-a55. It's smaller than the standard DSLR body, yet allows you to mount older Minolta glass (1985-2005) and of course, all the new Alpha glass (2006-current), too. There is no need to be limited to just E-mount glass ... whenever that will be available.

If I were just starting out ... that would be the way I would swing. Tremendous options await.