Sony NEX-5 review

Can Sony's compact DSLR create a shift in high-end consumer photography?

By Dave Stevenson
published
Sony NEX-5
Sony's NEX-5 brings a big DSLR sensor to a compact body

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Image quality is everything Sony makes it out to be – truly DSLR-like. The kit lens is good and sharp, and kept chromatic aberration down to a bare minimum.

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Colour reproduction is superb, and noise handling is excellent – a good thing considering the NEX-5 can work at ISO settings as high as 12,800.

Sony nex-5

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At times, sharpness wasn't all it could be compared to top-end DSLRs, but with NEX-5 a fair bit cheaper, the compromise is easy to swallow.

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Either way, you'll find the NEX-5's shots reproduce well at larger print sizes.

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We're big fans of the NEX-5's low light performance – we expected it to be better than most compacts' thanks to its larger sensor, but its performance at stratospheric ISOs is impressive.

Sony nex-5

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It's true that noise is noticeable at its top ISO of 12,800, but we'd still be happy to print images taken at its highest setting, albeit with a little noise reduction applied.

Dave Stevenson

Dave is a professional photographer whose work has appeared everywhere from National Geographic to the Guardian. Along the way he’s been commissioned to shoot zoo animals, luxury tech, the occasional car, countless headshots and the Northern Lights. As a videographer he’s filmed gorillas, talking heads, corporate events and the occasional penguin. He loves a good gadget but his favourite bit of kit (at the moment) is a Canon EOS T80 35mm film camera he picked up on eBay for £18.