Quick review of the NEX-5N

[Samuel H]

Quick review of the NEX-5N

I'm very happy with this little camera. It has done very well on my Flaat Shootout 2012. Actually, so much so, that I think I'm selling my old Canon...
It does have some issues, but they're not huge (and maybe someone around here can help with some of them).



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My 550D (T2i), even though it is as good as it was the day I bought it (actually, it's better, thanks to Magic Lantern), was feeling old. The new Canon 650D (T4i) has the same aliasing/moire issues of its old brothers, and the 5D3, which doesn't have them, seems overpriced (if not for video, then at least in its core market -stills- and compared to the D800).

So I thought to myself: maybe I can get by for another year or two with a cheap upgrade, while I wait for a new generation of cameras (the one I'd look forward the most: a second generation BlackMagic Design Cinema Camera with a bigger sensor).

The hacked GH2 has some mighty strengths, but the image just doesn't call me. It's totally subjective, but to me it just feels too digital. And it lacks DR. I like DR. The D3200 seems to have the same aliasing/moire issues of my 550D. It may be just as good, but it wouldn't feel like an upgrade. The Sony DSLRs seem to have many usability issues induced by silly design choices. The Pentax K-1 has a great sensor and in-body image stabilization, but the codec is not great and it's relatively expensive.

So I got myself a second-hand Sony NEX-5N, and I have to say, I'm very happy with it so far. I have created some Flaat settings for it, and, while they're not as good as what I could get if the camera allowed me to load custom-made picture styles, with this the camera is producing some very nice images, with good DR (much better than with the recommended settings I found around the web) and great colors (specially skin tones).

I have tested it against the 550D, and also the GH2 and the D800, in the Flaat Shootout 2012. My preliminary conclusion is that this is a very lovely camera, with some moderately minor drawbacks.

Pros:
* Much reduced aliasing and moire issues.
* Sharper than the Canons. Great balance of softness and detail.
* Nice colors (similar to Flaat on Canon).
* Focus peaking works great.
* It doesn't overheat at all if you're not recording. Unlike the Canons, you can leave this one on as long as you want. I hardly ever shoot takes of more than a couple of minutes, so this fits my workflow very well.
* Quick and easy user interface. The custom menu with your 5 favorite settings is great (Canon's Q-menu is even better, but this is close enough for me). The only thing that takes a bit more time to change is the frame rate (and still, going from 24p 1/50s to 60p 1/125s with inceased ISO takes me less than 20 seconds).
* Small and light. Which makes it quite confortable to handhold (but too shaky if you want to have any camera movement in your handheld footage).
* Great stills. With 10fps mode if you need it.

Cons:
* Exposure changes when you hit record, specially in the shadows (i.e. the preview has a lot less latitude than what you get when you hit record). And once you're recording, there's no histogram, no zebras, no nothing. You have to eye-ball your exposure with test-takes (and I know I'm not good at this).
* It overheats very quickly once you hit record. Takes of 4 minutes or more may not be possible depending on the weather. Even with this DIY fix applied.
* Slightly less DR than the Canons (but it's very close).
* It's way too easy to change the shutter speed by mistake, bumping on the wheel button.
* No hotshoe mount. I use that to mount accessories. Mitigated by having two 1/4" threads: one in the camera, one in the lens adapter.

Still unknown:
* Codec strength: some people have complained that the codec breaks down easily when graded. So far I haven't found any issues, but they may be waiting to appear when they can hurt me the most (as issues do). With my limited experience with the camera, the codec doesn't seem to break any easier than the one in the first generation of Canon DSLRs (5D2, 7D, 60D, etc). But when it breaks, it's the ugliest thing you can imagine. I had to shoot a short bit in a night club, with available light; at ISO 3200 and with the lens wide open, it was still heavily underexposed; pushing that image to get somewhat acceptable exposure revealed the ugliest compression artifacts I've ever seen. The Canon might have been even worse, since it's a lot noisier at ISO 3200, but I can understand why people complain that the codec breaks very badly. I had to apply Magic Bullet Denoiser II with its strongest settings ("300") to get bearable images (they now look more SD than HD, but they're much better this way).

[TrueIndigo]

I've been thinking about getting this camera too, for reasons very similar to your thought process! What held me back (apart from the overheating issue) was the colour-gradability which more than one person has commented on negatively. Therefore I look forward to your comments regrading post work with this camera. Thanks for your initial review.

[SAIUN]

Quick review of the NEX-5N

Cons:
* Exposure changes when you hit record, specially in the shadows (i.e. the preview has a lot less latitude than what you get when you hit record). And once you're recording, there's no histogram, no zebras, no nothing. You have to eye-ball your exposure with test-takes (and I know I'm not good at this).

Still unknown:
* Codec strength: some people have complained that the codec breaks down easily when graded. So far I haven't found any issues, but I still haven't tested this enough to have an opinion of my own.

I've found that the exposure change only happens when using DRO. If DRO is set to Off then there is no exposure change when starting video recording.

I've found the codec to hold up as well to colour grading as Canon DSLR footage, especially for subtle adjustments. I think it would be slightly worse for extreme changes like day-for-night colour grades or anywhere you're trying to take the footage a long way from how you shot it. For most uses I think the codec holds up just fine compared to 7D, 5D. Getting nice looking skintones is easier with the NEX-5N compared to a Canon DSLR using Cinestyle which requires a lot of effort to make skintones look good.

I don't think anyone is buying a 5N to shoot feature films and TV commercials on, anyway. For small indie short film and webseries that will likely only be seen on YouTube/Vimeo the camera is more than good enough.

[TrueIndigo]

Thanks Saiun - I can't push Canon footage that far either, I just got the impression NEX-5n material was worse than that. What is your experience of overheating when shooting video?

Can anyone tell me:

Is the clicking sound issue (picked up when shooting video and moving the camera) still a problem with current stock?

Is 25p/50p available for the Euro version or just 24 and 30/60? I can't seem to find this info.

Thanks.

[richg101]

please share your flat profile settings. i currently use portrait or sunset profiles. Portrait has by far the best DR. the sharpness dialed down to -3. contrast to -2 and color to -1/-2. Day for night heavy grading holds up fine IMO, just shoot as close as you want the final image to look. underexpose if it's meant to be a dark scene. Bleach out the details seen out of a window if it means the indoor details are maintained. there is always a work around.

[richg101]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYcIY6lP8yw

heavy day for night processing with 25p avchad out of the nex5n - a test for a little short we were planning. we shot with WB set to tungsten, under exposed slightly. this was using an anamorphic lens so it is slightly soft. lots of adjustment layers on top of this. contrast, saturation, multiple 3band curves, more contrast adjustment, more 3band curves. Im still happy with the results - only nasty is the moving clouds in the superimposed moon shot.

[maarek]

I have the Sony nex-5n, Canon 7d and Canon 5d mark III. Out of these the nex-5n kinda places last... It's better resolution and moire wise than the 7d but the image falls apart because of the codec. There's a bunch a macroblocking and the 25p (pal) is very rolling shuttery. I have to use 50p to get that rolling shutter faster. 7D is softer and the aliasing is horrible but it does have more DR than the 5n and the codec doesn't fall apart as quickly. I've used the 5n for specialty shots because of the flipping lcd. I really do like the sharpness of it. It's not too sharp or smooth.

The 5n is better than the 7d when just filming nothing. When you just pick the camera up and do behind the scenes stuff it works great. Autofocus and the inbuilt stereomic blows away the Canon monomics. I also love how many different lenses you can fit onto it with adapters.

Though the Canon 5d mk III beats them both. A beautiful smooth image. No moire. A pretty good codec in ALL-i. Maybe a bit too soft. But works for me.

[Samuel H]

Flaat for the 5N is here: http://www.similaar.com/foto/flaat-5n/index.html And also, unless anybody knows how to do it, I'll have to add another con to the list: "no way to shoot timelapse". I'll compensate it with one pro that I forgot about: "touchscreen functionality can be turned off".

[Samuel H]

@Maarek: check Flaat for the 5N, it's over a stop better in DR than the usual suggestions I found online. And yes, for me too, the 5N has just the right amount of softness: it's sharp, but doesn't look artificially sharp.

[Samuel H]

@TrueIndigo: the European version is "only 25p and 50p", the US version is "only 24p and 60p".