Sony Alpha NEX NEX5K/S Digital Camera with Interchangeable Lens (Silver)

Pros:Fantastic image quality. Rich, colorful and sharp.Movie quality is decent. Autofocus works very well.Camera body and lens look and feel like high quality in your hands.VERY compact. Perfect for travel or those needing to reduce bulk.Impressive 18-55mm lens.Smart user interface.Sony makes it easy to update firmware.My camera arrived with firmware version 1.0. Updating to version 3.0 was required to 1) improve short battery life and 2) add a few shooting mode features to a mode selection that is already good. The update took me five minutes online using the sony-supplied USB cable. Kudos to Sony for nixing those problems and making it easy to fix. Battery life is actually quite good now.Suggestions:Head over to YouTube and search "sony nex-5." Look for vids showing the user interface and on-screen menu. Doing so should take any mystery out of how this camera is used.

I will try to add to what previous reviewers have said rather than attempt to cover all the pros and cons of this camera.I already own an Alpha 33 and really enjoy it as it is fairly compact and has a lot of great features. But I really wanted a lighter, smaller camera for travel. I tried using a Canon Powershot 11 and found it to be pretty handy, but I wasn't completely happy with photo quality due to the smallish sensor size. As I was preparing for a trip to Guatemala, I decided at almost the last moment to get a NEX 5 to bring along after seeing a friend use one at a wedding.After trudging up and down jungle paths, around city streets and markets I am very pleased to report that the NEX 5 exceeded my expectations on pretty much all fronts. BTW, I read DP Review's in depth review and some of the reviews on Amazon before making the leap and recommend that anyone thinking of buying a camera check such reviews as they give you information that can keep you from being surprised or disappointed.Before I bought, I already knew that I prefer a camera with a viewfinder (which explains the Canon Powershot) and that I was giving that up with the NEX 5. However, in practical use over two weeks and hundreds of photos, I rarely missed the viewfinder although I did have to use my reading glasses to see the screen clearly. The LCD screen typically worked just fine and the ability to essentially "palm" the camera to take some shots unobtrusively was a good trade-off for me.In retrospect, I would have been well-served to have had more time to study the manual with camera in hand before I left. For example, I discovered in the "Camera" menu a digital zoom function, but it didn't seem to operate -- I discovered back home that it works on non-zoom lenses only. That would have possibly made the 16mm wide angle lens a more interesting tool a few times when I stopped to switch from the 16mm to the kit 18-55mm zoom. I have uploaded three photos to show how the digital zoom performs using the 16mm lens and then zooming to 5x and 10x. The file size of the three photo got progressively smaller and from what I can see comparing with Photoshop, the picture quality of the 5x is about the same as if I had taken the original photo without the digital zoom and cropped the are which appears in the 5x digital zoom. Thus, you can effectively do the same thing with post-processing cropping as you get with the digital zoom, with what appears to be similar quality degradation. But it is an interesting in camera feature for when you are in the field.I was very pleased with the wide range of shots that the camera can accommodate using the various settings and the high quality of the digital images that the stock lens and the 16mm wide angle capture.Although I do not take much video, a did get some nice HD clips whose quality surprised me from this little package. The only quality issue was from my being a very amateur videographer.While I still prefer a viewfinder and the ability to use diopter settings, I would not sacrifice the nice size and weight of this unit to have that feature. I would definitely prefer an LCD screen that has more movement, more along the lines of the A33, which can fold the LCD screen into the back of the camera.I discovered the limited programmability of the so-called buttons on the camera and used that feature, although I have not yet settled on the final programming.It definitely pays to become familiar with the camera menus and the functions and read the manual.My one suggestion to SONY would be to bring out a zoom with a range of 18-90mm (27-135mm equivalent for a 35mm film camera), the 3x range of the kit lens is a bit short and the size of the 18-200mm 11x zoom lens is a bit big and bulky.

Camera did not come with lense and no charging wire. I am so upset.

I've shot with both DSLRs and rangefinders for the past 7 years, and I bought this hoping that it would be an easier camera to carry around when I just need to snap a few quick pictures. I've read generally positive reviews and thought I'd give it a try.It's been a mixed bag from three days of shooting. The camera itself is not meant to be a replacement for a DSLR, or a point and shoot, or a rangefinder. It is not as fast as a DSLR, not nearly small enough to put in your pocket (although the 16mm lens might let you do it), and does not give you manual freedom or "connectedness" like a rangefinder.The tactile feedback is very limited, and yes, the menu diving is annoying. The options in the menu are inconsistent depending on which camera mode you're on, and some options (like raw shooting) are absent when shooting certain modes like hand-held twilight, panorama, etc. I suppose this makes sense in terms of processing, however the camera doesn't explain that you need to be in another mode first in order to change these settings.The video quality is fairly good. You have almost no control of the recording, however. Everything is automatic - you can tap the shutter to "refocus" the camera, but to me this just sends the camera on a wild AF hunt that blurs the video. The intelligent auto also works well for someone who just wants the camera to do all the work. The other modes, panorama, twilight, and the preset "styles" all work pretty good. Saves me the time of stitching pictures together!The raw files from this camera are decent - but never on par with my a700, and certainly not on par with my m8 or m9. Most of this is due to the lens, I believe. The kit lens is very prone to all sorts of distortion, and never takes pictures that are exceptionally sharp. And another issue with the raw files is that they're incompatible with photo editing software currently available. (Doesn't work in LR3, Aperture, photoshop, etc) They can only be viewed on sony's software. Eventually the format will be added, but for now you're stuck with sony's proprietary software unless you want to convert these files to adobe DNG.With all of that said, for $700 you do get value for what you pay for. The camera does take pictures that are far superior to any prosumer point and shoot, and slightly edges out my friend's panasonic GF1. The video is pretty nice for such a tiny camera, and toting it around is a lot easier than carrying a DSLR or a rangefinder. I really liked the tilt screen that reminded me of my old hasselblad. I can recommend this camera if you're looking for an upgrade to your point and shoot, but I can't recommend it as a replacement for a normal DSLR or rangefinder. The tactile feedback, speed, and manual controls simply aren't there.