Pixiq

Given the name, it’s hardly surprisng that Sony’s NEX-5N is an upgrade on the NEX-5 (a camera that I called a compact on speed, rather than a pocket-rocket dSLR alternative). The changes, however, seem to be a bit more substantial the usual, ‘We realised that the grip needed to be better and we’ve stopped that button from sticking.’ The auto-focus has been beefed-up, and the release time lag is down to approximately 0.02 seconds. Megapixels have upped from 14-ish to 16.1, and sensitivity is also boosted, going up to a mahousive ISO 25,600.

There’s a new photo creativity touch interface, which allows you to preview adjustments to aperture, shutter speed, and the like, and then apply them via the LCD touch panel and control dial. Sony, however, reckons that these terms are confusing for newcomers, so they’ve restyled them background defocus, exposure, and picture effect. Hrm. (Yes, that’s my teeth gnashing you can hear. People aren’t stupid, Sony.)

When the NEX-C3 came out, Sony introduced in-camera effects with it. They’ve carried this over to the NEX-5N. There are now 11 modes and 15 effects, including HDR painting (and they reckon that ‘aperture’ is too confusing a term?), soft focus, miniature, rich-tone monochrome and soft high-key (what?). There’s alsothe 3D Sweep Panorama that everyone loved on the NEX-5, soft skin (even on a spiny ant-eater?), auto HDR, handheld twilight and anti motion blur modes.

If you want to make videos in HD, of course you can. And you can take full manual control as well. There’s also In Speed Priority Continuous mode, which lets you shoot continuously at up to 10 frames per second (although the actual speed will depend on shooting conditions and your memory card). This is meant to be the world’s fastest burst shooting speed of any mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Woo!

Whether or not this is the upgrade that it seems to be, we’ll find out in September, when it’s released.