Sony Alpha NEX-3 Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera w/18-55mm Lens (Silver)- 14.2 Mpix

by Sony

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 8.7 x 4.7 inches ; 8.5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B003MPOMI6
• Item model number: NEX3K/S
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,087 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
  • #90 in Electronics > Camera & Photo > Digital Cameras > Compact System Cameras
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 11, 2010

Product Description

Style: With Zoom Lens

From the Manufacturer

Sony has engineered an impressively small camera that takes incredibly good photographs. In fact, the a NEX-3 camera has all quality of a DSLR in about half the size and weight. Pulling off this minor miracle took some clever innovations in glass, silicon and software code.

Sony Alpha NEX-3 Overview and Highlights

Bigger Sensor, Better Pictures
In technical terms, the APS-C image sensor is approximately 13 times the size of the typical sensor. In human terms, you'll be taking photographs, not snapshots. The bigger sensor means softer backgrounds, for more attractive portraits. You'll see better into the dark after sunset, and all your pictures will benefit from 14.2-megapixel resolution.

The NEX-5 and NEX-3 are equipped with a powerful new 14.2-megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor, specially tuned to deliver uncompromising still-photo and movie image quality. Equal in surface area and performance to the large, APS-C image sensors used in Sony's acclaimed a system digital SLR cameras, it offers exceptionally rich tonal gradation and true-to-life color. Proprietary Sony processing technologies are also incorporated directly into the sensor, assuring clean, low-noise signal output and ultra high-speed data transfer.



World's Smallest and Lightest
The NEX-3 delivers the quality of a DSLR in a camera that's ready to go wherever you go. In fact, this is the world's smallest, lightest interchangeable lens digital camera (as of April 2010). It's roughly half the size and weight of Sony's smallest, lightest DSLR, the a230.

Equipped with an image sensor that's 13 times the size of the typical compact camera's sensor, a NEX cameras turn snapshots into photographs. The bigger sensor means images with softer background that make your subject stand out and stunning low-light shots.



Expect More from a Camera
Sony has always recognized that a digital camera could take pictures in ways that film cameras never dreamed of. That's why we've created new capabilities to take your photography further than ever. These include Sweep Panorama, Auto HDR, Handheld Twilight and Anti Motion Blur modes.

Thanks to their powerful Exmor CMOS image sensor and BIONZ image processing engine, both these cameras can offer high-speed continuous shooting at up to 7 fps (approx.) in Speed Priority Continuous mode, and at up to 2.3 fps (approx.) in Continuous Advance mode. In addition, their 10-second self-timer also has a 3-shot continuous shooting setting.

Hand-held Twilight Mode takes six shots at high speed when the shutter is pressed, and then aligns and merges them into a single image, significantly reducing the graininess and noise that can degrade image quality when shooting in extremely low light. Combined with the outstanding low-noise performance of the Exmor CMOS image sensor, it lets you take exceptionally clear, beautiful, nighttime photos without using a tripod or flash.

Like Hand-held Twilight mode, Anti Motion Blur mode uses exclusive Sony image analysis and alignment technologies to combine six shots into a single image. Ideal for low-light and telephoto shooting, it makes it easy to get clear images that capture the mood and atmosphere of the moment.



HD Movie
Capture vivid, lifelike HD movies in the PC-friendly MP4 format. The NEX-3 gives you a choice of 720/30p high definition or standard definition 480/30p.

One-touch recording means there's no need to fumble with menu settings when you want to shoot a movie--recording can be started or stopped simply by pressing the dedicated MOVIE button.

When you're shooting movies in AF mode with an E-mount lens, the camera smoothly adjusts focus and exposure in response to changes in the scene, and you can use the control wheel to instantly adjust exposure compensation on the fly. If desired, you can also preselect white balance and Creative Style settings before movie recording begins.

Although many recent video cameras incorporate high-power zoom lenses, none can match the framing flexibility and creative freedom of interchangeable lenses. With the NEX-5 and NEX-3, you get a choice of dedicated E-mount lenses for wide-angle, standard zoom, and high-power zoom shooting, optional ultra wide-angle and fisheye converters, and--via a simple mount adaptor--the full range and world-class optics of the a digital SLR lens lineup.



Sophistication Made Simple
Some cameras bristle with knobs, buttons and dials. The NEX-3 replaces them with a simple turn-and-click Control Wheel and a pair of Soft Keys. These give you easy access to the full power of digital photography. To make learning even easier, Sony includes an On-Screen Help Guide and On-Screen Tips.

iAuto mode automatically applies exposure values and Scene Selection modes that are optimized to suit each scene. What's more, they combine this full-auto convenience with a Background Defocus Control function that lets you enjoy one of the biggest creative advantages of interchangeable lens photography--the ability to defocus the background to make your main subject stand out from the scene. Just press and rotate the control wheel to set the level of background defocusing you want--it's easy and intuitive because you can confirm the level of defocusing on the LCD monitor in real-time.

In addition to basic Help Guide information, these cameras are also equipped with built-in shooting tips. The tips provide information relevant to the current shooting situation or mode selection, and are designed with both beginners and more advanced users in mind. Two types of tip are offered: 1) tips about particular types of subject and scene, and 2) tips on general photographic technique. Since the entire library of shooting tips can also be accessed via the Camera menu and viewed as a single guidebook, it's like having a complete photography tutorial built right into your camera.

The main menu features six clearly labeled icons that can be selected simply by rotating and pressing the control wheel. Inside, standard scrolling menus provide quick access to settings for shooting and playback functions, as well as a host of other user preferences and camera settings. The wide-screen format of the LCD monitor also contributes to enhanced menu legibility, so text and icons are always easy to see and select.



The Creativity of Changing Lenses
The beauty of SLR photography is the ability to change lenses to match your shooting situation. Now Sony brings that beauty to a compact camera. The NEX-3 gives you a choice of dedicated E-mount lenses, plus a choice of 28 A-mount lenses via an adaptor, sold separately.

Product Description

The performance of a DSLR without the size and weight. The NEX-3 stands apart as the world's smallest interchangeable lens camera.3 Experience gorgeous HD movies,1 astounding low-light pictures, continuous shooting up to 7 fps, incredible panorama shots, and Live View on a tilting 3" LCD4.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bullseye for Point & Shoot Upgraders, August 25, 2010

By 

W. Jenkins "Adwords Pro" (Wheaton, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony Alpha NEX-3 Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera w/18-55mm Lens (Silver)- 14.2 Mpix (Electronics)

I'm experienced with 35mm SLRs and Digital Point & Shoot cameras, and I recently bought this camera (Sony NEX-3 with 18-55mm lens) because I have been disappointed with the quality of photos I can achieve with Digital Point & Shooters. Having been originally spoiled by my Nikkormat and Minolta 35mm cameras I found myself taking fewer and fewer pictures on my small Digital cameras simply because the pictures were just OK. So, with some important life events coming in the next couple of years I decided to upgrade, yet I dreaded the thought of carrying around a bulky and heavy DSLR.

The NEX-3 has solved this problem for me: Great pictures, excellent indoor pictures often with no flash needed, and much better portability than a DSLR.

Before purchasing I read the reviews and noted some were especially critical of the user interface Sony designed for the NEX series, so when I went to the store to try one I was expecting the worst. Instead, I found the NEX to have an extremely elegant and seductive interface, much better than any of the Digital Point & Shoot cameras I've had. I repeat, the interface is actually seductive. Now, if you compare the interface to a DSLR you will immediately see that the controls are not always visible and at-hand, they must be pulled up on the screen via the menu buttons. Therefore, I do not recommend this as a "downgrade from DSLR" camera until you have tried one in person. However, with my SLR experience I was pleased to see the animated representation of the P-A-S-M knob. And once "A" (aperture priority) is chosen, for example, the aperture adjustment is directly available as part of the viewfinder display. The interface is immediately recognizable to anyone with DSLR/SLR experience.

The second thing that struck me while testing the camera at the store was how fast it is. It powers up very quickly, and the delay between shots is better than any digital point & shoot I've seen.

Based on these in-store observations and the consistently strong reviews regarding picture quality, I decided to purchase the NEX.

There are several cool and innovative features on the NEX that I've not encountered before, and I'll mention the two I think most people will find useful.

- The panoramic photo feature will knock your socks off. The camera automatically captures a series of images while you pan from one side to the other (or up-down) and then stitches the images together into a single panoramic photo. This performs very well, and is very useful for many outdoor scenes.

- The integration with Eye-Fi wireless SD memory cards makes for a very nice automated transfer of your photos to your computer and to online sharing sites. When I'm shooting in my house the photos are uploaded right then, while I'm shooting. If I'm away from home then when I return I simply turn on the camera and the photos automatically upload and after a minute of idle time the camera shuts off. If you buy a Sony NEX I strongly recommend you consider getting an Eye-Fi wireless SD card.

Upon buying the camera I left the next day for a trip to Colorado for a wedding and to visit friends and family. Everyone that saw the camera was enthralled with it. My daughters immediately took to it and snapped many excellent photos using it. My wife's reaction during the return trip: "That camera has already paid for itself!"

Other details:

- I'm getting about 300 pictures on a battery charge, and will probably purchase an additional battery within 6 months or so.

- The high resolution view screen is part of the secret to liking the camera. You get immediate satisfaction from seeing the excellent picture quality.

- The flash is workable but will not impress anyone with DSLR experience. I hope Sony comes out with an improved version.

- If Sony introduces a normal lens (30mm) it will be tempting, since it may allow the camera to be easily carried in a coat pocket.

- I don't take a lot of videos, but the NEX-3 video is quite good and will suffice for any purpose I will ever have.

I highly recommend this camera for someone upgrading from a Digital Point & Shoot.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The king of point and shoot, July 4, 2010

By 

Andrew Siew (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony Alpha NEX-3 Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera w/18-55mm Lens (Silver)- 14.2 Mpix (Electronics)

The first thing you will notice about the NEX-3 is that it looks and feels solid. The 18-55 lens is mostly metal, whereas the body is painted laser-etched plastic with a rubber grip. The camera feels heavy in the hand, but is amazingly deminutive. My first gripe with the camera is its memory stick holder. Designed to hold both SD cards and Memory sticks, there is some kind of internal adaptor that grabs on to the sticks as you lower them into the camera. The adaptor feels a little flimsy. Most Sony DSLRs have designated bays for SD and Memory cards.

So here's some of the highlights of the NEX-3 18-55mm(and I hope I'm not repeating too many what other reviewers have mentioned):

1) 18-55 lens: Superb construction, absolutely beautiful to handle. Large zooming and focusing rings. You can zoom in and out while you shoot videos manually (there's no T/W toggle switch on this thing). Granted it's not the best 18-55m zoom lens, there is obvious barrel distortion at 18mm, but the distortion slowly disappears as you zoom toward 24mm.

1.1) The focusing system for the NEX E-mount lenses falls somewhere between automatic and manual mode. Unless set to full manual focusing, when you press the shuttle button halfway down, the camera finds its focus, locks it, and should you wish to fine tune the focus, all you have to do is rotate the focusing ring (it's electronic so don't worry about damaging any gears within the lens) to push the focus forward or backward.

2) The top-mounted swiveling 3-inch LCD has unbelievable contrast. The high-resolution LCD displays almost everything a point-and-shoot user will need to know, and more.

3) Picture quality: I cannot stress this enough, the pictures are simply sublime. At ISO 200-1600, colors are punchy and rich, with very minimal noise even at pixel level. 3200-12800 are selectable if you need that extra sensitivity.

4) Continuous speed: Max at 7fps (with locked focus and exposure), normal at 2.3 fps (with continuous focusing). However please note that you must use a class 6 SD card or a HX Memory Stick to get the speed.

5) The panorama feature is smoother than Sony's compacts, but still produce undesirable effects such as misalignments etc. Probably not a problem if you're just using the images for small prints. A revision of the firmware not too long ago has enabled the NEX to shoot 3D panorama. Not sure if anyone will ever use it though.

6) The external flash is supplied, but unnecessary on most occasions as the camera's sensor handles low light so well you won't be missing the flash at all. One thing to note: It is very difficult to screw it on and off the NEX-3.

7) There a virtual PSAM dial to control shuttle speed, aperture size and combination of both, including bulb mode. There are a few ways to get to the dial, however, they mostly involve going into the multi-layered menu.

8) The graphic user interface (GUI) will take some getting used to. One press of the menu button takes you to six icons, and each one of them takes you to the following controls:

i) PSAM/scene/i-mode/panorama/3D panorama (after firmware upgrade) virtual dial,

ii) Drive mode (single/burst/high speed burst), AF/MF focusing,

iii)Image size and aspect ratio,

iv) Brightness and color controls including ISO, white balance, metering, DRO/HDR, creative style,

v) Playback functions including multiple file deletion, slide show, rotate and printing functions and

vi) Setup, where you get to format your memory cards.

9) The rotating control dial is also a four direction keypad. I find myself constantly pressing the dial too hard while turning it and end up accidentally selecting items I don't need. During Aperture Priority, pressing the dial on the left takes you directly to the single frame / continuous / timered captured menu, pressing the dial on the right takes you to the flash menu, pressing the dial at the bottom lets you adjust exposure compensation and pressing the dial on the top lets you toggle between different types of on-screen displays.

10) For the pictures, there's two JPEG compression modes, standard and fine. There is also RAW mode plus RAW+JPEG mode just like a typical DSLR.

11) Limited support for the a-mount lenses. When used with the optional a-mount adaptor with the latest firmware scheduled for release in October 2010, the NEX-3 will support auto-focus for a-mount lenses with SAM and SSM motors. Other alpha lenses with screw-drive focusing mechanism will lose AF abilities when mounted on the NEX with the a-mount adoptor. I suppose there's nothing Sony can do with the lack of the super steady shot feature with a vibrating sensor, as the E series are designed with Optical Stabilization in mind.

12) Update July 2011:

The latest firmware release in June 20th, 2011 (Version 0.4) adds picture effects (Miniature effect, High Key effect, etc) to the NEX-3. Although there is nothing new about these software based gimmicks, Sony has in total released 3 firmware updates (from 0.1 through 0.4) for the NEX-3, and with each update the NEX-3 receives new features and functions. Although the NEX-3 (along with NEX-5) will be replaced by the NEX-C3 soon, it appears that Sony may continue to introduce new functions to their existing NEX cameras.

The NEX-3 has one of the most complex interface there is. You will find yourself clicking through menus and submenus tediously if you're a seasoned DSLR user trying to make adjustments to the camera's settings. However, if this camera is to be treated as a point-and-shoot, I would have to say that it is one of the best cameras out there. The resolving power and sensitivity of the APS-C EXMOR sensor is downright breathtaking, on par with the APS-C EXMOR sensor of the Sony Alpha 550.

The NEX-3 also performs multi-frame capture (6-frames),raising the ISO sensitivity of the camera when you shoot still scenes. The function is comparable to DSC-HX1 and DSC-WX1, whereby six frames are captured quickly and then stacked up to produce a final image. With the added size of the NEX-3's sensor, night shot results can be very pleasing even handheld, as long as you're not framing a portrait.

The auto white balance feature leaves something to be desired, so as you get to know your camera better, you might want to explore the color settings and fine-tune the white balance a little for different lighting to get more natural looking results.

The defocusing effect given the kit lens' rather large aperture (F3.5-5.6) is substantial (but can't compete with a prime F1.4), and the minimum focusing distance of 25cm from the image sensor makes the lens a great close-up lens as well. It may not be able to produce true macro shots, but the end result is already very pleasing.

So there you have it. As far as a point-and-shoot camera goes the NEX-3 is without a doubt one of the most powerful cameras out there. The NEX-5 gives 1080i video in AVCHD (not progressive) and comes in an even smaller, metal front body, and support for an alpha remote control (for remote shuttle release).

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sony Nex-3, August 16, 2010

By 

Emily C. Dupree "mook" (Tennessee) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony Alpha NEX-3 Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera w/18-55mm Lens (Silver)- 14.2 Mpix (Electronics)

I just bought this camera a week ago. I wanted to upgrade from a point and shoot and head into the DSLR world. It's just a hobby for me. I'm not a professional and really don't know too much about cameras. I had in my mind that I was going to go buy a Nikon D5000. I had read lots of reviews and that camera got pretty solid reviews for someone who was new to the DSLR world. I went into the store and didn't like the feel of the camera. I am 5'1 and have very small hands. I felt that the D5000 was bulky and heavy for me. I thought I would not want to carry something like that around. The store clerk showed me the Sony NEX-3 and explained what it was. He spoke very highly of it and said for someone like me it would be a great camera. I bought it and have been playing around with it. I am not certain I am going to keep it. I really liked using the Macro setting on my point and shoot for taking photos of flowers to get just a little more detail. The macro setting on this camera is not great. My point and shoot does a better job and there is not a macro lens out yet for this camera to my knowledge. I don't feel that I have very much control over the camera when it's in certain settings. The camera will disable certain features when you are using certain settings. Something as basic as wanting to shoot in black and white is disabled. My point and shoot can do that in any setting. I dont understand why I cant in this camera. I can't change the focus area in most of the settings which I don't like. Therefore the camera focuses on what it wants to whether than what you intended unless you are in PASM. I am not skilled yet with using the PASM settings but would like to learn and I'm not sure this is the camera to learn on. The camera does not have a lot of buttons, it's all built into the LCD. It can take a few minutes to change the settings and you have to push like 6 buttons to get to it so you may miss your shot if you want to change something and need to do it quickly. I will say that this camera does take great photos and is definitively an upgrade in that respect from my point and shoot. It takes great photos in low light. I haven't even used the screw on flash because I dont feel like I have needed it. The other con is the battery life. It's awful. I rate it about a 3. If you are going to be out all day I would have a backup. They cost about $80. The manual says you can shoot about 300 photos. That's not very much. Overall, I do think this camera shoots great photos as a point and shoot but if you want more control over you will need to get a DSLR. I think I may return it. I will get used to the feel of it hopefully.

UPDATE:

I did end up keeping the camera and there was an update that I downloaded from Sony and it fixed the battery life so it now does not drain as quickly. I am very happy about that. The camera is in the shop for repair right now. The LCD screen turned black at the top and cut off abuot 1/3 of the picture. Sony is fixing it under the warranty that came with the camera. I dont know what caused this and have not seen any other reviews where this has occurred so may just have been my model. Now that I have been using the camera for quite some time, I am glad I bought it and not a bulky DSLR. It is so light weight and I can carry it with me any where I go. It takes fantastic photos in almost no light. I havent even had to use my flash. I cant wait to get it back from the repair shop. I have missed it.

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