I have gotten myself a decent camera finally after many years of daydreaming. The credit goes to Weitat and Gin for accompany me to the showroom, especially Weitat for the special discount he has gotten for me.
My new girlfriend, Sony NEX F3, is a mirrorless camera, which ranges between a normal compact camera and DSLR. According to some reviews I have read online, newer versions of mirrorless cameras are equivalent to entry level DSLR.
Mirrorless cameras lose to DSLR in autofocus speed. This means that mirrorless camera users may not be able to capture moments as fast as DSLR users. As a user who has just upgraded from sub quality compact cameras and having a few touches of my friends’ DSLR, I find my Sony NEX F3 satisfying.
The thing I quite dislike about my new girlfriend, F3, is that it does not have a viewfinder. I do not like the feeling of having another person seeing what I’m exactly focusing on. Therefore, it strongly discourages me from capturing some great moments, people and especially eyes candies. After all, mirrorless cameras are designed to be used without optical viewfinder, hence, have smaller bodies.
The main reason I have chosen a mirrorless camera over DSLR is that it is much more portable given its size and weight. My brothers will be using it then, which makes purchasing of the camera more worthwhile. Other than that, the discount in price is a big bonus. Luckily, Canon has yet to come up with a mirrorless camera, otherwise I would have to make more comparisons.
I was, in fact, stuck between Sony NEX 5N and F3. NEX 5N is an improved version of NEX 5 and it has been out in the market for about a year. NEX 7 has recently being launched and is out of stock, but the price difference is far too high – around $600 to $700 more. My girlfriend, NEX F3, is new as well, however, is said to be a lower-end version of NEX 5N, which is around $200 cheaper.
– Resolution of images
NEX 5N is the winner despite NEX F3 is about a year newer. However, I do not need extremely high resolution images.
– Design
Both models look quite alike at first glance but NEX F3 looks more like a box, which is uglier. Looks of the camera is of a lower priority to me, just like a girlfriend, which nobody knows.
– Flash and external gadget
NEX F3 has a built-in flash, which is stronger than the external flash that comes with NEX 5N. I do not like attaching and removing of external flash. The main issue is that both cameras have only a connector for external gadget, including the external flash. Therefore, NEX 5N users may have problems attaching an external microphone in future for video taking, but of course, this is not a good example since you do not need flash when doing video shot.
– Price
As mentioned earlier on, NEX F3 costs around $200 cheaper.
– LCD
Both cameras depend solely on the LCD for phototaking. Both of their LCDs can be adjusted. NEX 5N’s screen can be adjusted to face downwards more, so that the user can hold the camera higher and still be able to view the screen. NEX F3 can instead, flip the LCD screen 180 degrees to face the front, so that the user can take self portrait. Both are useful but I think the latter is more useful for causal shooting, especially with friends.
The Sony salesman, Jose, was a very honest man. He did not persuade me to buy NEX 5N, which was the more expensive model. Instead, he advised me to get a camera as accordingly to my need. He did his work professionally such as showing me how to attach the external flash and the power of them. He also reminded me that NEX F3 was very new and thus there would be fewer online reviews about it, which could be the reason why I felt NEX 5N was much better.
I love my girlfriend – Sony NEX F3.
Photography has been my hobby since young. I may not be very good in it but I put in extra effort than most people to make sure my photos turn out better. I wish to capture all the greatest moments and people of my life, and bring out their best smiles in my unique angle. I want to be appreciated through my work and not words.
I hope I can get some models and improve on my photography skill for photoshooting.