It’s only been a couple of months since Sony announced the NEX-C3 to its compact-interchangeable lens series. Now it’s adding two new compacts to the series with the NEX-5N and NEX 7.The NEX 7 graduates from its predecessors with a built-in eye-level OLED viewfinder and pop-up flash. The redesign doesn’t end there though, as the new camera also changes up the layout of its manual controls. Using what Sony is calling a TRINAVI system, there are two dials on top of the camera as well as a control wheel. All three are customizable to a photographer’s preferences. This means you’re likely to make more use of the camera’s in-screen mode menus, which shows you what each dial is control depending on what setting you’re using.
True to NEX form, the NEX 7 has a 3-inch display, and similar if slightly deviated classic styling. It’s a mere 10.3 ounces with a 24.3 effective megapixel resolution. There are a few other improvements, including its mega-fast shutter lag of 20 milliseconds and new manual controls while shooting video. It can capture HD movie at 60 fps and 24 fps.
The NEX 7 will be available in November for $1,350 with its 18-55mm zoom lens kit or $1,200 for the body.
But it’s not alone. The new NEX-5N follows up the NEX 5 and there are a few notable improvements, chief among them being its 16.1-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor as well shutter lag of 20 milliseconds. It’s faster all-around: Its 10 fps easily outdo its predecessor’s 7 fps. Its AF algorithm has also been updated, which Sony says makes the system much faster than it was in the NEX-5. ISO sensitivity has been bumped up to 25600, which the company claims is the highest among in its sector. As for vanity features, the NEX-5N also sports a touchscreen, adjustable LCD display.
The camera captures AVCHD video at 1080p and 60 fps, all without taking away manual settings. There are also creative video filters you can employ with movie recording. Sony also outfitted the camera with some new built-in editing features, like toy camera and HDR effects.
Besides a couple of additions, the NEX-5N sounds like a general upgrade from what was already a highly praised digital camera, so we’d expect it to do well. It will be available in September for $600 for the body and $700 with the 18-55mm zoom lens kit.
