Heres some more sample footage if anyones interested. This was with the pancake lens. I love this thing

“The Sony A77 gets a much better video mode than seen on its predecessor, the A55, but rather squanders the sensor size advantage”… This is the first I noticed a distinction between how the A77 captured video from NEX-7. How does the NEX-7 handle it differently?

I have a hard time keeping up with how each camera (sensor) is handling video and I think it would be extremely helpful to myself and others if you one day put together a quick primer on how the different manufacturers are handling video off their sensors, within their own line and as compared to other manufacturers–just the most notable models of course, the one’s you like to shoot and comment on. I’ve seen you comment on this throughout various posts but having it all in one concise article would be valuable.

Regards,
Andrew

I was thinking of purchasing this camera for night time shots that I would stitch together in QT, creating time-lapse video of the starry night. I was wondering if the camera can be programmed to shoot for say, 60-90sec at 15-30min intervals. Probably with the 3.5, or even the smaller wide-angle lens with the 2.8 f-stop.

What would your advice be? Should I use this camera? Can the settings be customized that detailed? What lens would be best?

Keep in mind that I am coming from using a 50mm Nikkormat FTN – completely manual.

5N body Size, 5D sensor size, GH2 color, sharpness and antialiasing, etc…

thanks you for the great review. I am a NEX-5 user and have been gatting around the limits of the 5 for quite some time.

You now post NEX-5n has full manual controls – what does this mean?

Can you change aperture, iso and/or speed during video?

Is there S mode video? I was thinking of – fixing speed to 1/50th, setting Auto ISO and playing with the aperture (manual lenses always allow this) and exposure compensation while shooting. Is this possible?

Is auto-iso working on video in M mode? (NEX-5 did not have auto iso in M mode)

I have seen in Steve Huff’s review that NEX-5 can be set to iso 6400 for video. You post that iso is capped at 3200. Which one is correct?

Thanks again for sharing your impressions. Very useful.

- The 5N holds onto more detail in the shadows whilst the GH2 crushes them almost to black which gives it a higher contrast look but less dynamic range
- The GH2 has a sharper image which is more clinical so you have to use legacy glass to rough it up more
- Gradated tones are a bit smoother on the 5N
- Colour is better on the 5N. The GH1 and GH2 could never quite do yellow without a hint of green or orange without a hint of brown and yellow

All these points are VERY subtle but when you add them all together the GH2 doesn’t look quite as cinematic as the Sony.

Cheers,
Mattias Ranbro

I would love to sell my camcorder and Nikon D3100 and get a small hybrid camera with good enough video. Looked at Panasonic G3 recently but the video performance on it was rather disappointing, very slow AF.

Things that might bug me the most are the gamma shift live view, that sounds a little frustrating, and the lack of cine-gamma or similar flat mode (though your recent discovery of ‘Sunset’ mode seems to be useful).

It appears softer than the GH2, but the most remarkable thing about the side-by-side comparison is how much more ‘movie like’ the 5N feels despite the sharpness issue. I think this is the reason I’ve never yet bought into M4/3 (aside from wide-angle lens selection), something about it — even at equivalent focal length etc. — always feels a bit more ‘video’… Only when side by side though.

I think it’s something like diaphragm size in microphone capsule design. Though each one differs in some way, there are certain esoteric characteristics that are common to diaphragm of each similar size. Perhaps small digital sensors don’t feel the same as small film because of the way photodiodes gather light in a more rigid (straight on) manner than the latter, it’s inherently less organic, and the final image is naturally more ‘tunnel like’.

Either way I’m really looking forward to seeing how the NEX5n compares with your 600D in terms of handleability, versatility and the final image quality!