Sony has announced the Cyber-shot DSC-WX300, DSC-HX300 and DSC-TX30 compact cameras in the US market. The HX300 is a 20MP 50x superzoom with a 24-1200mm equiv. lens. Meanwhile the WX300 is an 18MP Wi-Fi compact superzoom with a 25-500mm equiv. lens. The tough, waterproof, card-style TX30 offers a 26-130mm equiv zoom. The WX300 will cost around $ 330, while the HX300 and TX30 will have retail prices of $ 500 and $ 350 respectively.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony US has announced the Zeiss-branded Planar T* 50mm F1.4 ZA SSM and 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM II A-mount lenses, alongside a redesigned DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM II entry-level kit zoom. Both have already been announced in Europe. The lenses will ship from May 2013 at retail prices of around $ 1500, $ 2200 and $ 220 respectively.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony US has announced the Alpha SLT-A58 and NEX 3N cameras, five days after they were announced in Europe. The A58 replaces both the A37 and A57, helping to simplify the company’s lineup. Meanwhile, the NEX-3N gains a compact-camera-style zoom lever and a smaller body than its predecessor, the F3. Both gain a lock-on focus mode and Auto Object Framing mode. The SLT-A58 will cost around $ 600 as a kit with the 18-55mm zoom, while the NEX-3N comes with a 16-50mm power zoom lens for around $ 500.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Just Posted: Sony NEX-3N hands-on preview with real world samples. We’ve had a chance to use and shoot with a NEX-3N and, now that Sony US has announced the camera, we can publish our look at the latest model. The 3N is the fourth entry-level NEX camera and the smallest so far. Despite this, it includes most of the features of its predecessors. We look at what has been added and what it lacks, compared to last year’s NEX-F3.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
I usually start a review of a camera like this straight after brekky, while I’m fresh, with an uncluttered mind.
But sometimes it seems I would have been better off by kicking off with a cluttered mind!
So I pick up the NEX-6. Hit the power button. Look in the LCD. Looks awfully dark. What’s up? Go the finder menu and hit the factory reset button. No better. Look in the menu for the PASM options. None there!
Oh! Oh! Dumbo missed the legibly inscribed, external PASM settings on the top mode dial. Just like most other cameras, but unlike the two most recent mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras that passed through my hands, the Canon EOS-M and Sony’s NEX-5R, which tucked these vital options away in the finder menu and touch screen respectively.
With the NEX-6 many will appreciate the easy access to external exposure controls like these.
Cosmetically, the camera looks gorgeous, simply garbed in black with legibly labelled external controls. It feels good too, thanks to a prominent speed grip. With the review f3.5/16-50mm review lens attached, it is almost pocketable.
The power and Function buttons are mounted on a front sloping deck that falls naturally to an operative forefinger.
As I mentioned, the mode dial carries the PASM choices plus iAuto and Superior auto exposure options, plus scene modes (nine in all) and Sony’s excellent sweep panorama. Set lower and on the extreme right corner is the video record button: later, when out shooting, I found this location to be a damned nuisance!
At the rear there is the replay button, flash pop up, AEL (to fix the exposure); the four way control wheel carries ISO, display options, single/continuos shooting and exposure compensation. There are three more, unlabelled near-invisible buttons: two assignable ‘soft keys’ and the central control wheel.
The CMOS captured a maximum image size of 4912×3264 pixels, or 42x28cm as a print.
Movies at Full HD res of 1920×1080 pixels can be shot in either AVCHD (full res) or MPEG4 (at two lower res settings).
The camera is furnished with full Wi-Fi access. This allows relatively simple wireless stills and video transfers to smartphones or tablets running the supplied PlayMemories Mobile (Windows only) app. Images can also be transferred wirelessly to a networked computer or viewed wirelessly on any DLNA-compatible TV.
Thankfully, the NEX-6 has a vari-angle LCD screen, tiltable to 90m degrees upwards or 45 degrees down.
A very clean performance all the way to ISO 3200. By ISO 6400 very slight rise in noise. Still very useable at ISO 12800 in terms of quality, sharpness and lack of visible noise. Noise up at ISO 25600 but still useable with the right subjects.
Quality: slightly above average.
Why you’d buy the Sony NEX-6: easy to use; access to a reasonable range of lenses.
Why you wouldn’t: no touch screen operation; the memory cat\rd slot is fiddly to deal with.
If you don’t need the image size of the NEX-7, this could be an ideal choice. Good one!
Image Sensor: 16.1 million effective pixels.
Metering: multi zone, centre-weighted, spot.
Lens Mount: Sony E-mount.
Exposure Modes: iAuto, Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Effective Sensor Size: 23.5×15.6mm CMOS.
35 SLR Lens Factor: 1.5x.
Shutter Speed (stills): 30 to 1/4000 second and Bulb. Flash sync: 1/160 sec.
Continuous Shooting: up to 10 fps.
Memory: SD/SDHC/SDXC, Memory Stick Pro Duo cards.
Image Sizes (pixels): Stills: 4912×3264 to 2448×1376.
Movies: 1920×1080 (AVCHD), 1440×1080 and 640×480 (MPEG4).
Viewfinder: 7.5cm LCD screen (921,600 pixels).
File Formats: JPEG, RAW (Sony ARW 2.3), JPEG+RAW, AVCHD, MPEG4.
Colour Space: sRGB, Adobe RGB.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100 to 25600.
Interface: USB 2.0, HDMI mini, Wi-Fi.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, DC input.
Dimensions: 120x67x43 WHDmm.
Weight: 345 g (inc card and battery).
Price: Get a price on the Sony NEX-6 (Body Only) or the Sony NEX-6 with 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens or the Sony NEX6 with 16-50mm Power Zoom Lens and 55-210mm Lens.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
Sony NEX-6 Review
We’ve updated our Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX1 review with an additional page of lens data, brought to you in collaboration with DxOMark. The RX1’s headline feature may well be its 24MP full frame image sensor, but the fixed Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm F2 lens is an equally crucial part of its imaging chain. We’ve added a full set of technical lens measurements to our review to illustrate how it performs, presented in our unique data widget. You can also see how it measures up against the best 35mm lenses available for SLRs.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony has revealed the Zeiss-branded Planar T* 50mm F1.8 ZA SSM and 70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM II A-mount lenses, alongside a redesigned DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM II entry-level kit zoom. The redesigned 70-400mm telephoto zoom offers faster autofocus than the existing version and comes in a while body that matches the recent 70-200mm and 500mm G lenses. Meanwhile, the 50mm F1.4 features a dust and moisture resistant design and quiet autofocus.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony has announced the NEX-3N, its entry-level NEX camera, replacing the NEX-F3. The 3N is, as before, aimed at users stepping up from compact cameras and gains a compact-style zoom lever around its shutter button. It features a smaller body than the F3, and Sony says it is the smallest, lightest mirrorless camera to feature an APS-C sensor, despite featuring a built-in flash. The camera will be bundled with the e-mount 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 power zoom lens, to make the most of the camera’s zoom control.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony has announced the Alpha SLT-A58, a mid-range SLT camera with a newly-developed 20MP sensor. The A58 will replace both the A37 and A57 models, helping to simplify the company’s lineup. The A58 builds on the A57’s feature set and gains an SVGA (800×600 pixel) OLED viewfinder, rather than its predecessors’ LCDs. It gains a new lock-on focus mode and Auto Object Framing mode – an extension of the auto portrait mode in the A57. It will be sold with a redesigned 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 SAM II kit lens that offers quieter autofocus. The camera is not being launched in the USA at this point.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)
Sony has announced the Cyber-shot DSC-WX300, DSC-HX300 and DSC-TX30 compact cameras. The HX300 is a 50x superzoom with a 24-1200mm equivalent lens in front of a 20MP CMOS sensor. Meanwhile the WX300 is a Wi-Fi compact superzoom that Sony says is the slimmest 20x camera. It has an 18MP CMOS chip behind its 25-500mm equiv. lens. Finally, the tough, waterproof card-style TX30 shares the same sensor and offers a 26-130mm equiv zoom. The three models are not currently being announced in the USA.
News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)