Sony's mighty NEX aspirations

Most die-hard camera gearheads have been following the progress of Sony's Alpha NEX-7, hoping that it will offer all the bells and whistles they want in the "right" size. That means big enough to accommodate a large sensor, EVF, great lens, and full manual controls, but still be small enough to fit in a pocket. I'm glad I don't have to build that camera, because science has yet to develop such TARDIS-like technology.

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• Read all of Sony's Alpha announcements

Still, it seems as if Sony is attempting to try with the NEX-7. It's got an innovative two-dial system that takes the predominantly screen-based NEX operation and moves a chunk of it back to the hardware controls, where enthusiasts want it. For this class of camera, the NEX-7 has almost everything: built-in flash, OLED EVF, large sensor (unfortunately packed tightly with pixels), tilting LCD, and relatively serious video features.

Of course, all that costs. As a result, in my opinion it competes less with other compact ILCs and mostly with the equally pricey Fujifilm FinePix X100. Here's the competitive picture:

If you compare features, it's no contest: for the price, the X100 is laughably underpowered in that respect. But it also delivers the best photo quality in its class, and that's really where the NEX-7 will have to at least match it. Given that the X100 has half the pixels, it will really be a testament to Sony's sensor prowess if it can do that. But I'm really looking forward to taking it for a spin and seeing how far it gets.

Sony Alpha NEX-5N photos

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Though not nearly as newsworthy, the more prosaic NEX-5N looks like the camera many will settle for when they find the NEX-7 out of their budget. The NEX-5 was a decent camera, and Sony's fixed a lot of our quibbles with it: it now takes an add-on EVF, has the improved NEX interface that's in the C3, and offers some updated video features. But it also takes the new A-mount adapter, and that should make shooters who just want a decent body on which to hang their expensive Zeiss glass reallyhappy. For the lensless masses looking for their first ILC, though, the options look like this:

Insofar as features are concerned, both cameras certainly show promise in their respective segments. But my big reservation about the NEX series is size: the bodies are obviously compact, but the lenses, except for the pancake primes, are relatively large. I don't think that's much of a problem for the potential NEX-7 buyer, who's less likely to expect a single lens to fulfill all needs and who's willing to sacrifice a little compactness in exchange for flexibility. But the 5N, like the C3, is another story; Sony needs some lightweight, compact E-mount zoom lenses for its mainstream models.

Furthermore, though Sony is rolling out several new E-mount lenses and some really well-done accessories, the fact remains that Micro Four Thirds-mount options are far outstripping them. Having access to the A-mount catalog is a nice perk, and if I had an investment in A-mount lenses I'd be really excited by these models. But no matter how great the bodies might be, for someone buying into a new system it's not quite the no-brainer that most folks would like it to be.