Sony NEX-5 or Canon Rebel

by megncase Nov 23, 2010 12:11AM PST

Hi there!

I'm new to the photography world and looking to buy my first DSLR. I have been reading a lot about the Sony NEX-5. I love how small it is and all the reviews I've found have been great so I'm seriously looking into purchasing it with the 18-55mm lens. However, it was personally recommended to me prior to this that I purchase the Canon EOS Digital Rebel Xsi with the 18-55mm, then purchase the f1.4 50mm and an 85mm as solid lenses to go with it. First, I'm wondering which you would recommend out of the two and second, I'm wondering, if I did go with the NEX-5, would I run into any trouble when buying a 50mm and an 85mm to go with it?

Thank you!

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Sony NEX-5

by PistonCupChampion Nov 23, 2010 3:12AM PST

I don't have either, but the Sony has some neat features. However, at the moment, there is only one prime lens offered, a 16mm. There are currently only two other Sony E-mount lenses: the 18-55mm, and an 18-200mm. You can fit other non-E-mount lenses with an adapter, but they won't autofocus.

As for the Canon, I don't know why someone would recommend 50mm and 85mm lenses to you, unless you expressed an interest in portrait photography. Still, not everyone needs one, and certainly most people don't need both. Neither is a particularly good length for general purpose photography, because the XSi is a crop-sensor camera. A better all-purpose (and relatively inexpensive) prime would be the Canon 35mm f/2. THe faster f/1.4 would be even better, but it's more than three times the cost.

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Depends on how serious you want to get

by hjfok Nov 23, 2010 10:20AM PST

If you are very serious about photography and plan on purchasing some large aperture prime or zoom lenses in the future, and plan to use accessories (flashes, strobes, filters, extenders, etc), then you should get the Canon D-SLR. There are a lot more lens choices and much easier to find third party accessories to do whatever you want.

The Sony Nex series has compact bodies but lack lenses. You can use an adaptor to use the Sony D-SLR lenses, but those lenses are way bigger than the Nex bodies. You will end up with a very awkward small body with huge lens, may feel unbalanced in your hand. It is like a toddler wearing big clown shoes. And there are not as many third party compatible accessories. You won't be able to do tether shooting or other more specialized functions. The Nex does not have a nice ultrawide, portrait, macro, tele lens. It is compact and has the feel of a PS camera, and do HD video compared to the XSI. But I won't use it for serious photography. It is something I have thought about throwing into my baby's diaper bag instead of carrying the D-SLR and HD camcorder on my back.

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What I'll be using it for...

by megncase Nov 24, 2010 2:55AM PST

Thanks for the info. I'm still a bit confused though. I'm definitely not experienced enough to be "serious about photography", but I would like to become good at using the camera in different ways. I will be traveling to a bunch of different countries soon, which is why the compactness of the NEX is appealing, and I also don't assume I'd need too many lenses for this, but I would also like to become good at portraits as I have a bunch of nieces and nephews and someday soon, my own children as well. I guess there's pros and cons to everything, but if any of this sparks more advice, it would be greatly welcome!

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Portraits

by PistonCupChampion Nov 24, 2010 4:01AM PST

You can become good at taking portraits with any camera. What the faster prime lenses do is allow in more light for use in lower light without a flash, and also a shallower depth of field. But the NEX-5 has great high ISO performance, and it has a background defocusing function which can simulate a shallower DoF with pleasing "bokeh."

The Sony may be less "serious," but it will probably do what you want it to do. The Canon allows for growth by virtue of the depth of equipment and the ability to upgrade...but that can be *very* expensive.

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Limitations

by hjfok Nov 24, 2010 5:19PM PST

It's good that the Sony Nex has some tricks under its sleeves. But if one wants to take low light actions, eg. kids sports indoor or at night, you need a large aperture tele in addition to good high ISO performance. The Nex does not have this type of lens at this time. And if you use the Sony D-SLR 70-200mm f/2.8 with an adaptor mount, you will soon find out the mismatch between the compact Nex body and the large lens.

The electronic gurus of Sony, Panasonic and others no doubt have done a great job making a compact camera body. But they still need to figure out how to miniaturize the large aperture lens to make this type of camera truly equivalent to D-SLR. To me, the ILC or EVIL revolution is only half-done.

It is true that you can do great photography with any type of camera, and I'm sure one can get breathtaking photos with Nex cameras. The photographer is always the main ingredient to great photography. But the right tools do make your life a little bit easier.

Don't get me wrong, I do like to have a more compact and lightweight camera system than my D-SLR bricks. But the bulk of the weight of my equipment is not the camera body, it's the lenses. So I do hope someone can figure out how to miniaturize the large aperture lenses.

And I don't mean to be disrespectful of the Nex cameras when I say throwing it into my diaper bag. When you have kids, you will understand how much stuff you need to carry for a tiny baby. I now throw the iPad into the diaper bag when traveling, to replace the laptop, the Ninetendo DS for my older kid, the magazines, the GPS, the books/travel guides, and kids holiday homework assignments. Now that is one device that save me a suitcase load of stuff that we used to carry.

If you are only going to use the kit lens, then Nex cameras can be a slightly lighter package. But if you plan on buying several lenses including some large aperture lenses, then consider a D-SLR instead.

Sony NEX-5 or Canon Rebel

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