Name: Sony Alpha NEX-3 14.2 Megapixel Compact Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS E-mount Lens, Silver
Brand: Sony
SKU: ISONEX318SL
Price: 529.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 5 (4 reviews)

Sony Alpha NEX-3 14.2 Megapixel Compact Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS E-mount Lens, Silver

Sony NEX-3

Sony

Sony Alpha NEX-3 14.2MP Digital Camera Lens 18-55mm, Silver

Adorama

Sony NEX-3 

Top Rated Gear: Sony Alpha NEX-3 14.2 Megapixel Compact Interchangeable Lens Digital Camera with 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS E-mount Lens, Silver Buy now & save $70.

I've only had it for a few weeks, but so far this camera is everything I was hoping it would be.  Can't wait to take it to Ireland in a few weeks!

Great camera

Grest bang for the buck!  Really great results and quality from this camera and all the lenses, including the new 30mm macro

Small wonder

I wanted a small camera that my wife can use also. My wife didn't want to lug anything large around except me.

Best Small Camera

I've purchased similar (electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens) cameras from at least 2 other manufacturers, and found them to come up just short in several ways. Either AF performance was not quite as fast as what I needed, or the size of the camera was just a bit too large, or the quality coming out of the sensor was not quite what I had hoped for. The NEX-3 has outperformed the others I've used in nearly every way.
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I picked up the NEX-3 kit with the 16mm lens and I think it's better than what many of the reviews are saying right now. If you're looking for a pocketable substitute for your A700, then this isn't quite that, but it's not exactly meant to be, either. It's got a great sensor that picks up a lot of detail, a beautiful screen, and enough controls to make most adjustments. Plus, the thing is really small enough to put in your pocket or briefcase. I really admire its departure from the traditional camera design.
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Most of the complaints I've heard in reviews are around adjusting settings. True, most settings require menu changes, but the only setting I missed was ISO adjustment. Mode-specific adjustment (such as aperture or shutter speed), exposure compensation, drive mode, and flash settings are all readily available. It would be a bit better and easier to use if the main button (in the center of the control dial) and the secondary button (the one at the bottom) could be set to customizable functions - by default they're "Shoot Mode" and "Shoot Tips" - great settings for beginners, but not for experienced users. I imagine this is something that could be changed in a firmware update, and it would make the camera almost perfect for my use if it is added.
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The autofocus is about as fast as any other similar camera, but still falls short of what you can do with an entry-level DSLR. This is to be expected, and there has to be a compromise somewhere to get this quality into this size of a package.
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The other point to consider is the lens. It's got some mild (but noticeable) distortion that is unlike other wide angle lenses. It seems that this is in the RAW format as well, so it might be that some software correction is being applied, or the lens construction is a bit different than other wide-angle lenses. That being said, I do like the 16mm (24mm eq) that's in the kit, but something faster and a touch longer would get a lot more use from me. A f/2 28mm pancake lens (42mm eq) would be perfect on this camera, yielding a great field of view for general purpose photography.
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All in all, I love this camera. It has about 90% of what I would want from a camera like this, and at the price, it's a great value. For me, the areas where it comes short could be corrected by a firmware update. For beginners or for users that are starting to learn more about photography, it's probably closer to 95% of the way there. I'd highly recommend it to any photographer.