The digital camera Sony NEX-5

The micro 4/3 system was created in 2008 by some Japanese camera manufacturers. Unlike SLR cameras, micro 4/3 cameras use no mirror and the lenses are interchangeable. The camera body can then be made small. I recently (yesterday) bought such a very small camera. It is a Sony NEX-5  and in the photo you can see its size compared to an iPod Touch. It is so small that the attached lens (18-55 mm zoom) is bigger than the camera body.





I use my cameras quite often, mostly outdoors. I am a point-and- shoot photographer. I almost never use the possibilities to adjust the camera settings. I trust the camera green shoot button. Manipulating a picture with a software like Photoshop is absolutely too complex for me and I have no time for it.





With adaptors it is possible to use lenses of other brands. Even old analogue camera lenses can be used, but with some restrictions of course. As I am a birder it would be nice to attach this little Sony camera to my spotting tube. I think that would be possible. One adaptor producer is the German company Novoflex.





What interests me a lot lately is shooting videos. The Sony camera specs are outstanding for such a small camera. The CMOS sensor can register 14.2 million pixels and its size, 23.4x15.6 mm, is even a little larger than my Canon 550D sensor. When it comes to video shooting in hd the AVCHD format is 1920x1080i. Recently I have shifted over from the PC world to Apple. I am using a MacBook 13.5". The MAC software for photos and videos suites me very well.

Today I tested how the iMovie software can handle editing a mix of video clips from Canon 550D (mov files) and Sony NEX-5 (AVCHD format files). Without installing the disc accompanied the NEX-5, the import of AVCHD files went automatic when using iMovie. It was very easy to edit the clips. No troublesome format conversion etc. was needed. The Canon 550D was handheld with its 300 mm tele lens. The tele has an image stabilizer, but even then it is almost impossible to get shake-free video clips. I used the iMovie software stabilizer on all 550D clips. It helped, but maybe i would have preferred the clips being shaky. The Sony NEX 18-55 mm lens has an in-built stabilizer. This test movie was very quick to edit and without having to read any manual :-)

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