SONY NEX-5T Review & Price in Malaysia #SonyNEX5T

SONY NEX-5T Review and Price in Malaysia

Remember last week I had a chance to get hands on with Sony new cameras during Sony New Camera Launch 2013 featuring NEX-5T, QX10/QX100, Action Cam, A3000 and Music Video Cam?? Courtesy of Sony Malaysia I had a chance to review a brand new Sony NEX-5T as well. That's really cool you know? Especially when you love photography =DD

If you are looking for a light weight smart camera that can share photos to smartphone/PC with just a few steps. Sony NEX-5T is a very good camera for immediate update especially on social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) as the Wi-Fi and NFC is all built in in one same body; If you like to take self photos (selfie), the flippable screen on NEX-5T is very convenient for you to find the right angel and pose to match with the background as well and take awesome selfies! I am gonna share some photos with you soon =)

Okie so today I am gonna share what I think about Sony Cyber-shot NEX-5T after used it for around a week. I brought it to a few events and travel so hope you will enjoy reading my review below:

PS: Some photos went through basic crop only, and collage together to save space on this post. Watermark was added as well =) However, technology nowadays is so easy to use (Picasa3/Instagram) to increase the contrast/concentration/filter to make your picture looks even more awesome. 

Cute Puppies recorded using SONY NEX-5T 

*Click To Read More*

Now let's talk about some of the features of SONY NEX-5T:

1. APS-C 16.1 megapixels (low light and defocus)

APS-C Sensor with 16.1 Effective Megapixels on Sony NEX-5T

Sony NEX-5T is equipped with 16.1 megapixels sensor and you can capture both RAW and JPEG format image using this smartcam. This sensor size is good enough for you to create high quality images even under low-light. Thanks to the several function available on it (Night Scene, Hand-held Twilight, Anti Motion Blur)

So I went to OktoberFest @ Labodega the other day and here's some photos taken during the event.

Low light photoshoot at La Bodega, Pavilion for OktoberFest event
Captured using Sony NEX-5T without flash

Cheers for OktoberFest!
Captured using Sony NEX-5T with the external flash

Launching of OktoberFest @ La Bodega, Pavilion
Captured using Sony NEX-5T with the external flash

OktoberFest @ La Bodega, Pavilion
Captured using Sony NEX-5T with the external flash

I am quite surprised with the attachable flash included together in the box. It provides you adequate lighting to illuminate the subject at night. Trust me, if I was given much more time to play with this camera and with other lens, I can assure you to produce more awesome night shot.

2. Compact and Usability – 180 degree tiltable screen

180 degree tiltable screen on Sony NEX-5T
Easier for you to snap photos at more different angles

First self-portrait using SONY NEX-5T

With the 180 degree tiltable screen, I can easily take a selfie with the beautiful background by position the frame to my favourite frame

Of course, selfie with girlfriend is much easier too by making sure we look good before pressing the shutter button

By comparing the weight and size of SONY NEX-5T with my DSLR, of course SONY NEX-5T is much more convenience for me to handle =) Just imagine I always use my DSLR to do selfie, that's very heavy and I always get blur shot. But once I switch to using Sony NEX-5T, it makes everything easier especially when you want to do selfie or group photo with friend. It has face recognition, smile detection, 3 seconds countdown that make your selfie experience even better. I am sure the lady love this funtion very much. (Even I myself also can't resist yo lol)

Oh ya, if you are an active vlogger you definitely love the 180 flipable screen as you can do travel vlog easily. A compact light weight smartcamera that can record Full HD video sounds good to me =) 

A selfie with cute cousins made easier with flippable screen haha
He was happy to see himself through the live view

3. Fast Hybrid AF – phase detection AF for quick and precious autofocus

I am gonna compliment about the Fast Hybrid AF of Sony NEX-5T. With this function, I can capture fast scene easily with just one button! Let me show you what I got by using the 'Speed Priority Continuous' Mode to capture cute precious moments of the puppies I met few days ago.

How fast can you capture the moment of puppy licking its own nose? Love the quick focus and shutter of NEX-5T!

Spot the little puppy that winked haha

Let me give you some scratch/sayang while snapping you using one hand ;p

You can do close-up easily using Sony NEX-5T

I snapped this without looking at the screen, glad the focus and camera is fast enough to capture puppy's attention. Isn't that lovely? I wanna keep this camera to capture my bunnies at home!

Another nose-licking precious shot for the puppy using Sony NEX-5T =D
Check out its blue eyes

Besides the Fast Hybrid AF on Sony NEX-5T, you can also use these two features (Tracking Focus and Touch Shutter-Snap ) to get your photo shot easily with just one touch on the screen. You can choose your desire focus point by just touching the screen and track the object even when it is moving quickly. Below is some photos to show you the bokeh effect using the Sony Kitlens E 3.5-5.6/PZ 16-50 OSS.

Upper image focusing on the mosque and lower image focusing on the tree leaves. Exposure on the focused subject auto adjusted as well. Both captured using Sony NEX-5T through touch screen focus

Do notice that the different focus on image is easily achieved by just pressing on the screen without changing your photo composition. This feature is very useful when you want to combine two photo as one and feature two different thing.

4. PlayMemories Camera Apps, Wi-Fi and NFC

PlayMemories Camera Apps and Smart Remote Embedded in Sony NEX-5T

PlayMemories Camera Apps play an important role in linking your smartphone with Sony NEX-5T. It is available in both iTune and Google App Store so that means any smartphone can use this easy WiFi sharing feature. Once you've linked a smartphone to Sony NEX-5T, it is really easy to transfer high-reso photos to your smartphone in just few steps. I used this function to share a photo of the dog I captured and published it on Instagram.

Original photo captured using Sony NEX-5T

After captured above photo, I transferred it to my smartphone easily using direct WiFi and edited it using a photo editing application (Snapseed) before publish it on Instagram and Facebook. Below is the photo I shared on my Instagram.

Increased the color concentration and contrast to make it even more standout =D
Follow me on Instagram - @tianchad

NFC (Near Field Communication) wireless transfer feature on SONY NEX-5T

Besides the useful Wi-Fi sharing feature, you can also transfer using NFC as long your smartphone has NFC as well. All you need to do is place your NFC-enabled smartphone near the NFC logo on Sony NEX-5T and your photo will be automatically transferred through PlayMemories Camera Apps.

I personally prefer to transfer using WiFi as I can select multiple photos on Sony NEX-5T first, then open PlayMemories Camera App on my smartphone and selected photos will be transferred swiftly to my smartphone. In my experience, the transfer is really fast and I am happy with it =)

5. Hardware and Accessories of SONY NEX-5T

Different power adaptor head included for your battery charger. You can now charge your camera directly using the USB and universal port.

I was quite surprised with the number of cables provided in the box, it is good for travellers but if I were given a choice to design the accessories, I definitely prefer bringing just a cable along with universal power adaptor instead of bringing so many cables along. Perhaps the next generation of Sony NEX-5T can have a universal power adaptor included?

Sony NEX-5T with flash attached

The Sony NEX-5T doesn't have a built-in flash but a small HVL-F7S fold-down flash was included in the package. This fold-down flash will be connected on the top deck and once it is mounted, the flash will prevent raising of the the LCD panel for self-portraits. Which is a disadvantages if you want to do selfie in dark environment. To solve this problem, get your friend to snap the photo for you using the flash instead.

6. Various Scene Selection and Picture Effect

A smart camera is not smart enough if without Scene Selections (9 types) and Picture Effect (12 types) to help you create different feel images. Check out just some of the effect below.

There are quite many scene selection for you to choose in SONY NEX-5T

Sweep Panorama feature on Sony NEX-5T

Soft High Key Picture Effect on Sony NEX-5T

Partial Color (Yellow) Picture Effect on Sony NEX-5T

Posterization Picture Effect used for selfie on Sony NEX-5T

Macro Mode on Sony NEX-5T

Face recognition and fast shutters on Sony NEX-5T assist in capture precious moments

Met two lovely brother and sister at the beach  and quite pleased to have their photo captured while the wave splashed on them =)

A close up shot of puppy's eye. Saw my reflection in it

Basically all these scene selection and picture effect helps you take better photos and give you desired effect. It decrease the time you need to spend on after-process to create similar result with just few clicks.

7. Battery Life of Sony NEX-5T

The size of battery for Sony NEX-5T. SD Memory card slot is just beside the battery

According to the specification of Sony NEX-5T, it mentioned that you can snap up to 330 photos with one single battery (CIPA standard). As what I know, the smarter your gadget are, the more power it will consume. So just make sure you have enough spare batteries if you are a frequent user like me who always use Wi-Fi/NFC transfer to my smartphone. Or else, just bring along the USB cable to charge your camera directly.

8. Full HD Video Recording

I won't say much about this but let's just watch the videos I recorded using Sony NEX-5T:

Sony NEX- 5T Reviewed at the beach - Wind Noise Reduction & Flippable Screen 

While recording the video, you can choose your favor focus point by just touching the screen. The refocus is really fast and done within second. As for the wind noise reduction, although it is not that perfect but you can still hear my voice while talking at the beach. Therefore I think it is good enough? 

The only downside of this mode is you can't take photos while recording. I thought it has this feature as Sony RX100 has this function. Or else this camera Sony NEX-5T is really awesome for both photography and videography.

9. Low Light photography with Sony NEX-5T

With the current ISO ranging from 100 to 25600, Sony NEX-5T can take nice low light photo regardless of the image noise. I've tried it yesterday while paying a visit to the Bridge Bar @ G-Tower. A beautiful and relaxing place for a drink after work. Check out some of the photos taken at low light condition:

G-Tower Bridge Bar with reflective mirror ceiling 

Used slow shutter to capture the dim lights illuminating the drinks (handheld)

Used 'Handheld Twilight' to capture my friends, amazed with the result =)

A little corner of G-Tower Bridge Bar

Night city view of Intermark from G-Tower Bridge Bar

Used the Digital Zoom to zoom in to the traffic. Using slow shutter and handheld (which explain the blur)

Manual mode with long shutter speed to create these light trails on the road

All above photos were taken without flash and you can see what are the things you can do with just Sony NEX-5T it self. You can always use the scenery mode to help you snap better low light photo. I love the one where they combine a few photos into one intelligently by increasing the captured light without creating blurs/double images. Once you've master the Manual Mode, you can really do wonders with Sony NEX-5T even at night. You are highly recommended to use a tripod if you want to have stable and sharp images as hand-held shaking is inevitable especially when shutter speed is slower than 1/60 seconds. What I usually do in Manual Mode photography is to decide the aperture and shutter speed first, then only increase the ISO gradually to achieve my desired contrast. You don't want your photo looks grainy with the high ISO but you don't want your image looks blur too with over-slow shutter speed.

Basically, practice makes perfect and I assure you you can shoot better day by day with more shooting experience =D

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Conclusion for SONY NEX-5T Review

Overall, I think Sony NEX-5T is suitable for daily use including photography and videography. This camera is definitely lighter than any DSLR with its compact size and yet able to produce quality images with the 16.1 MP Image Sensor. The main attractive side of Sony NEX-5T is still about the 180 Flippable Touch Screen, Wi-Fi and NFC Wireless Transfer Feature. All these functions will assist you to take selfie photo/video easily and you can share to your social media (Facebook/Instagram) at the speed of light too.

The downside of this camera is that you can't take selfie while the the flash is attached onto the camera. Besides that, you can't take photo while recording video. Which is quite sad especially when you are recording video and want to capture screenshot on certain scene. Well, if you are not recording video, this camera is perfect with smart intelligent snapping mode and picture effects. 

Since SONY NEX-5T is a very smart camera, it consume battery as fast as a smartphone so you are advised to prepare spare batteries during long travel OR bring along powerbank to charge your camera. 

However, don't forget that you can always improve your image quality with various type of E-Mount camera lens. For example 20mm F2.8 Wide-Angle Lens, 16mm Wide-Angle Lens, Carl Zeiss® 24mm F/1.8 Lens and 55-210mm Zoom Lens. This will definitely bring your images quality to the next level.

Who should buy SONY NEX-5T?

If you like to take selfie photo, the 180 flippable screen suits you (especially for lady). If you want a light weight camera that can take DSLR quality photo, and like to do live update, get Sony NEX-5T as they have WiFi and NFC wireless transfer so you can upload photo directly to Instagram (which is what I like to do now). If you want to travel far for a long holiday and has lots of walking trip, you better get a light weight smart camera like this SONY NEX-5T.  

How much is SONY NEX-5T in Malaysia?

The NEX-5T camera will be available at end of September at SRP RM2,299.


If you have any further questions about SONY NEX-5T,  feel free to leave comment below so I can test it out and answer you guys before I return it back yo. Cheers!!

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