Official Sony NEX 5N topic

ed_lee83

Shocking! I never knew! Thanks everybody for sharing their warnings. I'll need to have a backup since we've only started shooting

Mimirsan

I wouldn't worry too much about it...seems to be common for the bigger aps-c sensored cameras anyway. Canon/Nikons DSLRs overheat...at least sony point it out and have a pre shutdown warning.

ed_lee83

5N users have just discovered something odd about the camera. There seems to be something 'loose' inside the body that when the camera is panning or tilting a 'clicking' noise is heard and - as if something inside is rocking about. At first I thought it was the metal clips on the side but it's definitely something inside the camera.
The seriousness of the problem seems to variate among users. For my camera it can be evidently heard when moving the camera at quick speeds, but there's no problem when panning/tilting at slow or 'regular' speeds.
I did a test video to demonstrate it. I recorded this in a fairly silent environment so the noise is quite obvious:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1042&message=39340224

stoney

Prolly you already know this. Useful panning is either slow panning or fast panning.

ed_lee83

@stonebat Way to go off on a tangent but OK...
Incidentally I had this conversation with the producer today. She wanted me to pan the camera and I asked her if she wants a slow or fast pan. She said: "Well, not too slow and not too fast would be nice". In the end I wouldn't say the pan was classified as "useful" but she was fine with it.

stoney

Good as long as the boss lady says ok.

ed_lee83

@stonebat I dunno really, she's American and says "awesome" to every bloody thing!

Anyway, back on topic: Here's an example of a particularly bad case of the clicking noises (and it's a Japanese user!). Seems like every movement has that noise: http://bbs.kakaku.com/bbs/K0000281278/SortID=13488512/MovieID=797/

Mimirsan

I guess it could be sensor related to the sweep panorama feature...like a ballbearing that switches the sensor mode from portrait to landscape? as you now hold the camera sidways to do sweep photos...hence why on nex c3 and 5n?
hx9 might do the same...will try it lol

squig

I've been doing some tests and so far I"m very impressed with the 5N. The image quality, dynamic range, and high ISO in 24p mode beats every other APS-C DSLR and the panny M/43 cameras and is right up there with the 5D. 60p is too heavily compressed. I've been shooting everything in portrait mode with everything dialled down. It looks like Canon neutral but is more saturated.

The EVF died on the second day, just flickered while I was changing ISO and blacked out. The clicking doesn't worry me too much because I boom all my sound but I'll swap it if there's a product recall.

I've seen the overheating symbol once so far shooting in the sun after a few minutes. I wouldn't use only one body on a shoot but I would consider just swapping 2 or 3 bodies like rolls of film. I bought it as a b-cam for my 5D. I need 60p and I figured due to the price and the great sensor that this thing would be very hack worthy.

People have complained about access to controls like ISO and WB. You can assign up to 5 functions to the scroll wheel/joystick. I find it as easy to use as the 5D.

squig

My hack wishlist-

Higher bit-rates: at least 50Mbit/s for 60p.
Noise reduction LOW and OFF switchable in video and JPEG modes.
24/25p 50/60p region switchable.
More picture profile editing options.
Viewfinder style horizontal exposure meter on the LCD (The EVF has it).
No overlays on the HDMI out.
Add battery display to NO DISP INFO.
Get rid of the MENU, CUSTOM, MF, and little people icons.
Zebras.
Cropmarks.

Just the higher bit-rate 60p alone would be enough to make this the "Ninja cam".

stoney

How about shutter lag for AF and MF?

Any faster than 5N?

Mimirsan

love my 5n...love it...havent used my GH2 since owning it. Video quality is damn good enough and photo quality is just amazing (one thing Panasonic NEED to sort out in future high end models)
Shutter is quick and has a nice sound
not overheated once & clicking not a problem for me
took a little while getting used to button layout but now all shortcuts are in place
nice to use a f2.8 or f3.5 lens in lowlight at iso 400 and have very usable video/stills
never had to need to go over 800 iso
peaking is great (as experiment I relied solely on mf peaking...footage was in focus)
EVF is okay...its not bad but neither is its stunning or fools you that its a optical one (as reviews make out)...also its a bit dim...so evf is dissapointing to me..but this is probably the reviews fault.
I tend to use 25p mode but using 50p gives very nice motion capture.
My FD/voigtlander/super tak lenses have new life...less crop I can at last use my 50mms without being across the room!
Oh and its sexy white in a real black leather halfcase lol

At the end of the day...its a damn nice camera.
Do I sell my GH2? hmmmmmmm
If Panasonics new range of cameras do not have better stills ability and mf peaking for video..I wont be wanting one....now I have these things I wont want to shoot without them

kompu

My hack wishlist-

Higher bit-rates: at least 50Mbit/s for 25p :)
Clean HDMI output.

stoney

@Mimirsan I thought 5N gives only 14% wider FOV than GH2 in 16:9 aspect ratio. Or is it 25%?

Dalefpf

I have been shooting on a couple of 5ns over the last few weeks and I agree with @Mimirsan. I love these cameras. Fun to use and great results. Here's a heads up on one issue that probably won't matter to most of you. As far as I can tell the Sony clm-v55 monitor does not work with the 5n. I bought a couple to go with the cameras and they don't sync. Plug the 5n into anything else and it works fine. Not sure what the problem is and after like 20 calls to Sony they seem to have no answer. I don't care really since I can use the monitors on other cameras but it's pretty lame. Sony tech support is useless. Shocker........ Anyway, hope it saves someone from making a mistake.

rigs

@ Dalefpf How is the moire and aliasing look - to bad about the v55's

Mimirsan

@stonebat probably not a huge deal
1.6x crop nex 5n
(1.8x?) GH2...seems like 2x to me in comparison anyways where nifty 50s are concerned.
Im shit at the calculations...all I know is the 35mm & 50mm lenses I own give more playroom on 5n..that makes me happier..as I used to hate using 50mm lenses!

As for alaising...the sunset profile does indeed work in reducing it to hardly visible in small details...not sure why it does...but glad it does!

xenogears

@Dalefpf you let me cooled! I ordered a v-55 for a 5n rig, and now doesn´t work? F**k.

Dalefpf

@xenogears Sony tech guys say it does work but I've gotten different stories from each one. Some say they test it in their lab and it works fine. Others told me that they don't even have the monitor in their lab to test. Never got a clear answer. Best tip they could give me was to make sure I plugged the cord in all the way. They were willing to let me send them in and they would look at it. Hopefully yours will work. Please post back and let me know. If it does then I will send mine back. Both the camera and the monitor are fantastic. Wish they could work together. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

squig

Sony seem to think it is compatible http://www.sony.com.au/product/clm-v55

xenogears

@Dalefpf I read somewhere, "the monitor must be power on before the camera", have do you try that?, thanks for your courage words ;)

ed_lee83

So, I've been using the 5N to show an online travel show for the past two weeks.
It's a great, nifty camera. Great quality and compact. I average 2 hours footage per day, and have so far never used more than 2 batteries (I have 3).
But by far the biggest issue is overheating. On a cold start I can clock in about 28 minutes of footage. It also seems to overheat at a faster rate thereafter. You would need to leave it alone to cool for say, a good few hours before being able to record that long again in one go. We had to do interviews so I would never use the 5N for such a situation again (luckily I was B-cam). I think the 5N is best used for 'fun' or quick professional shoots.

Here's me leaving the 5N to cool after a long shoot:

Vitaliy_Kiselev

DPReview's review:

http://forums.dpreview.com/reviews/sonynex5n/

squig

Hey Vitaliy have you made any progress with a hack?

It would be really cool to mount the 5N on top of the 5D and shoot 60p and 24p simultaneously. But @ 28Mb/s the 60p is too compressed for my liking.

stoney

@ed_lee83 5N is taking sunbath? lol

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