Sony NEX-C3 Hands-on Preview

June 2011 | Richard Butler

Preview based on a pre-production NEX-C3 with firmware 01

The NEX-C3 is the start of Sony's second generation of mirrorless cameras, following the introduction of the 14MP NEX-3 and NEX-5. If these first two models showed how committed Sony is to offering APS-C capabilities in a compact form factor, the point is underlined by the arrival of the still-smaller C3.

Sony is one of the companies with most to gain a widespread adoption of mirrorless cameras. The inroads it made into the conventional DSLR market were pretty modest compared to its ambition, and there's clearly an opportunity to combine its in-house expertise from its Cyber-Shot compacts with the interchangeable lens know-how it gained when it bought Konica Minolta, back in 2006.

The NEX-C3, even more than its predecessors, underlines the company's desire to offer this blend of compact camera convenience with large sensor image quality. Despite its larger sensor, the C3 challenges the smallest Micro Four Thirds models in terms of size, with only its kit zoom limiting its compactness.

The big news, beyond the NEX-C3's reduced size, is the inclusion of a 16MP sensor. This isn't exactly the same sensor used to such great effect in the Sony A55 (amongst others), but a re-engineered version designed to offer improved power consumption, with the promise of lower image noise and improved temperature characteristics as a result.

The inclusion of what's likely to be a more capable sensor isn't a feat to be belittled but, beyond this, the changes are minimal. There are changes to the user interface - the addition of a distinctly Olympus-style outcome-orientated simple shooting mode is the most obvious revision. There's a touch more user customization available to shooters in the more user-controlled modes and, almost inevitably, a selection of fun image processing filters (another feature it's hard not to associate with Olympus).

Sony has previously spoken of expanding the NEX range in two directions - in an easy-to-use direction for point-and-shoot upgraders and towards offering greater manual control for enthusiasts - and it doesn't take extensive analysis to work out which of these the C3 is part of. Just as Panasonic has decided to shrink and simplify its G and GF-series cameras, Sony is clearly trying to attract customers who want DSLR quality but wouldn't consider lugging a big black lump of camera around, and who (quite reasonably) are more interested in taking good pictures than learning what f-numbers mean.

The NEX-C3 is certainly small but still fits pretty well in the hand (though, like most compact cameras, its controls aren't easily accessible while in the shooting grip). As soon as you add a lens, such as the 18-55mm kit zoom pictured here, the size starts to creep up.

Sony NEX-C3 specification highlights

Revised 16.2MP CMOS sensor
ISO 100-12800
Creative Control results-orientated user interface
Picture Effects processing options
720p30 HD movies in MPEG-4 format

The NEX-3 wasn't exactly excessively bulky, so it's impressive to see that Sony has managed to make the C3 still smaller - it's even slightly smaller than the NEX-5.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

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