Continued from A Sony NEX-3NL Review from a Non-Photographer Part 1
6. Flash button. My hands are pretty small but I had initial problems pressing the button to pop-up the flash. I will admit, however, that I never needed the flash in the last two weeks of playing around with the Sony NEX-3NL. The lens and aperture settings are more than enough to handle a variety of low-light conditions. Ben Grimm (that's the Thing of the Fantastic Four) would have problems pressing the flash button though.
7. Grip and weight. The weight and grip feels pretty good on my diminutive hands. My old Canon point-and-shoot digital cameras easily slipped into my jeans and it was easy to just pull them out and take snaps, but having a real camera strap around my neck and taking photos with an impressive sensor just felt like I had been upgraded several notches from my old Canon Powershot A2000IS.
8. Doors and access panels. Battery door, memory card, and connectors found in most mobile devices are getting better and better and I'm pretty sure some readers would wonder why I even mention it. The doors on the Sony NEX-3NL are dummy proof (not plastic and bendable) and further inspection shows that Sony used premium components for the material.
9. Sony handbook and user manual. I can understand why most users complain about camera menus after a few tries - people never review the user manual or use a product extensively before complaining in forums, ranting on Amazon.com or embarrassing themselves in public by swearing at an electronic device. Hey, if you've tried Linux desktop environments like Unity, Gnome 3.x or Enlightenment, Sony's interface is a snap. That said, Sony provides two really good PDFs on their support site - The Sony NEX handbook and the Sony NEX-3N Instruction Manual. I actually loaded the handbook to my iPod and iPad for reference if I need some help taking difficult photos.
10. Sony modes. The Sony NEX-3NL has a easy few modes that are exceptionally useful for dilettantes like me: Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Anti Motion Blur, and Hand-Held Twilight are all found in the menus. Hand-held twilight, a NEX feature Sony advertised on the brochures and product web site, can easily be seen as a "gimmick" but I was pleasantly surprised photos using the mode provided great results. Taking low light photos is never fun for non-photographers but Hand-held twilight made it easy by taking several photos in one instance to create a more than acceptable image. I've had little opportunity to play around with Shutter Priority but Aperture Priority worked like a charm with little user interaction.
First, although the Sony has a dedicated Movie button and users won't need to turn the control wheel to record movies, there isn't an option for Movie recording to work in conjunction with the timer. The Timer's 10 second and 5 second mode works with continuous shooting and single shots but not for movie recording. Even my first Canon PowerShot had this option, which made it easy to start recording home movies without my having to go the camera to trigger the button.
Second, it actually takes more effort to shoot Macro photos. Under the list of SCN options, there's a dedicated Macro option, but it didn't work nearly as well as my Canon when I tried taking photos of my laptop and electronic devices. The photos in Part 1 and in this article were taken using the PowerShot for obvious reasons, but I'll more likely use the Canon for that purpose in the future as well. Perhaps it's because I'm so new to using an ILC, but taking quick, basic macro shots using the PowerShot A200IS point-and-shoot was easier than using the impressive lens of the NEX-3NL. I'm aware it takes a good bit of practice though so maybe I'll change my mind eventually.
Summary
In comparison
There are two points I want to raise about using the NEX-3NL that I probably wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the two point-and-shoot Canon cameras I've been using for the last decade.First, although the Sony has a dedicated Movie button and users won't need to turn the control wheel to record movies, there isn't an option for Movie recording to work in conjunction with the timer. The Timer's 10 second and 5 second mode works with continuous shooting and single shots but not for movie recording. Even my first Canon PowerShot had this option, which made it easy to start recording home movies without my having to go the camera to trigger the button.
Second, it actually takes more effort to shoot Macro photos. Under the list of SCN options, there's a dedicated Macro option, but it didn't work nearly as well as my Canon when I tried taking photos of my laptop and electronic devices. The photos in Part 1 and in this article were taken using the PowerShot for obvious reasons, but I'll more likely use the Canon for that purpose in the future as well. Perhaps it's because I'm so new to using an ILC, but taking quick, basic macro shots using the PowerShot A200IS point-and-shoot was easier than using the impressive lens of the NEX-3NL. I'm aware it takes a good bit of practice though so maybe I'll change my mind eventually.
Summary
All in all, the Sony NEX-3NL is a significant step up from any point-and-shoot digital camera (and kilometers ahead of taking photos using a smartphone or tablet). Despite my relatively uneventful life, it's good to have a solid and capable camera next to me if something does happen. Does that mean I've chucked away my dependable Canon PowerShot A2000IS? Definitely not. The A2000IS takes excellent macro photos and runs on rechargeable AAA batteries. Although demoted to a backup camera in my travel bag, the PowerShot is now my dedicated video movie recorder for casual events. Meanwhile, I'll be spending the next few years practicing and taking photos using the NEX. I still encourage users to purchase point-and-shoot cameras over DSLRs especially if you take more photos using your smartphone or (ugh) tablet, but if you like solid photos and have the budget for it, consider an affordable ILC like the Sony NEX-3NL.
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