So I've had the Sony NEX-5 for a while, and unfortunately the weather and also work haven't been very cooperative, but I've used it enough now that I think I've got a pretty good feel for it, and I think this is a really great camera.
I've had a D80 for quite a while, that and the Nikkor 18-200 VR lens were my "high quality" camera, but when I go hiking or I'm at work it's just too much of a pain to lug around sometimes.
I've got a Samsung NV10 that I had previously bought as a camera that was pocketable but still somewhat decent quality. Then bought a Sony T100 thinking if I'm gonna have a small camera, let's get a REALLY small camera.
So I bought a Oly EPL-1. Good camera. Good pics. Fairly small and since the 18-42 is collapsible it's still fairly small with the zoom lens. But then the NEX-5 came out and wanted it bad, so I sold the Oly with 2 lenses (for $600, not too bad, really) and got the Sony.
And I LOVE the NEX. I was a little worried about losing the money on the Oly and then spending more money on the NEX, but I'm really glad I did.
The Oly is pretty small for what it is, but the NEX is significantly smaller, enough to be meaningful in some situations. The Oly was jacket pocketable but maybe only because I'm 6'5" and therefore my jacket pockets might be a little bigger than most peoples. The Sony with the 16mm prime should be jacket pocketable for everyone. The collapsible zoom on the Oly compared to the Sony with the kit zoom actually means the Oly is less deep when you compare the two with zoom lenses attached, but most of the time I'll probably have the camera with the pancake in one pocket and a zoom in another pocket, so the Sony works better (for me) in this regard.
Build quality is no contest. The Oly is plastic, and looks/feels like it. The Sony is a magnesium alloy, and looks/feels like it. The machined metal buttons, the "cylinder of metal" lenses, this camera just looks and feels high quality and sexy.
LCD is no contest. Olys in comparison is small and low rez (and cheap looking, really). The Sonys is large and hi rez, it wouldn't be possible to fit a larger one on the camera (unlike the oly where there's quite a bit of bare plastic around the LCD). And the Sonys tilts, both up and down. Ergonomically I think it's actually inferior to the tilting body of the Sony DSC-F717 (which I also owned), but I think doing something like that would make the camera significantly deeper. It's a nice thing to have, especially for me since a lot of the time I feel like I'm taking pics of the tops of peoples heads.
DPreview complained about the menus quite a bit. I wasn't too worried about it, because from what they said most of the things I use could still be accessed pretty quickly. It certainly isn't perfect, but it isn't terrible. The mostly commonly used things are easily accessed. And there's a firmware update (last I checked wasn't available yet, but may be now) that is supposed to make it better. It works okay, for me. There's a couple things that are a pain to access but not really a big deal. A few buttons are user programmable in PASM mode, so I think between that and what's already provided most people should be able to get to anything they need quickly. I didn't think the Olys menus were anything to write home about either, and I think the NEX combination scroll wheel/arrow buttons are far superior to the Olys lack of scroll wheel (only arrow buttons).
The Sony pops up explanations any time you linger on an icon for more than a second, which can be useful. It also has "tips" which aren't particularly useful for me but for some people I'm sure would be revelations (things like explaining apertures effect on DoF). There's like 100 or so "tips." These things make the Sony system seem really well polished. Like when you go to switch shoot mode, it pops up a picture of a mode wheel (like on an SLR) and then cycles through the options as you turn the (universal) scroll wheel. Just a whole lot cooler and more polished than hitting arrow keys on the Oly.
The only thing I HATE, HATE, HATE, is that if you go to select a function that isn't available in the mode you're in, it just tells you that it isn't available. I fiddled with the god damn thing for literally 15 minutes trying to figure out why I couldn't turn on HDR. Two issues. One, it pops up a screen saying that said function isn't available, how effing hard would it have been to instead of saying "That function is currently disabled" say "That function is not available in xxx mode" Second, I don't think it would be a bad idea to switch you to a mode that the function IS available in. If you're in auto and you try and change the exposure compensation, have the camera automatically switch to P. I think this has been mostly fixed with the firmware update. I think there have been two firmware updates (or there's been one and is about to be another one) because I have the first but not the second and it doesn't seem to be doing what it used to be doing, which was telling me (I think) I couldn't turn on HDR just because I had bracketing on (which is just plain dumb).
I don't think there's a big difference in pic quality. I remember when I first saw the NEX on DPR I thought the Oly actually took nicer pictures in some of the tests. The NEX has a larger higher rez sensor but overall I'd say they're pretty equal. They're both very good, it's just going to come down to lenses.
Video is better on the Sony. I think the Oly was 720p? Sony is 1080i and I think the video is quite good.
I wish the Sony had a hot shoe, but I don't think it's really thick enough for one and as long as they come out with an upgraded flash (which I'm pretty sure has been announced) that I can do indirect flash with, I'm totally happy.
Lack of built in flash in the Sony obviously isn't a plus, but the flash is actually pretty decent IMO and comes in a little plastic case that threads onto the camera strap, so not a big deal. Plus the Sony has really good low light performance (both very high ISO with pretty good noise reduction, and also a mode where it combines multiple exposures to eliminate shake).
In camera HDR and panoramas are great. I know it can be done outside the camera with the Oly, but it's still an enormous plus.
Bottom line, I think this is a great camera. It's like the Oly but in a better/smaller body with better features. I am very happy about the upgrade, and I think the NEX is going to be with me for a very long time. Planning on picking up the 18-200 lens and the fisheye also. And the upgraded flash. I definitely need to sell my Samsung, I could probably also sell my Sony T100, and if I was really being honest I could probably also sell my D80, but I bet I won't.
tl;dr: the NEX-5 is awesome, go get one right now.
Pics:
Amalga Harbor:
OMW home from work:
At work:
Low light action (it was pretty dark!):
