Sony - Alpha a5100 Mirrorless Camera with 16-50mm Retractable Lens - Black

I bought this camera for its compact size, large sensor size and reasonable price. The camera with the kit lens fits nicely into an empty pocket. Its as thick as a tennis ball with the lens on to give you an idea of its size. It's small and light enough that I can throw it in my pocket and it doesnt slow me down or cause any discomfort when I bring it hiking. It's not as comfortable to carry as my previous nikon coolpix, but it has twice the megapixels, an amazing auto focus and fully manual controls. The large sensor size allows me to get great low light(almost pitch black) shots and since I keep many nocturnal reptiles that I would like to show off, this was really important to me. My nikon cool pix even on a tripod with suplemental lighting, couldn't get a half decent shot worthy of uploading to facebook. As much as people say horrible things about the kit lens, I get great, sharp photos everytime. This is the second smallest lens (when powered off) that sony is currently offering and the first smallet power zoom lens. The other great thing about having a 24 megapixels sensor is that you can crop down your photos to one tenth of the original frame and the result is you still have a large clear and we'll defined image. This makes up for the kit len's 50mm maximum focal length. At $599 with the kit lens, on the bestbuy credit card's 12 month no intrest promotion, it didn't require a large investment on my part. My only regret is that I didn't get the bundle with the additional 55-210mm lens as I do a lot of outdoor wildlife shooting. Going from a compact camera with tons of zoom to the 16-50mm kit lens, I find my self being out of range of a lot of shots. I recently went to a wedding where everyone else had thier big bulky dslr cameras and there purse like camera bags to go with them and everyone of them approached me at some point to discuss the my little sony a5100 . Most of then have never heard of mirror less cameras at that point, but after comparing features and showing them some sample photos with the very convenient NFC file transfer to my phone, they were very envious, then when they found out how little it cost me and they were completely blown away. I chose the sony 5100 over the sony 6000, for the size factor, I dont use external flashes (hotshoe) and the view finder doesn't work for me as I wear glasses and for my eyes to focus on the view finder I had to hold the view finder 18" away from my face. I also didn't miss the extra dedicated control wheels of the 6000 since I have the main parameters (shutter speed, iso, apature, and focus mode) set as shortcuts by depressing one of the four sides of the 5100's control wheel, so anything I need to change is only one quick button away.

I purchased this camera for YouTube recordings. I am a little disappointed that I didn't find out in my reviews that it 'overheats' when recording for an extended period of time 15-25 minutes and shuts off, which can be so frustrating however I guess after further research comes with the territory of most, but the quality and resolution of this video and the pitures are hecka-amazing like love love love. So for the price point in which I bought this camera I wouldn't buy anything else. It's great at taking action shots as well. The clarity of the photos is phenomenal so worth the price. I've also used it to post pics to my blog. Love it, would recommend it and would purchase it all over again if I had the options!

As a makeup artist I needed something that took great pictures of my work and this was exactly what I was looking for

Its great for taking high quality photos and nice video, but once its on video it quickly overheats and then shuts down. If your into taking beauty or product photos for your blogs or social media then i definitely recommend but if you are looking to produce videos for YT then i would pass bc of the constant downtime having to wait for it to cool off.

The upgrade to the now discontinued Sony Nex-5t. It has an amazing number of speedy focus points and a useful zoom lever on the shutter button. The LCD screen rotates 180 degrees for selfies and has preset filter-like apps and image enhancement options. I find the ability to connect to your phone or tablet a really neat feature to transfer images and even the ability to adjust camera options via phone including remote picture taking. Additionally, it is wifi enabled to download apps that provide a growing number of in camera enhancement and control options. It has the flash attached, which is definitely an upgrade from the Nex, although the need for it is limited as it has a really high ISO for low light pics! The only drawback from the previous version is the touchscreen. Touchscreen options are limited to snapping shots and subject focus while in viewfinder mode. You are able to make selections via touch while in other screens. I am very satisfied with the image quality and the functionality of this camera. If you are looking for a camera that takes wonderful pictures, is simple to use, and is highly portable, this is the camera for you.

This has to be the most advanced & powerful camera available in the compact / point-n-shoot category. It is very easy to use as the control menu is intuitive, and after only a day of playing around its full potential seems remarkable. Although I know the old school, manual ways, I think this camera's biggest asset is the Ai and Ai+; compared to my FZ-35 this new Sony seems like Watson! I am totally ready to let it do all the work. The Wi-Fi is great for viewing on a big screen in HD. Unlike many who think more seriously, I have hardly ever used view-finders on previous digital cameras,(many have been awful anyway, especially with zoom,) and that is a complaint that has been common with this new model. My only disappointment is that the million-dot, super clear LCD does not have ANY anti-reflection/anti-glare properties...; - ( It can be like looking into a mirror in the bright outdoors.) I have already ordered some protective anti-glare screen covers from Amazon to see if that helps? I can settle for less clarity and detail in exchange for reduced glare.

This camera so far is easy to use and takes very good pictures. I have mainly been using it on the auto settings so far and have been happy with my photos. The only flaw, which is why I gave it four stars, is that there is not a viewfinder other than the LCD screen, which is hard to see in the bright light. You can crank up the brightness on the screen, which helps some, but I expect that drains the battery. I would not buy it for the $599 price, if I were you, though. Just over two weeks after I bought it for that price, Best Buy started selling it for $499 along with a free camera bag, free memory card, and free strap. I called for a price adjustment (not the free items, just the cost difference), but they said I was a couple of days outside the window and refused it. They do NOT extend the window for Best Buy card holders either like many other stores do for their card holders. So I would wait for the $499 sale to buy it since they have VERY LITTLE flexibility with their price match policy.

A5100 is very easy to work with, you can pretty much take it out of the box and start shooting excellent photos. I was looking for something a little better then the normal point-and-shoot. I looked at the A5000 but it just another point-and-shoot with lens options. Nope. The A6000 had everything i wanted but from reading reviews and looking as youtube videos the A5100 does the same thing. Save $100 get the A5100 you'll like it.