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.

This review is to help y Those like my daughter. She asked for a Sony a6100 or a Canon. She wasn't looking to be a pro...her only goal was to get much better photos than her iPhone. iphone is ok .. But only under specific conditions. We like Canon , but fit into a purse. The a5100 fits and fits into a medium purse But in that price range we didn't want to compromise specsI compared the meaningful specs, so I compared it carefully to a6100. Heres what I found.. 1.) No optical viewfinder on a5100..only digital.it still pops out and tilts though 2.) No. Shoe for 3rd party flash... But thebuiltin one pops up at the touch of a button and is a real flash.. 3.) Rapid capture is about 8/sec half the a6100...bit still very fast so who cares. You can't tell from the advertising or photos but the magic to the performance is that the lense extends when powered up ... Also the lenses removeable and usesa standard mount..so you can use other lenses if so inclined. The multipoint metering is great .the camera comes with a an SNap on lenses cover. Which os a must. We bought a 10.00 polarized lenses that fits in for t of the expensive lenses ...I don't care about polarizing so much as I care to have any scratches appear on the 10.00 lenses The but in speaker on movies is Bearly loud enough ... But that's the only weakness. Great camera ..easy to Wi-Fi photos ove to your pc. .. In my opinion you give up only the meaningless in exchange for the great performance in a smaller size ... my daughter loves it Btw the lenses f-stop range extends from portrait ..almost to telephoto Hope I helped

It's been a long time since I have had a camera other than my smartphone. Back then nothing was automatic. I made this purchase while I was on vacation to take pictures on a whale watch. I also purchased the 55-210mm telephoto lens. I literally opened the box, charged the battery, attached the lens, and left for the whale watch. In auto mode the camera was easy to operate. It took me a while to figure out how to make the camera auto focus when I zoomed in. Once I figured it out, it was pretty easy. I used the video mode as well to try and capture some of the quick movement. Overall I was very happy. The camera is very light and compact. The only problem I had was that my thumb would sometimes change the settings. The first time it happened, I didn't know what was wrong or how to fix it. I ended up with a lot of overexposed photos that were difficult to fix. I have since done this a few more times but now recognize the issue and can fix the problem. It is irritating that the controls are positioned in such a way that makes the settings change so easily. I will look to reposition my grip or see if there is a way to lock the function to help mitigate the problem. One I practice a bit and get used to the functionality, I am sure I will be even happier. Overall I am glad I made the purchase. The compact design and light weight made it comfortable to carry all day. The pictures were clear, crisp, and beautiful. I recommend this inexpensive point and shoot camera option for the amateur that would like to enhance their picture taking ability above and beyond what the smart phone provides.

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.

I love this camera. I bought this camera for a vacation and so glad I did! I did not want to just use my cell phone for pics (as although it takes okay pictures lets face it they aren't great). I have a very old Sony point and shoot that still takes decent pictures but its so slow in every way. I've been impressed with this new Sony camera in every way. It turns on very fast. Focuses very fast. Takes and saves the data very fast. I choose this one over the A6000 for one simple fact it has the flip up display which takes selfies! I can't tell you how many times I used this feature to make sure I was in pics with my family on this vacation. I was able to set the camera on something, align the shot and flip the screen so we could see what we were getting. The pictures are also amazing quality. My father in law is a very good photographer and when we took pictures of the same event he was stunned how great my photos were compared to his. The lighting wasn't great in one restaurant and we both took photos and this camera was so much better and I didn't even use the flash! He was as impressed as I was. I also used many of the other features such as the panoramic option and have some amazing memories of a great trip with my family. If you are looking for a great camera that is easy enough to use (even my hubby and daughters took some) that takes amazing photos then this is it!

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.

Image quality far outweighs what little negatives I could find. Took this on a trip to D.C. and was blown away with the performance and practicality of this small bodied APS-C camera. Low light museum shots were sharp without flash using the kit lens. Video is smooth and sharp! Auto focus system is very snappy and the touch screen focus is a nice bonus. Only negative is the screen can be difficult to see at times in bright sunlight but I knew this prior to purchase. Wifi transfer to iphone worked great. Battery held up most of the day but you can always use a phone jumper battery to charge in your jacket pocket between shots if you don’t have a spare. Overall you’re getting same sensor and processing as the a6000 just trading a EVF for a touch screen and a slightly slower FPS shooting. With a good selection of lenes, this is a huge step up from phone cameras as well as nicer point and shoot cameras.

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.