Introduction
The Sony Alpha 5000 or A5000 is the third compact system camera (CSC) to arrive from the Sony since it announced its intention to stop using the NEX brand and use the Alpha brand for all its CSCs. The first two models were the Sony Alpha A7 and Sony Alpha A7R, both of which have full-frame sensors.
Whereas the A7 and A7R are high-end cameras aimed at pros and serious enthusiast photographers, the A5000 is an entry-level model aimed at novices and those moving up from a compact camera.
Features
Inside the Sony Alpha A5000 is an APS-C format Exmoor APS HD CMOS sensor with 20.1 million effective pixels and the same Bionz X processing engine as is found in the A7 and A7R.
This combination allows sensitivity to be set up to ISO 16,000, but the maximum continuous shooting rate is more modest at just 2.5fps, or 3.5fps in Speed Priority Continuous shooting mode.
Although aimed at novices, the Alpha 5000 has advanced exposure modes (program, aperture priority, shutter priority and manual) in addition iAuto, Superior Auto, Scene selection and Sweep panorama for less experienced photographers. It means that users have room to grow as they learn about the camera.
There are also 13 Picture Effects such as High Contrast Monochrome, Toy Camera and HDR Painting that can be applied to JPEG images. Raw files can also be recorded, but not at the same time as using the Picture Effects.
There is no viewfinder on the A5000, but the 3-inch 460,000-dot LCD screen is a tilting unit that can be tipped up through 180 degrees to help when shooting selfies.
In addition, NFC and Wi-Fi technology is on-board with the former allowing quick connections to be made to NFC mobile devices such as Android smartphones and tablets.
The Wi-Fi connectivity enables Sony’s PlayMemories Camera Apps to be downloaded to the A5000 to add extra functionality. These include options such as Direct Upload that enables images to be uploaded to Facebook, PlayMemories Online or Flickr; Smart Remote Control that enables the camera to be controlled by a phone or tablet and Time Lapse to enable easy time lapse movie creation.
Build and handling
Although Sony claims that the A5000 is the smallest and lightest interchangeable lens camera with Wi-Fi connectivity built-in, it appears to be only very slightly smaller then the NEX-5T which sits above it in the Sony CSC line-up.
Despite the reduced weight in comparison with the NEX-5T, the Alpha 5000 feels nicely built and not especially plastic or cheap. It also has a very similar shape and control layout to the NEX-5T.
There’s a nice deep grip, which feels comfortable in the hand and the controls are all within easy reach of the fingers and thumb of the right hand when using the camera one-handed. It feels nicely balanced with the 16-50mm kit lens mounted.
There are, however, some significant handling differences between the two cameras. The most significant is that the NEX-5T has a touchscreen, which allows setting selections to be made quickly and the AF point to be set with a touch of a finger. The A5000’s screen is not touch sensitive.
In addition, the A5000 lacks the NEX-5T’s large dial on its top-plate for making quick settings adjustments.
Apart from the shortcut buttons on the back of the A5000, which give access to the drive mode, sensitivity settings and exposure compensation control, there are few direct controls.
Most features have to be accessed via the main menu. This includes AF point selection. While this may seem a pain to enthusiasts, the assumption is that novice photographers will use Wide-area AF mode and allow the camera to select the point for them. Alternatively, the central AF point can be used along with the tried-and-tested focus-and-recompose technique.
Key settings are displayed around the edge of the A5000’s screen, but as mentioned earlier, most can only be changed via the main menu as there is no quick or function menu. It may not make for the slickest user experience, but it’s easy to get to grips with as everything is in one place. Plus there’s plenty of control available if you want it.
The LCD screen may not have the highest dot-count in the land, but it provides a clear enough view. Indoors it doesn’t suffer excessively from reflections. We’ll have to wait until we get a full-production sample before we can see how it performs in full-sun outdoor conditions.
Early verdict
So far I have only been able to use a pre-production sample of the Sony Alpha A5000 so I cannot draw any firm conclusions about it yet.
However, Sony has produced some impressive cameras recently and it appears to lead the way with image noise control.
A pixel count of 20.1 million compares well with much of the CSC competition, especially when it is on an APS-C format sensor. These sensors are bigger than those in Micro Four Thirds models like the Olympus Pen E-PM2 and Panasonic GF6, which means that the pixels have more room and may have better dynamic range and noise control. We’ll have to wait for our full test to know for sure.
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