Sony Alpha NEX-3 (with 16mm lens, Black)

I just sold my Canon 30d because I felt as if it was starting to show its age compared to the new generation of DLSRs. I also wanted a camera that was more compact but had the flexibility and advanced settings of my 30d. I got really tired of carrying my 5 pound camera bag everywhere just to shoot a few pics and found myself shooting more and more with my smart phone. (I just shoot for fun) I looked at several high end point and shoot cameras online but felt as if a simple p&s would limit my creativity. I ventured into my local Best Buy and stumbled upon the Olympus e-p1 but the salesperson kept trying to sell me a Canon Powershot s90. Best Buy did not have a working model of the Olympus and the salesperson didn't know anything about cameras and could not answer my questions. I went to Wolf Camera and played with a working e-p1 and was quite unimpressed with the working model (it feels cheap). The salesperson then handed me a Sony Nex 5 and I was completely blown away by it. Unfortunately It was a little out of my price range because I was planning on getting an extra lens and a nice memory card along with all the little extras that come with buying a new camera. That's when he showed me the Nex 3 which is essentially the same as the Nex 5 but with a plastic body so I bought it with the 18-55 and the 16. I love everything about the Nex 3. The lcd screen on the Nex 3 is absolutely beautiful and I really like tilt function. The previous reviewer (3 stars) stated that the auto shoot mode did not work for them but it works perfectly for me. My Nex 3 auto corrects white balance perfectly and shoots in low light like a champ without fiddling with the "pro" settings. It has a night shot mode that I played around with and got some awesome shots in almost complete darkness. PC Mag rated this camera a 4.5 and is an Editor's Choice. This camera feels like the future of DSLRs. My Canon 30d seems like a bloated, overweight whale compared to my new Nex 3.

This is our first DSLR. We expected image quality to be better than our previous point and shoot cameras, but did not expect the amount of work required to achieve better photos. Seems like our old Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom can produce photos as good as this camera. However, the ability of the Nex-3 to quickly focus and take rapid shots (even with the flash on) is amazing. Video in low light is also a strong suite of this camera, though ironically, video taking in bright daylight is not quite as good.

The bottom line is this camera can probably take better photos than any point and shoot or ultra zoom out there, but there is a huge learning curve in tweaking the settings to achieve better pictures. The auto scene modes (and auto scene selection) are pretty much worthless in my opinion. We have both the 16mm and 55mm lens, but have no idea when to use either. From our experimentation, both are pretty nice, though the 16mm can produce some distortion/curvature if you are not careful. If you are looking for an upgrade over the point and shoots out there, with a small form factor and an easy to use interface, this is probably the upgrade path for you.