When I hear "bad camera", and it's a pretty old and cheap camera, that's music for my ears! As an amateur I love pushing that kind of equipment to the extreme boundaries. I still shoot with my DSC-W130 compact camera from 2008, and I'm going to say, if you find interesting compositions, it's still quite rewarding getting a good shot on this! Having limited resources really is useful if you want to improve your skills: it makes you knowing the limitations of the instrument you're using and your muscles and nerve start reacting faster when using newer and more capable lenses and bodies. I love your series on old Sony cameras!
Bad camera, bad video? Or bad operator? Every camera is like a paint brush and lenses are the paint. In my college art class, the best drawer was legally blind. I will do everything you said I can't do with this camera.
I bought a C3 about a month ago. I love it. I also have a ZV-E10 and an A5100, so I have comparisons, and man, the little dude is a tank. I put a Meike 35mm on it and its my "street photography" beater and it's actually a little beast for that with that specific lens on all manual mode. Reminds me of 40 years ago when I was in High School shooting a Pentax K1000 for the yearbook and school newspaper. Very nice "feel" in the hand and paired with a cheaper manual lens, the vibe and vintage appeal of the pix are so great. You're right about the video, but I do use it on a tripod in the studio to get BTS and stuff, because when I live stream, I do a multicam stream with face, angle, room, product light box and product microscope cams on switched via OBS at 720p anyway for bitrate for my viewers on all kinds of devices.
Now that I've finished the entire video, I agree with it 100%. For readers and viewers, I have this camera and other sonys and assess it exactly the same way Kraig does. Trust him. I trusted getting into old sony gear after committing to the ZV-E10 thanks to you and foxtailwhipz (im sure you know him, hes literally doing the exact same kind of coverage with his own spin on old sony, though he seems to have moved on to repairing old Arris nowadays). But between the two of you, you were quite influential in me buying old sony cams with lens I wanted, on ebay, thus getting another lens and camera for not much more than the lens was gonna cost, to enough of a degree to make the extra spend worth it. Now I have quite an array of lenses and bodies to play with, including some canon glass with adaptors. Meh, on all of that adapting stuff, AF is too hit or miss on the older sigmas and canon lenses I got, but it did increase the size of my lens collection that I can shoot manual with, I guess. I will likely stick to native lens and purpose built e-mount 3rd party ones like meike the other well knowns currently making good cheap sony alternatives.
I am that owner! Mine just says NEX3 on the bottom so I don’t know which version it is. I’ve always been surprised by how nice the 14.2MP images are - better than my Canon 40D’s 10MP resolution. Sure, menus have come on since the one here but it’s not exactly unusable. It’s a solid performer :)
Kraig, Thanks for these reviews man. You are the reason I bought an NEX-5R. I still watch all the other vides, just because I want to see what else you find out there.
Since you said the 3N is the better option, how do the C3 and 3N compare in terms of size and weight? I read somewhere the C3 is 40g lighter than the 3N, but that can't be correct, can it? If true, this would be a killer feature of the C3.
the Sony Alpha NEX C3 which is the 2nd Gen of the original NEX 3 is literally the poor man's version of the NEX 3N. this thing has served me well, i've been rocking it for a couple of months now with it being abused and exposed to different elements and surprising and proudly hasn't failed me for a slight bit. equipped this with a Powerzoom 16-50mm lens and you've got an all-around 'truly' compact mirrorless powerhouse. i'm surprised how well you made a video about it though, it gives me more perspective of why this camera still holds up and shoot decent photos.
If i were you brother, i would rather sold nex camera, especially region locked ones for a different brand. If i want a compact mirrorless that is cheap like below $100, shoots superb photos in raw format and films 4k video. Go with Canon M100 and put it with a customized firmware, trust me it won't dissapoint.
Just picked one up as my first camera for 105 aud ($69 usd) and my friend is letting me borrow a couple decent lenses, cant wait to try out some street photography
The SD card and battery compartment are together on my α6100, I actually like that better because A) The SD card can still be accessed when the camera is on a tripod (especially in a studio environment where the camera is rarely taken off a tripod, this is a must have.) B) At the end of day when I go to dump the footage and photos, I can take the battery out to charge at the same time with minimal effort. Also I really enjoy that sort of articulating display - it flips up right above the lens when you're recording video, and it's easily visible when shooting macro or above your head.
The great thing about this camera, is that is the smaller Aps C ever mande by Sony. So if i just want to take photos and always bring it with me, this is the best choice for sure. And if i lose it, doesnt matter because it cost me way less than my pro and bulky cameras. Nex 3N is way better but for compact size and weight this cam takes the crown 👑
For the price it’s amazing. And tbh, the C3, 3, and 5N will all take the same quality of photo (not video). It’s not until u goto the 5R or T where you are gonna get improved autofocus. Other than that, 3 c3 and 5 / 5N all exactly the same photo image quality wise. Dont forget, this age of camera has bigger pixels so has the potential to be more efficient in low light compared to say 24 MP APSC cameras. Oh and btw, so what if if the processor is 10-12 years old… doesnt make u a better photographer. And you can definitely take professional photos with the c3.
I bought this camera when it first came out. I love it for convenience, but the wheel has gotten weird - spinning it doesn't select the things I want and goes in different directions. I guess I need to get it cleaned? ....I used to use it a ton and was happy with it (for what it is/was). Now just brining it out again and reminding myself of some of the issues. I do hate that it lacks a hot shoe, but I'm starting to look at upgrading. I do love it's super small size, though. Question: What lens do you have on yours? Mine came with the E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS (SEL1855) but I'd like a shorter lens so it can be more of a point & shoot to take with me when I'm hiking as I think it takes better pics than my iPhone.
It's hard to keep track with all these different Nex names, to know which ones are the good ones so I'm just going to remember that C equals crappy crummy cheap. I have two NEX cameras and luckily I don't have this one.
For photos there really aren't that many bad cameras. Most cameras after 2007/2008 are good as long as you have manual settings. Video is a different story, it was a side feature for a long time, that took a lot longer to get good on cameras that were made primarily for photos.
I do want to offer a warning when buying NEX cameras from japan. I bought an NEX3N from japan and didn't know that some NEX cameras are region locked. It was locked in Japanese and there are zero firmware updates for it to enable changing the language. Double check with foreign sellers that the language can be changed.
woah, good tip. I buy a lot of random old camera stuff, and often buy overseas, but so far, mostly lenses and accessories. Ive opted to buy camera bodies from the USA, not out of any concern other than shipping speed. I am too impatient to wait for speedpak to take 10-15 days when I am waiting for a whole new camera toy :)
@kraigpruett I believe this is only an issue with some Japan only cameras. South korea gets the international versions of Sony cameras. I looked up tutorials too but the language change option was just straight up missing. I was hoping that a firmware update might add the feature, but the NEX3N doesn't have any updates available through Sony. I think I just got super unlucky with this one, but it's something to keep in mind 👍
So if I just wanted something to mess around with and dip my toe into photography, would the Nex-3 be a decent option? Looking around on ebay, the Nex-3's are around $100-150 with a lens, and the 3N is around $200-250 with a lens. I know that doesn't really seem like a big difference in price, but I'm hesitant to spend the extra 100 bucks.
good content brother! i have almost every nex body except the nex 3 series, 100% will be picking the rest of the models up for little pocket cams! i will say, the F3 is a much better choice for video.
you know, regarding this vid on the contrast, dynamic range and all, despite the definition i'm sure it makes better video than some iphone XVI pro or Xiawawei Hoingyzumu Kim Jinpong
Sony NEX C3 is supposed to be an upgrade to the Sony NEX 3. Doesnt justify buying it if you already have the NEX 3. Guess newer isnt always better after all...
Same here in Brazil, most mirrorless cameras are very expensive, I paid about 200 dollars(R$1050) for my C3(it's about the cheapest it gets for a mirrorless camera here) I like mine alot tho, better than the Nikon d3100 I was using before
