Portraits like a pro

NEX-C3 in a new powerful model added to Sony's NEX EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens) cameras.

The NEX-C3 follows NEX-3 and NEX-5 and inherits most features from NEX-3 but has a more compact and light body.

Best of all, it features a newly developed 16-megapixel, Exmor APS HD CMOS image sensor and Sony's powerful BIONZ processor.

The C3 has a similar performance to a DSLR camera thanks to its large APS-C size sensor, which is used in most DSLR cameras.

The C3 also features 720p HD video recording in MP4 format, intelligent Auto exposure mode, a 25-point AF system, and a broad sensitivity range (ISO 200-12,800).

It uses 3-inch LCD screen, which can tilt down 45 degrees and tilt up 80 degrees to frame high- and low-angle shots that would be difficult to frame with normal angle monitor.

C3's improved features include enhanced Photo Creativity modes (Background Defocus, Color, Brightness, etc.), their new Picture Effects for both stills and video, New Soft Skin Effect, and Customizable soft keys. It also has improved battery life, allowing you to shoot up to 400 shots on a single charge.

The brains of C3 is a refined version of Sony's BIONZ image processor, which is so powerful that it enables fast processing for up to 5.5 fps continuous shooting, 2D/3D Sweep Panorama and 6 image layering.

Like the two previous models of the NEX series, C3's shooting performance could be expanded with new lens. So far, Sony has released three E-mount lens - E 16mm F/2.8 lens, E 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 lens and E 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 Zoom lens. And E 30mm F3.5 Macro lens will be soon added to the NEX family lens. And C3 can also be equipped with an adapter to enjoy a choice of 28 A-mount lenses from Sony's Alpa series DSLR cameras.

I tested the C3 with E 18-55mm F/3.5-5.6 lens and found that the camera worked impressively fast and captured excellent photos in most lighting conditions.

Portrait shots looked beautiful with options of soft skins and blur backgrounds like professional shots and scenery pictures look beautiful and vivid with well saturated colors in most cases.

The C3 is easy to use as most commands are accessible with its dial wheel with the set button in the middle. There are two soft keys above and below the dial wheel. And there is also a dedicated video recording button near the shutter button.

Shooting with the C3 is extremely easy with the iAUTO exposure mode. Other exposure modes are Program Auto (P), Aperture priority (A), Shutter priority (S), Manual (M), Sweep Panorama (2D), Sweep Panorama (3D), Anti Motion Blur, Picture Effect and Scene Selection.

When the iAUTO mode is used, the camera detects proper parameters for the current lighting condition.

You can also activate the Scene Selection and choose Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Sports action, Sunset, Night portrait, Night View, and Handheld Twilight on your own instead of having the camera select for you through the iAUTO mode.

What I like best is that when the camera is in iAUTO mode, certain picture effects could be added to increase creativity of the shots. Best of all, several effects can be used at once albeit the effects do not contradict one another.

Effects are available through the Photo Creativity menu, whose choices include Soft Skin Effect, Picture Effect, Background Defocus, Brightness, Color mood, and Vividness.

The available picture effects are Toy Camera, Pop Color, Posterization (Color), Posterization (B/W)), Retro Photo, High-key, Partial Color(Red), Partial Color(Green), Partial Color(Blue), Partial Color(Yellow), and High Contrast Monochrome.

During the test, we enjoyed shooting our female subjects with iAUTO mode plus Soft Skin Effect, Background Defocus and sometime with Vividness or one of colour effects.

There are three levels of Soft Skin Effect - low, middle and high. Our female subjects love their face to look young and smooth with the high-level of soft skin effect. And you can use the camera' setting to set the soft skin effect be the first option in most shooting modes.

And the Vividness really boosted the colours like green of the grass field while the partial colour effects were also fun to use. The partial colour effect let the C3 capture only the selected colour and made the rest monochrome.

I found that its Hand-held Twilight Mode is very effective and useful for capturing the colours on the night scene without the need to use a tripod. It makes use of its the large, APS-C image sensor and captures six images in a fraction of a second. Then it combines the data from all six creates a single image of extraordinary detail and low noise.

It is good that the C3 can also use SD cards, not only Sony Memory Stick Duo cards, because the SD cards are more abundant and the prices are much lower.

And I like the provided HDMI port because it allows the camera to be connected to an LCD TV for enjoying recorded video on a large screen TV.

Sony NEX-C3 is available in 2 packages. The NEX-C3K with 18-55 lens kit (SEL1855) retails for Bt 21,990 and the NEX-C3D with lens kit (SEL1855) and pancake lens 16 mm. F2.8 (SEL16F28) retails for Bt24,990.

          Key specs

Imaging Sensor: Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor (23.5 X 15.6mm)

Processor: BIONZ image processor

Effective Picture Resolution: Approx. 16.2 megapixels

Focal Length Conversion Factor: 1.5x

LCD Type: 3.0-inch TFT Xtra Fine LCD (921,600 pixels) w/TruBlack technology

Shutter Speeds: 1/4000 to 30 seconds, bulb

ISO: Auto, 200 to 12800

Metering: 49 Segment metering from CMOS image sensor

Focus System: Contrast AF with 25 focus points

RecordingMedia Type: Memory Stick PRO Duo/ Pro-HG Duo/ PRO-HG HX Duo, SD, SDHC and SDXC memory card

Video Resolution: MP4 HD: 1280 x 720/ 30p MP4 VGA: 640 x 480/ 30p

Battery Type: InfoLITHIUM NP-FW50 (7.2V)

Dimensions (Approx.): 109.6 x 60.0 x 33.0mm (W/H/D)

Weight (Approx.): 283g

(w/battery & media)