Select, point, shoot

A new mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with excellent image quality, good performance and ultra-fast auto focus, the Sony Alpha a5100 is positioned between the a5000, which replaced NEX-3, and the a6000, which replaced the NEX-6/7. Retaining the compact design of NEX-3, it’s both lightweight and portable

The a5100 brings several improvements to its last incarnation, not least of which is a higher resolution of 24.3 megapixels compared to the a5000’s 20.1 MP.

The a5100 also has faster continuous shooting speed of 6 frames per second compared to the 4 FPS shooting of a5000.

The a5100 also has more focus points than a5000, adding 179 points of phase-detection AF on top of the contrast-detection AF. This results in ultra-fast auto focus of 0.07 second.

The ultra-fast auto focus plus the 6 FPS continuous shooting capability makes a5100 very good for freezing fast actions.

The a5100 also has more sensitive ISO setting with the highest sensitivity of ISO 25600 compared to ISO 16000 of a5000.

The a5100 is for photographers who want a compact camera that can rival in performance a larger DSLR camera. The a5100’s good performance and excellent quality is credited to its large 24MP APS-C image sensor and fast BIONZ X processor. The 24.3 megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor adopts the same gapless on-chip lens structure as the advanced a7R camera. 

Moreover, a5100 captures impressive quality in low-light environments thanks to the newly developed Exmor sensor and BIONZ X processor that boast an ISO range from ISO 100 to ISO 25000. It also comes with a pop-up flash to further light up your subject when needed.

Social network enthusiasts will enjoy the camera as it has built-in Wi-Fi plus NFC (near filed communications) technology.

The NFC function makes it very convenient to connect the camera to your smartphone (just tap the antenna marks on each), then install the PlayMemories Mobile app to use the camera as the remote control.

With just one touch, you can connect the camera and an NFC-enabled Android smartphone, and send an image displayed on the product screen directly to your smartphone.

Best of all, you can install free or purchase PlayMemories Camera apps. They include one that enhances your portraits shot and make post-shooting corrections. One fun free app is the Direct Upload that lets you upload your shots directly to your Facebook account from the camera after it is connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot or your home Wi-Fi router.

And the touch-screen panel of the camera makes it convenient to type username and password of your Facebook account and password of a Wi-Fi connection.

With a tiltable LCD screen that can flip up 180 degrees and a zoom lever on the shutter button, the a5100 is also good for taking selfies. Trn on the Smile detection feature and the camera will automatically shoot a selfie when you smile.

The a5100 has no mode dial like most cameras. Instead, you must push the button located in the middle of the control wheel at the back to bring up the menu of exposure modes.

The available shooting modes are Intelligent Auto, Superior Auto, Programme Auto, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual Exposure, Movie, Sweep Panorama, and Scene Selection.

If you are an experienced photographer, you can use the A, S, M or P modes. But newcomers can start capturing excellent quality photos right away in the Intelligent Auto mode that analyses your subject and lighting environment and selects appropriate settings for you.

The Superior Auto uses more shooting settings to recognise the environment and it may shoot multiple images to create a composite image. Scenes recognised in the two auto modes include Portrait, Night Portrait, Night Scene and Backlight Portrait.

The touch panel can be used to reform touch shutter and touch focus. When the subject you have touched is in focus, a shot will be recorded.

During the test, we found that we could capture excellent photos in sharp details and well-saturated colours in Superior Auto mode. The Soft Skin effect can be used with both auto modes and your subjects will be delighted to have a smooth face and look younger. This feature was popular with our female staff during the test.

If you’d prefer to choose your own scene mode, go the Scene Selection option. Modes include Sports Action, Macro, Landscape, Sunset, Hand-held Twilight.

During the test, I particularly enjoyed the Hand-held Twilight mode. The camera fired the shutter four times to capture four shots in different exposure then combined them in a sharp photo. I used this mode to capture the Burapha Withi expressway from The Nation’s 31st floor and was very pleased with the results. The expressway was lit up by head- and taillights and the sky looked deeply black against the occasional lights from buildings and houses.

The a5100 is also capable of shooting Full HD 1920 x 1080 video in cinematic 24p and capture fast action at 60p and 60i frame-rates. It can also track moving subjects during video shooting. For serious videographers, sending uncompressed 8bit 4:2:2 clean-screen video files to external recording devices is possible via the HDMI connection.

The a5100 has a sensor crop factor of 1.5, making the kit lens of 16-50mm equivalent to 24 to 75mm in 35mm photography. The wide-angle 24mm focal length is really great for capturing landscapes.

Sony Alpha a5100 retails for Bt23,990 with the kit E PZ 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS lens.

 

Key specs:

 

Lens Mount: Sony E-mount

Camera Type: Mirrorless Camera

Imaging Sensor: Exmor APS-C CMOS sensor (23.5 x 15.6mm) with 24.3 million effective pixels

Shutter Speeds: 1/4000 to 30 sec., Bulb

ISO: ISO 100-25600

Focus Points: 179 points (phase-detection AF) 25 points (contrast-detection AF)

Metering: Advanced 1200-zone evaluative metering

Exposure Settings : iAUTO, Superior Auto, P, A, S, M, Sweep Panorama, Scene Selection, Movie

LCD Type: 3.0-inch wide TFT LCD (921,600 dots) and touch panel

Max Video Resolution: Full HD - 1920 x 1080/60p@50Mbps

Interface: NFC, HDMI micro connector, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n

Battery: Rechargeable NP-FW50 about 400 shots per one charge

Dimensions (Approx.): 109.6mm x 62.8mm x 35.7mm (W/H/D) excluding protrusions

Weight (Approx.): 283 g (with battery and Memory Stick PRO Duo)