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Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Cameras

Which One is Which? Sony NEX 5n vs Nikon D5100

Chris Gampat
No Comments
01/31/2012
3 Mins read
Screen shot 2012-01-22 at 9.43.46 AM

DXOMark rates camera sensors, and they’re considered the standard in the industry though many will argue their findings at times. When Sony sent me the NEX 5n, I looked around the internet to try to find information about it. Everyone had compared it to Canon’s 5D Mk II due to the video capabilities. However, I didn’t see much when it came to Nikon comparisons.

Let’s get one thing straight: Nikon’s D5100 and D7000 have essentially the same video modes and therefore also would almost never be usable for most pros. Though Chase Jarvis uses the D7000 to create some great video, I have to agree more with Andrew Reed’s findings in that the auto-exposure adjustment override absolutely kills me. I really highlighted this in my D5100 review. Indeed, the T3i is a much better camcorder as we concluded.

But this test is about the still image quality between the Sony NEX 5n vs the D5100. Sure one is a DSLR and one is a mirrorless camera, but they’re both APS-C sized sensors. So can you tell which photo came from which camera? Take a look at our informal test to see.

Gear Used

Sony NEX 5n with kit lens

Nikon D5100 with kit lens

Testing Procedures

This was not only a test of the each camera’s sensor capabilities, but also their metering abilities. I went out into the snow and found two subjects to photograph. I set the cameras to aperture priority, and then matched the ISO and aperture levels. Then I shot a photo with the NEX 5n and tried to match it very closely using the D5100. Amazingly the metering was different on both despite no lighting changes and the images being shot seconds away from one another.

This not only showed a difference in image quality, but also what the camera thinks would give the user the best image based on its own sensor and processor.

Both lenses were set to the same focal length through the test. Afterward, they were brought into Lightroom 4 Beta, set to 350 DPI and resized to 1MB for ease of use and load times on the web. The same level of clarity adjustments and sharpening were done to each photo.

We’d ask that you not look at the EXIF data for your findings and to please tell us why you think that one photo is from the Sony camera and the other is from Nikon.

Image Test 1

Photo A
Photo B

Image Test 2

Photo C
Photo D

What Do You Think?

We’d ask that you not look at the EXIF data for your findings and to please tell us why you think that one photo is from the Sony camera and the other is from Nikon.

Let us know in the comments below.

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comparison review dxomark image quality nex-5n nikon d5100 raw sony video
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Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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