Hey everyone, so because I am starting a business doing car detailing I figured I would go out and get a camera. I thought long and hard and my choices came down to the Sony 5r or the Sony a3000. The 5r was originally $750 but was dropped down to $449 and the a3000 was $399. Long story short I went with the Sony 5r which I got open boxed for $395. Let me go ahead and explain why I went with this and give you a little review of what I think so far.

So first off, I work at best buy in the camera section, so I have seen tons of cameras and learned the goods and bads of pretty much all of them. Up until about 2 years ago if you wanted some really good quality you had to for the most part jump up to an DSLR. Then they started coming out with compact system cameras or mirror less SLR's. The 5r is the third one sony had come out with and it is amazing. It has the same sensor size that your starter DSLR's, such as the Nikon d3100, d3200, Canon t3i, Canon 70D, do. So as far as quality you get DSLR quality in a camera that is half the size. Here is a picture of the camera.



So what do I think of the camera so far? I have been more then pleased with it, out of the box you get an 18-55mm lens which is alright for starters. I plan on getting a few more lenses within the next couple weeks. You also get a flash, battery, lens cap, charger, usb cable, and a camera strap. The camera has a magnesium body with a plastic handle rather then having an all plastic body like most cameras do including DSLR's. So the quality is just that much better. The camera also makes manual control very easy without having all kinds of buttons which is nice because it keeps the camera body from being super cluttered. As far as features go, this camera does pretty much everything you an think of. It can do 1080p video at up to 60FPS and can also take 10 shots per second in a burst mode. You also have 16 megapixels so you can do all kinds of cropping and enlarging. One thing that is amazing with this camera is that you also have 99 points of auto focus which is more then any other camera, even the Canon 5D mark 3 which I believe only has 69 if I'm not mistaken, and that is more then 3 grand. You also have wifi, so you can upload pictures wireless to the pc, facebook, email, etc. You can also link a smartphone up to it and use your phone as a viewfinder as well as a wireless remote. You also have tons of special effect modes for all kinds of different pictures. In all, if you are looking for DSLR like quality, but you don't want to carry around a DSLR, this is the camera for you. I have always known this was a goo camera just from selling it at work. But it is way better then I thought now that I have been able to play with it a lot more. I hope you all enjoyed the review. I will be taking pics of the Monty with it tomorrow to show off the quality so stay tuned for that.

 

Nice camera, but in my opinion if you're gonna get a camera with interchangeable lenses, you might as well just go for the dslr and have the body to go with the lens. That thing is kinda like putting racing tires on a Honda civic lol.

 

That's the thing though, this honda civic can play with the big boys lol. The picture quality of this camera is just as good as your DSLR's until you get up into the full fame DSLR's which normally run more then $2000. And the actual quality of the camera itself is better then most DSLR because it has alot of magnesium where most DSLR's are plastic until you jump up to most of the full frame cameras. This camera is actually a lot faster then a DSLR as well because it is mirror less. I mainly got this one because for the money, nothing else beat the price. And because I'm going to be using it for my mobile detailing business I wanted to have something smaller and lighter. The one thing I do wish this camera had is a view finder that's about the only downside to this camera. This is still a fairly new technology and most people don't even know these compact system cameras are out there. Someone swapped out the 4 banger in this honda civic with a LS7, like I said, it came to play haha.

 

I think (yes I `do think) > That we need to have a MCF Best Photo Picture Contest See what camera takes the best pictures ?
I don't know anything about camera's, accept that they capture your `soul +

Let's read a Challenge from Member's > Whose has the best camera that takes the best pictures > Line them `up/3-2-1 `Click > Go > Maybe we can have a Photo Finish ?

 

Great idea Space. Let's set up a few guidelines. As far as settings go, just have the camera set to auto, that way we can see how well the camera takes a picture and not how well the person knows how to use ISO, exposure, f-stop, etc. Also no picture editing, again we want to see how well the camera takes a picture and not how well you know how to edit. And last how about we all take a picture of our cars. We all know that everyone on here has an amazing looking Monte Carlo, that way we aren't all out trying to find an amazing sunrise or sunset or some crazy waterfall or anything like that. It just kind of gives us a baseline. What does everyone think?

 

I like your posted guidelines & I think a member like you or our other members should create a thread set up that everyone can agree to ?

Lets see what other's post on your thread here ? I would love to see the results & the pictures 4-Sure...

OK, Photo Experts, post your thoughts/idea's on the best way to set up this Best Member's Photo's Contest ?

1. Your best picture submitted
2. Member's would vote on best picture
3. After the final submission date (contest could run one week b-4 a winner is chosen by our member's)
4. Please add your suggestions to iMuf's thread >Thanks

 

Alright guys, so I just got done washing my car about 30 minutes ago. I took some before and after pictures with the Sony 5r. Let me know what you guys think.

Before











After









It was starting to get dark, so I had to use the flash as well as bump up the exposure a bit. I will take some more pictures tomorrow when it's light out.

 

Thanks for posting & sharing your Pic's

I hope more member's post that are into photography & that you can put together a contest with best pictures & what camera was used ?

Will be checking back & hopefully we can get a great contest going ?

 

Actually alot of the people with photoshop skills can make even a crappy pic look great. I wish I had that skill, lol.

 

Lol yea that's why for the contest, if we do one, there should be no photo editing involved. And the camera should be shot in an auto mode so we can see how the camera takes a picture. That way someone who knows all about exposure, iso, etc and who can edit can't just do that and put up a picture. That way it leaves it all up to the camera.