Capturing Autumn in London

These past few weeks has been extremely busy for the both of us. Since we're coming back home by the end of this month, we needed to finished up all our pending and non-pending works before we can have a month of peaceful vacation. Ok at least for Fairuz. Unfortunately for me, I'll be bringing back work to Msia and cross my finger that I'd try to do it a bit if not most of it.

Yesterday, Fairuz and I acquired a new compact but dslr quality camera from Sony Nex model. A really nice small camera great for travel. All this while, people have been asking what camera did I used for my traveling pictures. Well, I've been using a nikon D80.


I bought it back when I got engaged. It was a year after I stayed in the UK. I thought having the opportunity to live and travel in beautiful countries, it's essential to have a really good camera to be able to convey the msgs of how beautiful europe is to all my friends and family back home. I used to have a pink girly compact camera but that wasn't very fulfilling. I still have it until today but I intend to sell it cheap. And since one of my hobby is photography, I might as well save some of my shopping money and buy a D80 (it was a new camera at that particular time) with 3 great lenses. A Nikkor 18-200mm, a Nikkor prime 50mm 1.4D and a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8.

Nikon d80


I spend a good few months and almost a year learning how to use it in manual function with my good friend Taufiq (RIP). He was still in Germany at that time. I thought if I would just to used the auto function, might as well buy a really great compact camera without all those complicated functions. And so I was in love with the manual outcome and the satisfaction of having a really great pictures was brilliant. The camera has been our travel companion for years. After a while, I find it really messy and inconvenient to bring a bulky camera with lenses, and when we're not checking in any luggage at the airport, the camera bag has already taken half of our allowed weight already. Plus, we don't want to be looking like a photographer with a huge sling bag while we roamed around cities. We wanted to look like tourists. Still, we can't help to have a great pictures came out from our traveling experiences. Since we're not the type who buys souvenirs, these pictures is our souvenirs and it feels so good to have them framed and paraded around the house.

Firenze, Italy

Reutlingen, Germany

Manor Garden, London (God, I miss these girls)

Summer this year Sony came out with it's new first mirrorless interchangeable-lens system camera. The Nex model. As much as I wanted to talk about the technical aspect of the camera, I won't. I'll let the pictures do the talking down here.

Fairuz has a thing for sony gadgets so when he encountered with Nex-5, he straight away fell for it. I thought it's a great camera that has lens interchangeable option and has all the complicated Dslr function. Since Sony has a VAT back offer until christmas before the VAT rise in January, we bought it. Along with 2 lenses. So yesterday was our first attempted to use it. My view, I love it. Not just we get a really great pictures while still maintaining the manual function. We also got to do some shopping at the same time carrying the palm size camera around London.


It's. Exactly. What. I've. Always. Wanted.

So here's autumn in my heart.

Sony Nex-5

I don't have problem putting it in my handbag and Fairuz didn't whined when it stayed around his neck. But of course it's not like it came from a D700 and uploading it directly to blogger didn't really help but the pictures is as satisfying as a D80 with a kit lens. These were used with a 16mm f2.8 prime.





It's great for night capture. This is captured without flash

The only down side is I don't know yet how can I use this camera to make an artistic pictures like D80 can. And even though it on manual function, changing the aperture doesn't required turning the lens. everything is digitalized. Hence it can't beat the feel like a DSLR have. But It's great for a hobbyist like me that at the same time who doesn't like the hassle of traveling and going around walking with a heavy bulky camera in hand. Having said that, I still love my D80 as a professional camera. And I intend to keep it.

27 comments:

opY said...

oh babe, thanks for sharing as im looking for a compact aka semi-dslr camera like untuk buat hantaran, ;) nanti email kat aku the price with or without the lens okie?Eh nak kirim Maysaa bawak balik Malaysia nanti can or not?wink wink -sofiazarith@gmail.com

beca-film said...

Hello Hana! Really helpful about this sony lil compact cam, i had an lx-3 not bad, bought it after i sold my d700, hah! Now i am dslr-less(betul ke?) Anyway the shot was great with that Sony! Maybe can look into it oneday bila nak tukar compact cam. I think gambar u pegang daun oren tu artistic whattt so okay la tuh! Seriously penatkan bawak bulky camera traveling? I remembered last time roaming Rome, bawak backpack full of cam, 1 slr 1 lagi dslr pastu 2,3 lens, isk penattt and jalan2 jauh but sanggupppp. Wish they invent a small dslr that is convenient for traveling and at the same time with high quality!

Lydiarahayu85 said...

welcome to the club hana!!
saya pun join sony nex juga ;-)

Liyana said...

Great review. I'm also planning to get a smaller camera, same reason as yours. Also, intend to keep my loyal D50 (huhu.. much older than yours). The quality of photos that you show here is superb and impressed with the night shot without flash. Dah lama tak check camera reviews, I guess the quality of compact/bridge camera has improved a lot over the years. Actually I have Canon G10, but it's still heavy to carry in my handbag. So, still looking for a slimmer, good quality camera.

ajjah said...

owh hana, u buat i lagi confirm nak beli this camera.. the photo quality is awesome n it's not bulky at all compared to slr's :)

SurayaCoghlan said...

OMG! Your photos are amazing.Love ém all.

farah said...

ive exactly the same camera except in red..mmg best kan!

i love the video in HD...i bought it just bcos senang nak bwk dlm beg & snap my baby's pics...plus dh bosan dgn point n shoot camera

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hanafedora said...

:) I just wished sony would have a colourful option. I wanted white but it's so hard to find one.

hanafedora said...

Thank you :)

hanafedora said...

Wow D700! Haha pegang daun tu is so not artistic. funny la u.

hanafedora said...

yes! :) let's vote who will be the president. you? hehe

hanafedora said...

Go buy! it's great. But I think Olympus Pen is also great and Lumix!

hanafedora said...

There are a lot of other options other than sony nex. My husband just like sony. I like the Olympus Ep1. But in the end we bought the sony cause they are having an offer here before the VAT rise

hanafedora said...

Email aku kalau nk maysaa... Or you can simply buy it on your own and post it to my house address. 21 hudson house, KT19 8DJ, Epsom, UK.

Lydiarahayu85 said...

Haha. Btw, boleh la try shoot untuk vacation kat Msia nanti ;-)
Broga Hill ok jugak! Have a nice day Hana!

Maiefa said...

hey, nice camera. sy pn rasa sama psl susah nk bwk bulky camera when travelling. so hantaran kawin aritu we bought canon s90. i'm not pro with dslr functions but with this compact camera i can control the functions manually and changing the apertures or iso requires turning rings at the front n back of the camera. so it's more or less still has the feel of dslr :p

Yunne Osman said...

am not sure which nex 5 you bought but the nex 3 which has the same features and functions (except for the movie function-unless you want AVCHD instead of just MP4), comes in white, red, black and silver. you can check it out here http://www.sony.com.my/product/CompareProducts.action?site=hp_en_MY_i&models=NEX-5H&models=NEX-5D&models=NEX-3D

=)

hanafedora said...

Yeah I know. I've done some research before buying them. Apparently when they launched the Nex in June this year, they have a row of colourful nex cameras (you should see the orange one, it's beautiful!). But when customers asked are all the colours gonna be in the store, sony said they're still in consideration and they are still uncertain whether to make it or not. So now they only have 4 options of colour. I was trying to find the white one here in UK but it's pretty hard as they only sells the silver and black one. I bought the nex 5.

ecah said...

Cool pics! ah maybe its time for me to chuck away my bulky dslr!

Yunne Osman said...

hey, the black one is just fine! but i'm thinking of red. your review sure made me come to a decision to buy this camera. if they don't have them in red here in malaysia, i'll get the nex 3 instead. i don't care much about the video part as long as the still pictures are good =)

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minona said...

salam hana
ur sony nex 5 pics really put me in heartache! i wanna 1 2!! keep thinking the great cam and lite weigh.. and this is so perfect! yet the price was so costly.. 3000++ here in Msia..

nabila said...

great review hana! i tgh plan utk ltk dlm hantaran. price u beli dkt UK? kalau lagi murah dr msia, better i kirim dr cousin kt sana.

Anonymous said...

Beyond any doubt blog with beneficial informations.

hanafedora said...

thanks

hanafedora said...

thanks