Sony A5100 Review

The A5100 is available bundled with the Sony E PZ 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens. Please see our Sony A6000 Optics page for optical test results, and/or read our full review of this lens on SLRgear.com. See below for our Sony A5100 viewfinder coverage test results.

Viewfinder Test Results

Coverage
Excellent coverage accuracy from LCD monitor.

LCD Monitor

The Sony A5100’s LCD monitor shows slightly over 100% coverage in record mode in our tests. This is excellent performance, though not a surprise given the image is derived from the main imaging sensor.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a
collection of more pictorial photos, see our
Sony Alpha ILCE-A5100 Photo Gallery
.

Color

Saturation & Hue Accuracy
Typical saturation levels and hue accuracy.

ISO Sensitivity
100	200	400
800	1600	3200
6400	12800	25600
In the diagram above, the squares show the original color, and the circles show the color that the camera captured. More saturated colors are located toward the periphery of the graph. Hue changes as you travel around the center. Thus, hue-accurate, highly saturated colors appear as lines radiating from the center. Mouse over the links to compare ISOs and click on the links for larger images.

Saturation. The Sony A5100’s overall default color saturation is oversaturated by 9.9% at base ISO, which is about average these days. Mean saturation gradually falls off as ISO is increased up to ISO 12,800, where it drops more rapidly to 102.8%, ending up at only 98.3% at ISO 25,600. Reds and dark blues are boosted the most, but not as much as we often see. Most other colors are pushed just a bit or pretty close to ideal, though yellow, light green and cyan are slightly undersaturated. Overall, saturation levels are pleasing to our eyes at low to moderate ISOs, and you can of course tweak them more to your liking. Most consumer digital cameras produce color that’s more highly saturated (more intense) than found in the original subjects. This is simply because most people like their color a bit brighter than life.

Skin tones. The Sony A5100 does fairly well with Caucasian skin tones when using Manual white balance in simulated daylight. Brighter flesh tones have a healthy pinkish tint, though darker areas are nudged toward orange. With Auto white balance, results are still good, though slightly warmer. Where oversaturation is most problematic is on Caucasian skin tones, as it’s very easy for these “memory colors” to be seen as too bright, too pink, too yellow, etc.

Hue. Like many cameras, the Sony A5100 shifts cyan toward blue, red toward orange, orange toward yellow and yellow toward green, however shifts are minor to fairly moderate. (The cyan to blue shift is very common among the digital cameras we test; we think it’s a deliberate choice by camera engineers to produce better-looking sky colors.) With an average “delta-C” color error of 5.59 after correction for saturation at base ISO, overall hue accuracy is about average, with only minor fluctuations across the ISO range. Hue is “what color” the color is.

See full set of test images with explanations See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sensor

Exposure and White Balance

Indoors, incandescent lighting
Warm cast with Auto, but good color with Incandescent and Manual. Average exposure compensation required.

Auto White Balance +0.3 EV	Incandescent White Balance +0.3 EV
Manual White Balance +0.3 EV

Indoors, under normal incandescent lighting, color balance is too warm and orange with the Auto white balance setting. Results with the Incandescent setting are better but still a touch warm and yellow. The Manual setting is quite accurate, just slightly on the cool side. The Sony A5100 required +0.3 EV positive exposure compensation here, about average for this shot, though the images are a bit on the bright side (while zero exposure compensation is a touch dim). (Our test lighting for this shot is a mixture of 60 and 100 watt household incandescent bulbs, a pretty yellow light source, but a very common one in typical home settings here in the U.S.)

Outdoors, daylight
Very good results under harsh lighting, with good handling of contrast, color, along with above average exposure accuracy.

Manual White Balance, +0.3 EV	Auto White Balance, 0 EV

Outdoors, the Sony A5100 performed very well. +0.3 EV exposure compensation was required to keep the mannequin’s face bright in our “Sunlit” Portrait shot, which is better than average among the cameras we’ve tested. (Most cameras require about +0.7 EV here.) Contrast is a little high as you might expect under such harsh lighting, but despite the bright appearance, only a few highlights were blown, even without the help of Dynamic Range Optimization (DRO — see below). There are some dark shadows, but shadow detail is quite good and noise is fairly low except in very deep shadows. Both Auto and Manual white balance produced decent skin tones, but we preferred Manual for its slightly pinker response. Default exposure is quite good for our Far-field shot (above right), just a touch underexposed but with almost no highlights blown (just specular highlights) or shadows lost, again with DRO disabled. The Far-field shot with Auto white balance has very good color, just a touch on the cool side. Overall, a very good performance in harsh lighting, especially considering DRO was off for these shots.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Resolution
Very high resolution, ~2,800 to ~2,900 lines of strong detail from both JPEGs and RAW files.

Strong detail to ~2,900 lines horizontal Camera JPEG	Strong detail to ~2,800 lines vertical Camera JPEG
Strong detail to ~2,900 lines horizontal ACR converted RAW	Strong detail to ~2,800 lines vertical ACR converted RAW

In-camera JPEGs of our laboratory resolution chart reveal sharp, distinct line patterns down to about 2,900 lines per picture height in the horizontal direction, and to about 2,800 lines in the vertical direction. Some may argue for higher numbers, but aliasing artifacts and false colors start to interfere at these resolutions. Complete extinction of the pattern doesn’t occur until about 3,500 to 3,600 lines. Some color moiré is evident in JPEGs, though that’s not uncommon. Adobe Camera Raw wasn’t really able to extract more lines of resolution here from a matching RAW file, and it generated stronger color moiré (different colors as well), so the Sony A5100 does a good job holding on to high contrast detail at base ISO in its JPEGs. Use these numbers to compare with other cameras of similar resolution, or use them to see just what higher resolution can mean in terms of potential detail.

See full set of test images with explanations
See thumbnails of all test and gallery images

Sharpness & Detail
Very good default sharpness, with only minor sharpening artifacts. Mild to moderate noise suppression visible in the shadows and areas of low contrast.

Very good definition of high- contrast elements with low sharpening artifacts.	Subtle detail: Hair Noise suppression tends to blur detail in areas of subtle contrast.

Sharpness. The Sony A5100 captures fairly sharp, crisp images at lower ISOs, with few visible edge enhancement artifacts. We often see some fairly bright or thick sharpening halos around high-contrast elements such as the lettering and lines in our bottle labels, but the A5100’s default sharpening is very good at making details pop without obvious sharpening artifacts. Very good results here, at least at low ISO. Edge enhancement creates the illusion of sharpness by enhancing colors and tones right at the edge of a rapid transition in color or tone.

Detail. The crop above right shows mild to moderate noise suppression in the darker areas of the mannequin’s hair. A number of low-contrast strands are smudged together, though higher contrast strands are still distinct. Overall, pretty good results here especially for a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor, though noise reduction takes its toll on fine low-contrast detail. Noise-suppression systems in digital cameras tend to flatten-out detail in areas of subtle contrast. The effects can often be seen in shots of human hair, where the individual strands are lost and an almost “watercolor” look appears.

RAW vs In-Camera JPEGs
As noted above, the Sony A5100 produces in-camera JPEGs with very good detail and few sharpening artifacts, at least at low ISOs. Additional detail can often be obtained from carefully processing RAW files with a good converter, though. Let’s see how base ISO compares here:

Base ISO (100)
Camera JPEG, defaults	RAW via Adobe Camera Raw

In the table above, we compare a best quality in-camera JPEG taken at base ISO using default noise reduction and sharpening (on the left) to the matching RAW file converted with Adobe Camera Raw 8.7 beta using default noise reduction with some strong but tight unsharp masking applied in Photoshop (250%, radius of 0.3 pixels, and a threshold of 0).

Looking closely at the images, we cam see that ACR extracts additional detail that isn’t present in the JPEG from the camera, particularly in the red-leaf swatch where the fine thread pattern is likely treated as noise by the JPEG engine. Fine detail in the mosaic is also slightly improved, but as is often the case, more noise can be seen in the bottle crop. You can of course apply stronger noise reduction (default ACR NR used here) to arrive at your ideal noise versus detail tradeoff. That being said, the Sony A5100’s in-camera JPEG processing (at least at low ISOs) is pretty good with generally excellent detail and very few sharpening artifacts, though default noise reduction is a touch heavy-handed particularly in the red fabric here.

ISO & Noise Performance
Good detail versus noise tradeoff up to about ISO 1600.

Default High ISO Noise Reduction
ISO 100	ISO 200	ISO 400
ISO 800	ISO 1600	ISO 3200
ISO 6400	ISO 12,800	ISO 25,600

The Sony A5100’s JPEG images are similar to the A6000’s, but with slightly stronger default noise reduction and slightly lighter sharpening, yielding images that don’t look quite as “processed” as the A6000’s, but also a little less crisp.

Image quality is excellent at ISOs 100 through 400, with only a slight drop in fine detail at 400 where stronger noise reduction kicks in. ISO 800 is quite good, just a touch softer, as is ISO 1600. ISO 3200 has a fair amount of detail intact, but flatter areas start to take on a hammered look noise is more visible. Fine detail rapidly deteriorates from ISO 6400 on, especially in the red channel, while chroma blotches and noise reduction artifacts become obtrusive at ISO 12,800 and above.

Overall, though, these are very good results especially considering the A5100’s size, resolution and price point, though advanced users will likely turn to RAW capture for best results at higher ISOs. As always, see the Print Quality section below for maximum recommended print sizes at each ISO, as printed performance often doesn’t correlate well to what’s seen on-screen at 100%, and check out our Comparometer to see how the Sony A5100’s JPEGs compare to other cameras we’ve tested.

A note about focus for this shot: We shoot this image at f/4, usually using one of our very sharp reference lenses. To insure that the hair detail we use for making critical judgements about camera noise processing and detail rendering is in sharp focus at the relatively wide aperture we’re shooting at, the focus target at the center of the scene is on a movable stand. This lets us compensate for front- or back-focus by different camera bodies, even those that lack micro-focus adjustments. This does mean, though, that the focus target itself may appear soft or slightly out of focus for bodies that front- or back-focused with the reference lens. We know this; if you click to view the full-size image for one of these shots and notice that the focus target is fuzzy, you don’t need to email and tell us. 🙂 The focus target position will have been adjusted to insure that the rest of the scene is focused properly.

Extremes: Sunlit, dynamic range and low light tests
Very high resolution with excellent highlight and shadow detail. Very good low-light performance, capable of capturing bright images in near darkness.

0 EV	+0.3 EV	+0.7 EV

Sunlight. The Sony A5100 handled the deliberately harsh lighting in the test above very well. We preferred the +0.3 EV exposure here as the face is bright while only a few highlights were clipped in the white shirt. The default (0 EV) exposure is just a tad dim in the face, while the +0.7 EV exposure is definitely too bright. As mentioned previously, contrast is a little high, but both highlight and shadow detail is very good at +0.3 EV.

For best results, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown above; it’s better to shoot in the shade when possible. See below for results with Dynamic Range Optimization and High Dynamic Range features enabled.

Because digital cameras are more like slide film than negative film (in that they tend to have a more limited tonal range), we test them in the harshest situations to see how they handle scenes with bright highlights and dark shadows, as well as what kind of sensitivity they have in low light. The shot above is designed to mimic the very harsh, contrasty effect of direct noonday sunlight, a very tough challenge for most digital cameras. (You can read details of this test here. In actual shooting conditions, be sure to use fill flash in situations like the one shown here; it’s better to shoot in open shade whenever possible.)

Outdoor Portrait DRO Comparison (0 EV)
	DRO Setting: Auto (Default) Off Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Dynamic Range Optimization is Sony’s name for their dynamic range enhancement technology. DRO divides the image into small areas, analyzes the range of brightness of each area, and adjusts the camera’s tone curve and other processing parameters accordingly to make the best use of the available dynamic range. DRO does not boost ISO for the entire image like some systems, so increased noise is less of an issue, though existing noise may be more visible in raised shadows. Auto DRO is enabled by default on the Sony A5100. You can also set the level manually, from 1 (“weak”) to 5 (“strong”), or turn it off. As one would expect, DRO is only applied to JPEG files however RAW files are tagged for similar processing by Sony’s IDC software.

The above thumbnails and histograms show the effects of the available levels of DRO on our “Sunlit” Portrait shot with no exposure compensation. Mouse over the links to load the associated thumbnail and histogram, and click on the links to visit the full resolution image. As you can see from the thumbnails and histograms, DRO worked as expected, boosting shadows and mid-tones without blowing additional highlights, yielding more balance exposures. The Auto DRO setting did a good job here, and the five manual levels give quite a bit of control over the effect.

Far-field DRO Comparison (0 EV)
Auto (default)	Off	Level 1	Level 2
Level 3	Level 4	Level 5

Above, you can see the effects of DRO settings on our Far-field shot. The default Auto setting produced a nicely balanced exposure, despite the harsh lighting. A useful feature.

Outdoor Portrait HDR Comparison (0 EV)
	HDR Setting: Off (Default) Auto 1 EV 2 EV 3 EV 4 EV 5 EV 6 EV

High Dynamic Range. The Sony A5100’s HDR mode takes three images in rapid succession, one nominally exposed , one underexposed, and one overexposed, then combines them into one high dynamic range JPEG automatically (RAW images are not supported). Lighter areas from the underexposed image are combined with darker areas from the overexposed image to produce an image with compressed tonal range. The camera then saves a single composite image, as well as the nominally exposed image. The overlaid images are micro-aligned by the camera, but it can only correct for so much movement. If it can’t micro-align successfully, an icon indicating HDR capture failed will appear. For best results, the subject should not move or blink, so it’s not really intended for portraits. There is also a manual mode where you can select 1 EV (“weak”) to 6 EV (“strong”) difference in exposures.

Mouse over the links to load the associated thumbnail and histogram, and click on the links to visit the full resolution image. As you can see, the Auto setting did a decent job boosting shadows and mid-tones while reigning back highlights, however we prefer the lower manual settings for this subject. The higher the manual setting, the more highlights are toned-down and shadows opened up, but higher settings can produce flat and unnatural results with this scene. Still, it’s nice that Sony provides six manual levels, giving quite a bit of control over the effect.

Far-field HDR Comparison (0 EV)
Off (Default)	Auto	1 EV	2 EV
3 EV	4 EV	5 EV	6 EV

Above, you can see the effects of HDR settings on our Far-field shot. Watch out for ghost images from movement within the scene during the capture sequence, though, as can be seen in some of the shots above. Still, a useful feature, and Sony has one of the better in-camera HDR implementations we’ve seen.

Dynamic Range Analysis (RAW mode)
While we once performed our own dynamic range measurements based on in-camera JPEGs as well as converted RAW images (when the camera was supported by Adobe Camera Raw), we’ve switched to using DxO Labs’ results from their DxOMark website. As technology advanced, the dynamic range of modern high-end cameras in some cases exceeded the range of the Stouffer T4110 density scale that we used for our own measurements. DxO’s approach based on RAW data before demosaicing is also more revealing, because it measures the fundamental dynamic range of the sensor, irrespective of whatever processing is applied to JPEGs, or to RAW data by off-the-shelf conversion software.

In the following, we use DxO’s “Print” dynamic range results, which are scaled based on camera resolution. As the name suggests, this scaling corresponds to the situation in which you print at a given size, regardless of how many megapixels the camera might have. (In other words, if you’ve decided to make a 13×19 inch print, that’s the size you’re printing, whether the camera’s resolution is 16 or 300 megapixels.) For the technically-minded, you can find a discussion of the reasoning behind this here on the DxOMark website. Also note that DxO Labs uses a signal-to-noise (SNR) threshold of 1 when defining the lower boundary of acceptable luminance noise in their dynamic range measurements, which corresponds to the “Low Quality” threshold of the Imatest software we used to use for this measurement.

Here, we decided to compare the Sony A5100’s dynamic range to its more expensive sibling, the A6000, and also to the 16-megapixel Olympus E-M10, a similarly-priced Micro Four Thirds camera with a top performing 4/3″ sensor. You can always compare other models on DxOMark.com.

As you can see from the above graph (click for a larger image), at base ISO the Sony A5100’s dynamic range scored a little lower than the A6000 (12.7 vs 13.1 EV), however that difference is likely close to the margin of error for the test, and the two Sonys performed practically identically at other ISOs. The Sony A5100 does a little better than the Olympus E-M10 at most ISOs: At base ISO, the E-M10 manages 12.3 vs the A5100’s 12.7, then the scores converge at around the ISO 200 mark, but the Sony starts to pull away as sensitivity increases, with up to about a one stop advantage at ISO 12,800.

Overall, good dynamic range performance from the Sony A5100 though some other APS-C cameras do better (the Nikon D5300 DSLR for example scored 13.9 EV at base ISO). Click here to visit the DxOMark page for the Sony A5100 for more of their test results and additional comparisons.

	1 fc 11 lux	1/16 fc 0.67 lux	1/16 fc No NR
ISO 100	2s, f2.8	30s, f2.8	30s, f2.8
ISO 3200	1/15s, f2.8	1s, f2.8	1s, f2.8
ISO 25600	1/125s, f2.8	1/8s, f2.8	1/8s, f2.8

Low Light. The Sony A5100 was able to capture bright images down to the lowest light level we test at (1/16 fc) even at base ISO. Noise is very low at base ISO and well-controlled at ISO 3200, though as expected, but noise and noise reduction artifacts are quite high and objectional at the highest ISO setting of 25,600.

Auto white balance did a very good job here, producing a fairly neutral, just slightly cool color balance across ISOs and light levels.

We didn’t detect any significant banding (pattern noise), heat blooming or hot pixel issues.

The Sony A5100’s autofocus system was able to focus on our test subject down to the 1/8 foot-candle light level unassisted with an f/2.8 lens, which is good. And the A5100 was able to focus in complete darkness with its built-in focus assist lamp enabled (with the subject in range).

How bright is this? The one foot-candle light level that this test begins at roughly corresponds to the brightness of typical city street-lighting at night. Cameras performing well at that level should be able to snap good-looking photos of street-lit scenes.

NOTE: This low light test is conducted with a stationary subject, and the camera mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most digital cameras will fail miserably when faced with a moving subject in dim lighting. (For example, a child’s ballet recital or a holiday pageant in a gymnasium.) Thanks to their larger pixels and in the case of the A5100, its Hybrid AF system, compact system cameras like the Sony A5100 tend to do much better than point & shoots, but you still shouldn’t expect a quick autofocus lock with moving subjects. (A useful trick is to just prop the camera on a convenient surface, and use its self-timer to release the shutter. This avoids any jiggling from your finger pressing the shutter button, and can work quite well when you don’t have a tripod handy.)

Built-in Flash Test Results

Coverage and Range
A weak flash with very narrow and uneven coverage at wide angle. Our standard indoor portrait shot required more than average exposure compensation and still came out dim.

16mm

Coverage. Flash coverage is very narrow and uneven at wide angle (16mm), leaving very dark corners in our flash coverage test image. We no longer test at full telephoto is coverage is invariably better, making wide angle the worst case.

Normal Flash +1.0 EV	Slow-Sync Flash 0 EV

Exposure. Our Indoor Portrait test scene came out dim even with +1.0 EV flash exposure compensation at ISO 200, and flash exposure compensation didn’t make much difference. The average amount of flash exposure compensation required for this scene is +0.7 EV, so the A5100’s built-in flash performed below average here, and there’s no hot shoe to connect a more powerful flash. The camera’s Slow-Sync flash mode produced very bright results with no flash exposure compensation, though with a strong orange cast from the ambient room lighting.

Manufacturer-Specified Flash Range
3.3 feet, ISO 200, f/5.6

Manufacturer Specified Flash Test. The Sony A5100’s built-in flash is rated with a Guide Number of 4 meters or 13.1 feet at ISO 100. At ISO 200, that works out to about 3.3 feet at f/5.6, the maximum aperture of the kit zoom lens at full telephoto. In the test shot above taken at the aforementioned distance and settings, the A5100’s flash produced a bright flash exposure, which confirms Sony’s rather weak flash power rating is at least credible.

Our standard test method for flash range uses a fixed setting of ISO 200, to provide a fair basis of comparison between cameras. We also shoot two shots using the manufacturer-specified camera settings, at the range the company claims for the camera, to assess the validity of the specific claims.

The images above were taken from our standardized test shots. For a
collection of more pictorial photos, see our
Sony Alpha ILCE-A5100 Photo Gallery
.

Not sure which camera to buy? Let your eyes be the ultimate judge!
Visit our Comparometer(tm)
to compare images from the Sony Alpha ILCE-A5100 with those from other
cameras you may be considering. The proof is in the pictures, so let
your own eyes decide which you like best!

Below are crops from our laboratory Still Life target comparing the Sony A5100 against the Sony NEX-5T, Canon T5, Nikon D3300, Olympus E-PL7 and the Sony A6000. All of these models sit at relatively similar price points and/or categories in their respective product lineups, with the only exceptions being the Sony NEX-5T which is the predecessor to the A5100, and the Sony A6000 which is the next category up in the Sony Alpha line.

We should make a brief mention that the 1:1 crop comparisons below are somewhat affected by the rather significant difference in resolution between the competing models, with the A5100, A6000 and D3300 sporting 24+mp resolutions compared to 16mp for the NEX-5T and the E-PL7, and 18mp for the T5. The resolution differences don’t profoundly affect overall quality, but it’s still worth keeping in mind as you read our notes and do your own comparing.

NOTE: These images are best quality JPEGs straight out of the camera, at default settings including noise reduction and using the camera’s actual base ISO (not extended ISO settings). All cameras in this comparison were shot with our very sharp reference lenses. Clicking any crop will take you to a carrier page where you can click once again to access the full resolution image as delivered straight from the camera. For those interested in working with the RAW files involved: click these links to visit each camera’s respective sample image thumbnail page: Sony A5100, Sony NEX-5T, Canon T5, Nikon D3300, Olympus E-PL7 and Sony A6000 — links to the RAW files appear beneath those for the JPEG images, wherever we have them. And remember, you can always go to our world-renowned Comparometer to compare the Sony A5100 to any camera we’ve ever tested.

Sony A5100 vs Sony NEX-5T at Base ISO

Sony A5100 at ISO 100	Sony NEX-5T at ISO 100
Immediately apparent is the resolution difference mentioned above between the A5100 at 24.3mp and the predecessor NEX-5T at 16.1mp. The boost in resolution allows the A5100 to wrest a bit more fine detail in the mosaic tiles and the pink fabric swatch, but otherwise the two deliver solid IQ performances here at base ISO. Interestingly, the NEX-5T renders the tricky red swatch somewhat more crisply and accurately.

Sony A5100 vs Canon T5 at Base ISO

Sony A5100 at ISO 100	Canon T5 at ISO 100
The A5100 is able to extract significantly more detail here at base ISO than the 18mp T5, especially apparent in both the red and pink fabric swatches.

Sony A5100 vs Nikon D3300 at Base ISO

Sony A5100 at ISO 100	Nikon D3300 at ISO 100
These two models with similar resolutions perform almost identically in the first two crops, but the fabric swatches are interesting as the A5100 renders more detail from the pink fabric while the D3300 draws more from the red fabric.

Sony A5100 vs Olympus E-PL7 at Base ISO

Sony A5100 at ISO 100	Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 200
The E-PL7 is the lone Four Thirds sensor in this group and is also a 16.1mp sensor. It performs admirably in the first two crops but loses some ground in sharpness and detail in the fabric swatches as compared to the A5100.

Sony A5100 vs Sony A6000 at Base ISO

Sony A5100 at ISO 100	Sony A6000 at ISO 100
These two models have image quality pipelines reported to be virtually identical, and the above results serve to support that assertion.

We’ll move now to ISO 1600, where the higher quality cameras begin to show their moxie, and the struggling models begin to introduce their noise levels and relative lack of detail.

Sony A5100 vs Sony NEX-5T at ISO 1600

Sony A5100 at ISO 1600	Sony NEX-5T at ISO 1600
Interesting differences are on display here between the A5100 and its predecessor. While the A5100 has less apparent noise and noise reduction artifacts, the NEX-5T is clearly sharper and renders more detail, most noticeable in the mosaic tiles crop. Noise reduction artifacts are most noticeable in the pink fabric swatch.

Sony A5100 vs Canon T5 at ISO 1600

Sony A5100 at ISO 1600	Canon T5 at ISO 1600
Fairly similar performances here, with subtle differences in each crop. The T5 wrests a bit more detail in the first two crops, but also produces more in the way of noise as a trade-off. The A5100 handles the fabric swatches much better here.

Sony A5100 vs Nikon D3300 at ISO 1600

Sony A5100 at ISO 1600	Nikon D3300 at ISO 1600
Somewhat similar to the T5, the D3300 produces more detail at the expense of more noise in the first two crops, and the fabric swatches are close to a draw here, with only subtle apparent differences.

Sony A5100 vs Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 1600

Sony A5100 at ISO 1600	Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 1600
The E-PL7 with its smaller sensor does remarkably well here, rendering more detail in the first two crops and without too much in the way of noise or artifacts, though there are some. It does though begin to lose much detail from the fabric swatches.

Sony A5100 vs Sony A6000 at ISO 1600

Sony A5100 at ISO 1600	Sony A6000 at ISO 1600
Once again, these two models perform virtually identically here as expected.

And now to ISO 3200, where any differences should become a bit more obvious.

Sony A5100 vs Sony NEX-5T at ISO 3200

Sony A5100 at ISO 3200	Sony NEX-5T at ISO 3200
A somewhat similar story as with ISO 1600, where the NEX-5T renders a crisper image but at the expense of noise and some splotchiness as seen in the mosaic tile crop. The fabric swatches are mainly a draw here.

Sony A5100 vs Canon T5 at ISO 3200

Sony A5100 at ISO 3200	Canon T5 at ISO 3200
The T5 image here really suffers from too much noise, and also lacks most all detail in the fabric swatches. Neither perform badly for this price range, but we’ll give the nod here to the A5100.

Sony A5100 vs Nikon D3300 at ISO 3200

Sony A5100 at ISO 3200	Nikon D3300 at ISO 3200
The D3300 produces not only crisper images here at ISO 3200 but also more realistic ones. The noise levels really show in the bottle crop, but otherwise the overall nod here goes to the D3300 for slightly better image quality.

Sony A5100 vs Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 3200

Sony A5100 at ISO 3200	Olympus E-PL7 at ISO 3200
Most all Four Thirds sensored-cameras start to show real strain at ISO 3200, and the E-PL7 is no exception, producing images that begin to look unrealistic. But in comparison it’s really not much worse that the A5100, which suffers from an overall softness and lack of detail in general.

Sony A5100 vs Sony A6000 at ISO 3200

Sony A5100 at ISO 3200	Sony A6000 at ISO 3200
As with the first two comparisons, these two perform virtually identically as expected.

We use the table below to analyze fine detail performance all the way to ISO 6400.

Sony A5100 vs. Sony NEX-5T, Canon T5, Nikon D3300, Olympus E-PL7, Sony A6000

Sony A5100 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Sony NEX-5T ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Canon T5 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Nikon D3300 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Olympus E-PL7 ISO 200 ISO 3200 ISO 6400	Sony A6000 ISO 100 ISO 3200 ISO 6400
Detail comparison. At base ISO the 24+mp cameras certainly best the others for detail, as would generally be expected. Interesting in this table is how well the Sony NEX-5T performs, all the way to ISO 6400 as the others begin to show signs of strain. The E-PL7 also makes a strong showing, and both cameras likely benefit here with stronger default JPEG sharpening algorithms. Also of note is how poorly the T5 performs in the fine detail arena, losing most all detail in the lettering even at ISO 1600. If you intend to photograph images with detail like architecture you’ll want to pay close attention here.

Sony A5100 Print Quality

Excellent 30 x 40 inch prints at ISO 100/200; a nice 16 x 20 at ISO 1600; and even prints a usable 4 x 6 at ISO 25,600.

ISO 100/200 produces an excellent 30 x 40 inch print and higher — able to print virtually as high as the resolution allows until pixelation is visible.

ISO 400 yields very good 24 x 36 inch prints, although 30 x 40’s are more than suitable for wall-display purposes with minimal noise in only a few flatter areas.

ISO 800 prints are quite good at 16 x 20 inches, which is a very usable size for this ISO and yet again only minimal noise visible in a few areas of the test image.

ISO 1600 also delivers a good 16 x 20 inch print. Detail in the red fabric swatch of our test target is beginning to be lost, which is typical of most cameras by this point on the ISO ladder. There is also a touch of noise in flatter, shadowy areas of our test target, but still an amazing feat for this ISO and fairly uncommon for this price bracket.

ISO 3200 yields a good 13 x 19 inch print which is mostly free from noise in most areas other than a few flatter regions of our target, although our red swatch is showing less and less detail.

ISO 6400 delivers a usable 8 x 10 inch print, which is not bad for this ISO. We’d hoped the 11 x 14 would turn out as good as the 13 x 19 inch print at ISO 3200, but there is just a bit too much noise to pass our “good” rating here.

ISO 12,800 prints a good 5 x 7 inch print with overall good contrast and color still available.

ISO 25,600 yields a nice 4 x 6, with good color reproduction for such a high ISO.

The Sony A5100 stands tall in the print quality department as we’d expected, given that it shares the same imaging pipeline as its storied big brother the Sony A6000. Delivering good 16 x 20 inch prints at ISO 1600 is no common feat for a sub-frame camera, and the ability to deliver a usable print at the top of the available ISO range is also always a welcome sign. Sporting the image quality of the A6000 in a smaller, lighter and less expensive package is a neat trick indeed.

Out and about with a smörgåsbord of lenses

By Dave Pardue | Posted: 08/26/2014

1/320s / f/2.2 / 50mm (75mm eq.) / ISO 100 / 50mm lens

I’ve had the privilege of shooting with most of the NEX-gone-Alpha models since the beginning of the line in 2010. The NEX-5 from that year marked the beginning of the mid-level price / capability points of the line, nestled comfortably between the lower-end NEX-3 and the higher-end NEX-6 and flagship NEX-7 models. This mid-level line has been updated every year since its inception, with the A5100 being the 5th generation to date. [Though its naming struck us as odd, as many believe it to be the successor to the A5000, which of course it isn’t but sure sounds like it is.]

To me, this model marks the most significant set of upgrades to the mid-level line thus far, as well as a few setbacks worth mentioning. Right out of the box it felt different than its predecessor, beginning with the rougher texture of the body, making it a bit more stable to hold and, at least to me, feeling more solid. Some will likely prefer the metal chassis of the NEX-5T, but on this size camera, I prefer the polycarbonate of the A5100. The grip is not quite as severe in its shape than last year’s NEX-5T, allowing more breathing room for my fingers between the grip and the lens, especially when carrying it around. It’s a bit thicker, as you’ll see below, but that gives it even more stability in the holding, both with the right hand on the grip or with it resting on my left hand. Larger lenses also seem and feel more at home on this model, striking a better overall balance.

A sleek combination: The Sony A5100 paired with the Sony 55-210mm lens has a nice, balanced feel and provides a ton of shooting range (320mm eq. at tele) for such a small and lightweight package.

You get a pop-up flash with this model that the NEX-5T didn’t have (you had to open a small door and screw the flash on) and that area is now slightly raised, making it look more natural up against the lens barrel. Also, the pop-up mechanism behaves more precisely than many cameras in this price range, whose flash units often jiggle around when being deployed. You lose the top control dial with the A5100 however, which is the single largest letdown about the camera for me, and you also lose the top function button, which is also a con as compared to the 5T. I prefer physical controls and dials, and even though this body is very small for the APS-C world, the 5T managed it just fine, so it was a bit of a surprise and letdown discovering these were missing.

As you’ll also see below, there’s no mode dial on this model nor its predecessor. If mode dials are important to you, you’ll need to step up to the A6000, which is a bit more in price and somewhat larger as well. But you’ll get an EVF and a hotshoe to go along with it, so the two models are clearly aimed at different photographers or shooting situations to a large degree. In the hand they feel like vastly different cameras in comparison, and serious enthusiasts won’t mind spending just a bit more for these features that are critical to certain shooting situations like sports photography. But for the shooter needing a smaller and lighter body with most of the same features and don’t mind losing those few things, by all means read on.

For one last gripe before getting onto the good stuff, the shutter button isn’t quite as comfortably placed to me. The 5T had it sloped on the front bevel, while the A5100 moves it back to the top and laid flat. This is a small gripe, but you pay us to tell you these details, so I felt compelled to say it. Fortunately they somewhat make up for this by providing a zoom lever where the power switch used to be, which allows for zooming power-zoom lenses if you prefer not turning the lens ring to zoom. Point-and-shoot step-up users will no doubt find this familiar, and I tended to use it more than turning the lens barrel as well. The darker flange is also more attractive and less likely to induce glare than seen on the NEX-5T.

Predecessor comparison: The Sony A5100 (lower image) replaces the Sony NEX-5T (shown above). You lose the control dial and top Fn button, but gain a more stable-feeling width as well as a zoom lever for power zoom lenses like the 16-50mm PZ kit lens. [Editors note: the d-rings were removed from the NEX-5T, but it also comes with them.]

A few more notes on the controls, and then we’ll move onto shooting. Sony does a good job of recessing the movie button on this camera so that you don’t accidentally trigger it, even more so than on the 5T. Also, I really, really (really) don’t like when the “play” button is on top of a camera! The A5100 moves it to where I believe it belongs, which is just to the right of the LCD. That’s exactly where your thumb naturally rests when you’re viewing images, so a big thanks to Sony engineers for moving it!

It shares with its predecessor one thing I do really love, and that’s a dedicated ISO button. This series of cameras has gone back and forth on whether or not to do this as a standard feature. I change ISO all the time – don’t generally prefer relying on the camera to decide it for me – so that’s something that’s a big deal to me personally. So: Menu, Play and ISO are all very conveniently placed. And the newly added help button, denoted with a question mark, doubles as a trash button which is also useful. And of course, it’s nice to have a dedicated drive button, as I switch between modes often during certain types of shooting.

Proper controls: I prefer most of the changes made on the A5100 controls, especially moving the play button to the only place that makes sense to me – at the lower right of the screen.

I find the Sony menu systems straightforward for the most part. There is no need for scrolling down as some camera companies prefer, and instead you get to see everything on any particular screen. This forces you to access many more screens of course, but for my tastes this is preferable to scrolling down to figure out what’s in a certain menu. Going through these for the first time, I was genuinely surprised at how many adjustable features are present in a camera at this price level.

Now let’s take it shooting.

Toting 3 zooms and 3 primes

To my way of thinking, interchangeable lens cameras are just as much about the lens possibilities as the camera itself. Naturally, many readers looking at this price range will be interested in seeing how the 16-50mm power zoom kit lens stacks up in real world shooting, so I grabbed it and a big bag of anything and everything I could find in our lab (fun!) and headed out for a first weekend of shooting. We’ll start with the kit lens and work our way up to some slightly more intriguing possibilities, including tossing an FE lens into the mix as well.

On the first outing I got lucky and ran across a gorgeous butterfly in a nice garden. He made it just challenging enough by flitting fairly quickly from flower to flower, and a bright, expensive zoom lens would have been welcome here! The sun was super-bright and directly overhead, so it would have also been nice to have a viewfinder, as there are virtually no LCDs I’m aware of that can cope with that much direct sunlight and stay visible (Atlanta in August, folks, what can I tell ya). But of course, the A5100 is not as expensive as its popular older brother the A6000, so you get what you pay for.

Nevertheless, I was able to navigate the sunlight and use the kit lens well enough to get shots that I was more than happy with in fairly short order. I also threw on the E-mount 50mm f/1.8 prime lens and grabbed a similar shot for comparison, which is the first image shown in this report above. The framing is different, as are the settings, so the comparison is just a rough one at best, but still nice to see the subtle differences in things like background blur. Clicking on the image below will take you to a carrier page and clicking on that image will bring up the full resolution image, to allow you to see how much detail the kit lens is capable of delivering across various shots.

1/500s / f/5.6 / 50mm (75mm eq.) / ISO 400 / 16-50mm PZ kit lens / (-.3 EV / slightly cropped)

Next I found a moth who didn’t seem to mind my presence too much and decided to try my hand at exploring Sony’s Clear Image Zoom and Digital Zoom features. The first gives you a 2x in-camera magnification while the latter yields a 4x boost. These have both been around for awhile, but surely the algorithms get tweaked from model to model, so always a good thing to test out. Note that in order to turn either of these features on you’ll need to be shooting in a JPEG-only mode — no RAW capture allowed while digitally zooming.

As you can see from the images below, each of these settings are capable of allowing you to get remarkably close to your subject and achieve very usable images, and remember this is still the kit lens we’re looking at. Also noteworthy is that for a kit lens, the background blur is fairly good, also on display with the kit lens butterfly shot above. It won’t win bokeh awards for the creamiest and smoothest out there (see the 35mm FE images below for a start down that road) but for a kit lens it’s certainly pleasing enough for all but the most critical shooting situations, and something you simply can’t achieve with most smartphones today.

1/640s / f/5.6 / 50mm (75mm eq.) / ISO 100 / 16-50mm PZ kit lens / (-1.3ev) (no digital zoom)

1/800s / f/5.6 / 50mm (75mm eq.) / ISO 100 / 16-50mm PZ kit lens / (-1.3 ev) (2x) Clear Image zoom

1/640s / f/5.6 / 50mm (75mm eq.) / ISO 100 / 16-50mm PZ kit lens / (-1 ev) (4x) Digital zoom

Zooming in-camera: Clear Image (2x) and Digital (4x) zoom certainly allow you to get up close and personal with your subject matter, while still maintaining a reasonable amount of clarity in both cases.

We use the Sony 50mm f/1.8 lens for our Still Life lab tests for this camera series, and it’s a great lens for the price, so I try and sneak it out of the lab when I can. Below are several images showcasing this paired with the A5100, which also proved to be a great-feeling combination – lightweight in hand yet professional in output. (And you can acquire this combination for less than $1000… sweet!)

1/320s / f/2 / 50mm (75mm eq.) / ISO 100 / 50mm lens

1/125s / f/2 / 50mm (75mm eq.) / ISO 100 / 50mm lens

I was able to try the A5100 out with several Sony long-zoom lenses as well, both of which have been around for a few years now and have received praise for their quality-to-price quotient. Neither are bright zooms by any means, not intended for catching indoor sports by a long stretch, but terrific when there’s enough light available. The 55-210mm is pictured first, and the other is the larger and slightly sharper 18-200mm, with a first real-world look at bumping up ISO to 3200.

1/100s / f/5.6 / 109mm (163mm eq.) / ISO 320 / 55 – 210mm lens

1/200s / f/6.3 / 117mm (175mm eq.) / ISO 3200 / 18 – 200mm lens

The Sony 16mm f/2.8 prime makes the sleek little A5100 virtually a pocket camera for hiking, so I tried in out for just such a setting on a mountain hike with my kids. It’s a nice little go-anywhere combination, barely noticeable in a pocket or backpack but there at the ready for wide angle shooting.

1/640s / f/4.5 / 16mm (24mm eq.) / ISO 100 / 16mm lens

Saving the best lens for last, I couldn’t resist trying out one of the newer Sony Zeiss-branded full frame lenses on the A5100, namely the 35mm f/2.8 Sonnar T FE. And since it sells for more than the price of the camera, this is certainly not going to become a classic pairing, but hey, why not try it anyway? (You could do a lot worse if you only had a total of $1500 to spend.)

I’d already heard from my colleagues that this lens is stunning and found it to be the same myself, even with a much lower-priced camera than the full frame offerings they were shooting with. You lose some of the image circle collected by the lens, but I don’t think that is really an issue and in some ways could even be a benefit since corners are generally softer anyway. Below are a few examples of the rather nice bokeh I was referring to above.

1/80s / f/3.5 / 35mm (52mm eq.) / ISO 800 / 35mm FE Zeiss lens

1/160s / f/2.8 / 35mm (52mm eq.) / ISO 1600 / 35mm FE Zeiss lens

Autofocus speed on this camera is purported to rival the lightning fast A6000. For my first few days shooting I found it to be quite good in most all situations and across the various lenses. It hunts a bit in low light sometimes, which is a common occurrence for most cameras. But otherwise the AF performance has thus far been superb.

For anyone interested in seeing more images from the A5100 or accessing the RAW files for some of these images please visit our Sony A5100 gallery page, and see Field Test Part II where we’ll explore low light, motion and video.

Catching fire and motion in low light

By Dave Pardue | Posted: 02/13/2015

In viewing the handheld image of the A5100 with the Sony 55-210mm lens mounted in our first Field Test, it showed the nice balance of that combination, but didn’t do full justice to just how small this camera can become. For shooting an NCAA basketball game as part of this second report I decided to try the A5100 paired once again with the Sony 16mm f/2.8 prime lens, and was immediately reminded of why this is such a good combination for things like travel and hiking.

Stealth: Neither your pockets nor the people around you will be put off by this combination. It weighs just a wee 12 ounces…. that’s really small and light!

We took a look at images from the 16-50mm PZ kit lens in the first part of this report, but for part two I’ll be sticking with prime lenses having apertures that can open to at least f/2.8 in order to be able to fully test and show the low-light capabilities of the A5100. For anyone who’s ever tried to photograph fast-action indoor sports, especially in relatively low light, you know how tricky it can be without a gargantuan camera and lens combination. And if you’ve read our indoor sports on a budget tutorial you’ve seen how the A5100’s popular big brother the A6000 fares in that arena, so I thought it’d be a good comparison to take the A5100 to the same gym and see what kind of results I could get in similar lighting conditions.

[Editor’s note: All images below have been modified and/or cropped in post-production. Clicking any image will take you to a carrier page with the unedited image, EXIF data and a link to the original full-resolution image.]

Basketball

While capturing fast action in low light isn’t easy, it helps if you have a large sensor and a fast aperture. But you also need good continuous AF performance if you want to maximize your “keeper rate” — or relative number of shots that actually come out in focus. If you’ve read our Sony A6000 Shooters Report Part II from Eamon Hickey you may recall that he experienced keeper rates generally in the 40-50% range while in burst shooting mode for outdoor sports, which for a $650 camera shooting at 11fps is not a bad rate at all! I was hoping to get close to that mark with the A5100 but knew that with this somewhat older lens that might be a tall task. I ended up not being able to get anywhere close to 50%, although attempting focus in low light is tougher for cameras to achieve in general.

I’m not a professional sports photographer and I’m sure they could best my results, but then the A5100 isn’t hyped as a professional sports camera. It does shoot 6fps with full AF tracking, and with this combination I experienced a roughly 20% keeper rate. That went up to about 30% when shooting with the 50mm f/1.8, which also allowed for a faster aperture although I tended to stay at or near the same shutter speed for most of the game regardless of lens. In both cases, though, I did come away with a batch of reasonably good images, especially factoring in that this camera/lens combination costs and weighs a small fraction of what professional rigs cost and weigh, and also factoring in the relatively low light.

1/800s / f/2.8 / ISO 1000 / 16mm f/2.8 lens (24mm eq.)

The best defense against high ISO: A relatively fast aperture of f/2.8 combined with the largest sensor available in an ILC compact camera allows for good low-light performance in terms of keeping overall noise levels in check. 1/800s at ISO 1000 proved a good general benchmark for this light level and sensor size in freezing the action enough without allowing the noise levels to get too high.

Note to Sony: I’ll go ahead and get one gripe out of the way at this point regarding Sony cameras in general, and that’s their JPEG engine’s handling of high ISO noise. Most of our enthusiast photographers process from RAW files for much of their workflow, but it’s a safe bet that far less than half of the potential A5100 owners will use RAW files much, so I do feel compelled to mention this one fairly substantial gripe. I personally find Nikon, Olympus and Fuji’s default high ISO JPEG processing on their mid-level models superior to what I’ve seen from most Sonys, but I’m hopeful they can remedy this in future models (or maybe even firmware updates of existing models!). For this reason I try to keep Sony JPEG images at or below ISO 1000, but we’ll take a look at some higher ISO ones below.

1/800s / f/2.8 / ISO 1250 / 16mm f/2.8 lens (24mm eq.)

Using your resolution: At IR, we’re generally not big fans of cramming tons of pixels onto tiny sensors, but the A5100 has a really BIG sensor compared to almost all compact cameras. In fact, while I’ve not done a formal study, I can say for sure that it has very few equals in how small it is for having an APS-C sensor. (For anyone not familiar with that term, it’s what’s found in most consumer and enthusiast-grade DSLRs). All that to say that putting 24mp onto this chip allows for a healthy amount of cropping in post-production, which is great for framing sports moments to make them a bit more dramatic.

The above cropped image was pulled from this 7-shot burst sequence, and was one of the better ones I was able to capture using this combination in C-AF, where the camera did a fairly nice job of tracking focus while ripping off 7 shots to capture this moment in the game. A few others fared as well, but most sequences had a much lower keeper rate, and some had no keepers at all while the lens racked in and out to try and achieve focus throughout the entire burst sequence.

This is not uncommon for a consumer-level camera, though. If you’re paid to shoot professional sports then your job depends on a high keeper rate that a pro rig provides, as you’d never want to miss that pivotal moment in the game that everyone is dying to see. But for the rest of us looking to capture images of friends or our kids or just as a hobby, mid-level rigs can serve that purpose nicely with a little patience and perseverance, and the right shooting settings for the arena. It also helps to fire off a lot of shots if you’re hoping for that one great shot to put up at home on your wall or mantle.

Going longer

The 16mm f/2.8 is a good lens, and the incredibly small combination is rather addicting, but moving up just a bit in size and weight is another combination we took a peek at in the first report when the A5100 is paired with the 50mm f/1.8. Weighing in at only 16.6 ounces combined, you’re still quite light on your feet for sports shooting and other adventures and move up a notch in maximum aperture and all-around image quality. Off the top of my head I can’t name a camera and lens combination with an APS-C sensor and a 75mm eq. f/1.8 lens that only weighs just over a pound and costs less than $700 combined. (The A5100 was listed on Sony’s site at $450 body-only the day I finished this report, and the 50mm f/1.8 is generally available from most major retailers for ~$250.)

1/640s / f/1.8 / ISO 1250 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.)

Made for each other: Of all the lenses I used with the A5100, the 50mm f/1.8 felt the most natural and well-balanced, and I got the best images from this combination. At a combined current street price of ~$700 and a combined weight of just 16.6 ounces, this is a worthy combination indeed.

Clear Image Zoom

Most Sony ILCs and many of their compacts offer both 4x in-camera digital zoom, and also what Sony calls “Clear Image Zoom,” which claims to provide up to 2x magnification with image quality “close to the original.” We took a look at both digital zoom settings in part I of this report, but a reader requested I try this at a basketball game to give a low-light reference for its potential, and below are several results. In the first instance I was fairly impressed with the results, but in that case there wasn’t much movement going on. Subsequent shots at a distance and with movement proved a bit harder for the camera to render an image that was close to the same quality as the original would likely have been, but they’re not bad and certainly usable for certain purposes. I’d definitely use it in a pinch, but can’t see myself using it often. Still, it’s onboard if you need it.

A closer look at Sony’s Clear Image Zoom

1/640s / f/2.0 / ISO 500 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.) 2x Clear Image zoom

The above shot is one of the best Clear Image Zoom shots I’ve been able to achieve. It’s remarkably clear considering it’s an in-camera digital magnification process.

1/1000s / f/2.0 / ISO 1250 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.) 2x Clear Image zoom

This image isn’t quite as crisp as the first, but then again the ISO is quite a bit higher.

Low light zooming: Clear Image Zoom at 2x doubles your effective focal length while claiming to provide image quality close to the original. I found this to be true when shooting fairly near and static subjects, but not quite as useful at a distance and on moving subjects.

Catching Fire

At halftime during the Georgia State-Arlington game they rolled out the drummer from the school band, and he fired up flaming drum sticks and started pounding away. They have one of the best school bands I have ever heard, but their drummer, Casey Cooper, is simply fabulous. I was running onto the court to start firing shots before I even realized what I was doing, and had my aforementioned favorite combo (A5100 + 50mm f/1.8) already at attention and in burst mode, though I still had Clear Image Zoom set to about 1.6x.

It turns out that the settings for catching a hard hitting drummer with flaming sticks are pretty much the same as catching basketball players flying about, which was lucky for me because I didn’t have time to think about settings, knowing the flames would only last for maybe a minute or two. I caught plenty of images to my liking, but chose this one since he’s actually flipping a flaming stick (if only I had a dollar for every time I typed the phrase “flipping a flaming stick” eh?). The shutter speed of 1/800s was low enough to allow an ISO of 2000, and I wouldn’t have wanted to boost the ISO much higher than that for reasons already mentioned though my use of about 1.6x Clear Image Zoom also contributed to the softness. A faster shutter may have been more dramatic, but sometimes a little motion blur is a useful effect.

Below that image is another look at fire where I was outdoors at dusk and able to really capture the fire dancing with a 1/2000s shutter speed and ISO 1250, followed by an image of a different form of fire catching in the birthday world.

1/800s / f/2.0 / ISO 2000 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.) ~1.6x Clear Image Zoom

The apparent distortion you see near the school mascot is actually ripples of heat coming off the drum stick.

1/2000s / f/1.8 / ISO 1250 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.)

Too bad there was a car in the background, but the child inside staring at the flames gives the shot a bit of a mysterious (creepy?) flair, and the fast shutter speed fairly well freezes the popping embers from the fire.

1/80s / f/1.8 / ISO 400 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.)

Keeping the shutter speed to 1/80s allowed me to keep the ISO in check here at 400, which is better for people’s faces than going much higher. It causes the flames to blur more, but I like the effect in this case.

Climbing the ISO ladder

As stated earlier, I’m not a big fan of Sony’s in-camera high ISO JPEG noise processing, but this sensor size does still allow for fairly good shots as ISO rises, depending primarily on the subject matter. Below are examples at ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 to show the point at which noise starts to come into play in a noticeable fashion. My personal suggestion for shooting JPEGs with this camera is to set ISO 3200 as a hard upper limit and you’ll tend to be happy in most any shooting situation with the results. Keep it below 1250 when you can, but don’t sweat if it goes just a little higher.

Boosting the gain

1/25s / f/2.5 / ISO 3200 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.)

This image uses the picture effect Rich Tone Monochrome, which I love to use in situations like this shot for a more classic look straight out of the camera. ISO 3200 looks fairly good with this type subject, and allowed for a fast enough shutter speed to avoid handheld blur, as the room was fairly dark.

1/500s / f/1.8 / ISO 6400 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.)

Taken before dusk, I didn’t actually need ISO 6400 for this shot because a slower shutter speed of a stop or two less would have been more than sufficient here. But I wanted to post at least one gallery shot at this ISO. Even without zooming in much you can see some noise in various areas of the image, and for this reason I suggest keeping the ISO below 3200 when possible.

Getting partial

Partial color mode is several years old now but I’m a bit of a confessed P.C. addict, so I can’t stop myself from using it. My colleagues used to rib me about it, thinking it’s a bit hokey, but now they’re trying to get me to consider counseling to shake the addiction. Back in my film days my favorite thing was enlarging black and whites and then painting them with special paints made for the purpose, and I’d always choose just one color for any given image. Now that the camera does it for me, how can I resist?

Sony was one of the first companies to add this feature to ILCs, and theirs works well but has fallen behind a few other companies in that they still offer just 4 hues to choose from, where some offer 6 and others even more. This is something they could easily upgrade on future models or in firmware upgrades. It won’t appeal to any of my colleagues, but it will to yours truly.

Sony partial color mode

1/100s / f/2.0 / ISO 100 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.) partial color mode: green

Cat’s eyes are cool to me. This was an easy way to set them off in-camera and create a simple effect.

1/4000s / f/2.0 / ISO 100 / 50mm f/1.8 lens (75mm eq.) partial color mode: blue

Partial color and people works great for blue because the skin and the surrounding landscape turn completely black and white, rendering the look I tend to fancy. I’ve found people either love this type look or strongly dislike it, so it’s all a personal choice. If you’d like to compare this image to the same location, setting and subject, click here for how the higher-end Sony RX1 captured a similar shot 2 years ago.

Video

Most notable in the video category for the Sony A5100 is that it has the ability to record two different video file formats simultaneously. This could come in handy for any number of reasons! For instance, if you want the highest quality files currently available (XAVC S) you could record these in Full HD along with a standard HD MP4 — a file that would be miniscule in size in comparison — and then use the much smaller files for daily screening, uploading to colleagues for quick viewing, etc, while saving the the higher quality files for your actual edits.

Video samples #3 and #4 below were recorded using this function, where sample #3 is a standard HD MP4 and #4 is a Full HD XAVC S file. Note the file size difference of a clip the same length — 13.9MP vs 247.1MP. The XAVC S file is almost 18x larger in filesize! So if you’re shooting in that format, adding an MP4 copy isn’t going to put much of a dent in the data storage department, so it really may be a useful function for many applications. (Note that this feature was not included on the Sony A6000, but firmware version 2.0 will allow for XAVC S file recording.)

To read more about the A5100’s video capabilities please see our Sony A5100 Tech Info page!

Shooting Conclusion

I came away from this shooting experience wanting to own the Sony A5100 and a few select lenses, especially the 50mm f/1.8 and the 16mm f/2.8. Both pairings allowed me to get shots that I loved in a variety of shooting situations, and the cost of owning all three with the kit lens is only about $1100. That is a huge amount of firepower for the money.

The positives are overall size and weight are extremely small and light for this large of a sensor size, and the general controls and ergonomics are simple and fairly straightforward, with a very nice overall build quality. The drawbacks include no EVF, though I found I didn’t miss having one much, and don’t care much for the EVF on the Sony A6000 anyway (though I do like that camera). Other drawbacks include Sony’s somewhat mediocre high-ISO JPEG noise processing, though a fast lens helps to keep ISO in check for the most part, and continuous AF seems only average in performance, despite being a hybrid system. No camera is perfect that I’ve yet found, though, and this model has enough to like about it that I didn’t find myself yearning for anything else during my time with it. The Sony A5100 delivers great images at an amazing price, and that’s a nice combination.

1/60s / f/2.8 / ISO 100 / 16mm f/2.8 lens (24mm eq.)

For anyone interested in seeing more images from the Sony A5100 or accessing the RAW files for some of these images please visit our Sony A5100 gallery page.

[Quick links: Sony A5100 Field Test Part I Gallery A5100 vs A6000]

By Mike Tomkins | Posted: 08/18/2014

Design

A replacement for the NEX-5T, the Sony A5100 sits between the A5000 and A6000 in Sony’s lineup. In terms of design, though, it’s A5000 all the way. All controls and features are located just as they were in that camera, and although the body itself has a new finish — including a change to a leather-like texture on the hand grip — the Sony A5100 looks very, very much like the A5000.

In fact, the only notable change we spotted is that there’s now a cutout in the flash card / connectivity compartment door which provides access to the USB multi terminal without opening the whole door, to accommodate a new wired remote. Dimensions are identical, although weight has increased by a scant half-ounce (14g). And of course, the A5100 is available only in black or white, with no silver option like the A5000.

Sensor

At the heart of the Sony A5100 is the same 24.3-megapixel, APS-C sized CMOS image sensor as in the extremely popular A6000. This new sensor is not just higher-resolution than that in the 20.1-megapixel A5000, it’s a key to many of the A5100’s feature upgrades as compared to that model, as we’ll see in a moment.

Likely saving a little cost, it seems that Sony A5100 has switched from a vibration-based dust removal system to one based solely on an antistatic coating. By contrast, the A5000 and A6000 use piezoelectric dust-removal systems that are combined with an antistatic coating, so we’d expect them to need sensor cleaning less frequently.

Processor and performance

As in the A5000 and A6000, the Sony A5100 pairs its image sensor with a BIONZ X-branded image processor, the current generation.

According to Sony, the A5100 will shoot as many as 56 JPEG, 23 raw or 22 raw+JPEG frames at a rate of either three or six frames per second. (Buffer depths were a little better in the lab — see our Performance page for details.) By contrast, the A5000 shoots just 27 JPEG frames at a rate of 3.5 fps or below. While the A5100 still lags the 11 fps capture of the A6000 by quite some way, it’s clearly a big step forwards from the A5000 on the performance front.

Sensitivity

The same is also true of sensitivity. The Sony A5100 provides a broad sensitivity range of ISO 100 to 25,600 equivalents for still imaging, or up to ISO 12,800 equivalent for movie capture. That’s the same range as provided by the more expensive A6000. By contrast, the A5000 is limited to ISO 16,000 for still capture, or ISO 3200 for movies. Unlike its more expensive sibling, though, Multi Frame Noise Reduction which captures multiple images and blends them to reduce noise while offering a boost in maximum ISOÂ to 51,200 equivalent is not available on the A5100.

Hybrid autofocus

Perhaps the most important single difference between the A5000 and this camera, though, is on the autofocus front. That’s because the Sony A5100 inherits the excellent hybrid autofocus system of the A6000, intact.

As with that camera, the A5100 sports 179 phase-detection autofocus points on its image sensor, which it combines with a 25-point contrast-detection AF system to provide what Sony calls Fast Hybrid autofocus. The A5000 has only the 25-point CDAF system, with no phase-detection capability. That means you can expect significantly greater autofocus performance for your money from the A5100 — which is big news whether you’re shooting sports, or just the kids running around.

Taking advantage of the A5100’s better AF performance, it also offers an automatically-switching AF-A mode that chooses between single and continuous autofocus as needed, plus Eye AF and Lock-on AF functions as seen in the Sony A7 and A7R, and a Flexible Spot AF area function.

Video is better, too

Another important difference from the A5000 is that the Sony A5100 has significantly improved video capabilities — and not just the fact that it sports fast hybrid autofocus with tracking, although that helps. In fact, in one respect the A5100 outperforms even the A6000: the ability to record two video file formats at once.

You might wonder why you’d want to do this, but if you stop to think about it, the idea makes a lot of sense. Although most of us want to maximize image quality at the expense of file size — so that when we get home, we can edit to our heart’s content — the huge file-sizes that we’re recording are completely useless when it comes to spontaneous, online sharing. By recording both MPEG-4 HD video for sharing and either XAVC S or AVCHD Full HD video for posterity, the A5100 can cater to both needs. It’s genius, really.

And yes, we did say XAVC S. The Sony A5100 is also relatively unusual in providing for the newer, less-compressed video format, which can potentially reduce artifacts in your videos at the expense of file size. You have a choice of Full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) capture at 24, 30, or 60 frames per second with 50Mbps XAVC S compression, as well as a variety of resolution / frame rate options for AVCHD and MPEG-4 capture. (Note that firmware version 2.0 adds XAVC SÂ support to the Sony A6000. See the A6000 firmware download page for details.)

One more piece of good news: The Sony A5100 will read out the full image sensor before downsampling to your output resolution in-camera, unlike most cameras which perform line-skipping prior to readout. That means less artifacts and better image quality. Also, you can control autofocus drive speed and tracking duration for movie capture, handy given the uprated autofocus system.

LCD monitor (but no viewfinder)

One of the key differences between the Sony A5100 and A6000 is that this camera lacks a viewfinder. If you want the experience of shooting with the camera to your eye, you’ll want to spend the extra for that model instead, but for those who’ve grown up shooting at arm’s length — or just want the smallest possible camera body — the A5100 will prove a better option.

What you do have is a 3.0-inch, flip-up LCD monitor, just as in the A5000. Unlike that camera, though, the Sony A5100 sports a Sony WhiteMagic-branded panel that supplements the red, green and blue subpixels of most LCDs with an extra, white subpixel. The four dot per pixel arrangement allows a brighter display for better visibility when outdoors, but a lower backlight level (and thus better power consumption) when indoors. It also helps boost dot count to 921,600 dots, versus the 460,800 dots of the Sony A5000. Also unlike the A5000 and A6000, the A5100’s LCD has a capacitive touch panel overlay. (The NEX-5T also has a touch panel, but it’s the less responsive resistive or pressure-sensitive type.)

Slightly less battery life

Almost certainly due to the increase in sensor resolution — and the increased processing power needed to offload more data faster than before — the Sony A5100 has slightly lesser battery life than the lower-res A5000. (Which makes the switch to a more efficient LCD even better news, as the decrease would likely have been more significant were the old design retained.)

The Sony A5100 uses the exact same NP-FW50 lithium-ion rechargeable battery packs as the A5000, perhaps not surprisingly given its near-identical body. Sony rates the A5100 as good for 400 shots on a charge, to CIPA testing standards with 50% flash usage. That’s still pretty close to the 420 shot rating of the A5000.

Internal flash

We’ve mentioned it in passing already, but like the A5000 before it, the Sony A5100 has a popup flash directly above the lens barrel. It has a guide number of four meters at ISO 100, the same as that of the A5100 and two meters lower than the built-in flash strobe of the A6000. Maximum sync speed is 1/160s. And as did the A5000, the Sony A5100 lacks a flash hot shoe, making its internal strobe all the more important.

Exposure

Still, many photographers choosing a mirrorless camera do so for their smaller size than an SLR — and if size is important, you’re likely not carrying an external strobe anyway. Given its generous ISO sensitivity range and generous range of exposure controls, the internal strobe will probably work out just fine for much of your shooting.

The Sony A5100 offers shutter speeds from 1/4,000 to 30 seconds and determines exposures with a 1,200-zone evaluative metering system that provides center-weighted and spot options, just like the A6000. And it provides all the exposure modes you’d expect at this price point, plus some features you probably wouldn’t dare hope for.

Program, priority and manual exposure are all there, alongside consumer-friendly Intelligent Auto and Superior Auto modes, plus nice scene modes. There’s also a sweep panorama function, the ability to bracket exposures across three shots, and both focus peaking and zebra functions. Of course, you can shoot in raw or JPEG file formats, and you can also customize five of the A5100’s controls to your own personal tastes.

Share and shoot through your phone

And like the A5000 before it, the Sony A5100 provides in-camera Wi-Fi wireless networking connectivity, along with Near-Field Communications for quick setup with many Android phones and tablets. (Apple’s iPhones and iPads still haven’t shown up to the party, preferring their own proprietary alternatives to NFC.)

Not only can you offload images and movies via Wi-Fi for sharing on social networks from your phone or tablet, you can also control the A5100 remotely from your smart device. And support for Sony’s PlayMemories Camera Apps — some free, others an optional, paid extra — is also available.

Wired connectivity

Of course, the usual HDMI high-definition video output and USB 2.0 High Speed data connection are also available, if you prefer to stick with a physical cable. Unusually for this class, the A5100’s HDMI port is capable outputting uncompressed 8-bit 4:2:2 clean video files to an external recording device. The USB connection is also used to recharge the camera’s battery, with the provided AC-UB10 USB charger, and is compatible with Sony’s new RM-SPR1 Remote Commander wired release.

Storage

Like the A5000 and A6000 before it, the Sony A5100 stores images and movies on either Secure Digital cards, or Sony’s proprietary Memory Stick Duo cards. SD card support includes both high-capacity SDHC / SDXC cards, as well as high-speed UHS-I cards.

The Sony A5100 is a powerful imaging tool in a very small body at a current street price of less than $500 (body only), which makes it an intriguing proposition not only for users stepping up from smartphone limitations, but also for Sony Alpha shooters looking for a capable back-up to a higher-end model. It has the same imaging pipeline as its hugely popular big brother, the Sony A6000, and our image quality analysis confirmed that the I.Q. is, indeed, virtually identical.

If you’re comparing this model to the A6000, you have several basic trade-offs to consider. The A5100 is smaller and lighter, costs roughly $100 less and also sports the nifty dual video recording feature (can record two separate video file formats simultaneously), while the A6000 has an electronic viewfinder, increased performance levels in areas like continuous burst shooting, and better overall ergonomics with more external controls such as a mode dial.

In short, the A5100 is generally better suited for novice shooters not needing an EVF nor extensive controls, whereas the A6000 will be more at home in the hands of experienced and enthusiast photographers as a primary or secondary body.

This is not to say that the A5100 can’t deliver professional grade images, as it very much can! And as a “stealth” camera for incognito street shooting, you’ll be hard-pressed to top it in that department, as we discussed in our Field Tests. If you pair it with the Sony 16mm f/2.8, as seen in the above image, you have a 24mm equivalent APS-C system that’s only 12 ounces (total!) and rests quite comfortably in one hand. By tilting the LCD upwards to a horizontal position you’re able to keep the camera at hip-level and shoot very inconspicuously (please respect individual privacy, of course, we’re referring more to capturing street life and nature before it notices it’s being photographed).

As mentioned in our first Field Test, the body feels easier to hold than the predecessor NEX-5T thanks to a more textured grip and body material and a slightly thicker shape, which is actually better for stability in this case. And while it does lack an EVF, we still found it to be a capable camera even in the difficult arena of indoor sports photography.

Factoring in the Sony A5100’s price, size and weight with the other positives we found in our testing and shooting, the Sony A5100 makes for an easy recommendation as a Dave’s Pick, and is very much a camera that we give our wholehearted Imaging Resource seal of approval.

Sony A5100: Field Test part I | Field Test part II | Image Quality

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