The 5R camera carries on the Sony NEX tradition of excellent photo quality.
Lori Grunin
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
The Sony Alpha NEX-5R implements extremely good noise reduction and JPEG processing. In good light, JPEGs look relatively clean up through ISO 800 and are mostly usable up through ISO 3200. Detail degradation starts to become noticeable at about ISO 1600.
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ISO 100 JPEG
On its default settings, the images look moderately sharp; I prefer that to oversharpened crunchy.
(1/80 sec, f5.6, AWB, multi meter, ISO 100, 18-55mm lens at 35mm)
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ISO 400 JPEG
ISO 400 JPEGs look as good as ISO 100, which is unusual in this price class.
(1/30 sec, f11, AWB, spot meter, ISO 400, 18-55mm lens at 36mm)
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ISO 800 JPEG
Notice how not only is the focused area crisp and sharp with no color noise, but the out-of-focus areas are smooth without notable grain.
(1/20 sec, f4, AWB, multi meter, ISO 800, 18-55mm lens at 18mm)
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ISO 800 raw vs. JPEG
I was able to improve the sharpness slightly by processing the raw, but the tradeoff is a little bit of color noise. (I did not try to match the white balance.)
(1/30 sec, f8, AWB, multi meter, ISO 800, 18-55mm lens at 18mm)
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ISO 800, no noise reduction
One of the reasons the JPEGs look so good is that the color noise is so fine-grained.
(1/30 sec, f6.3, AWB, multi meter, ISO 800, 18-55mm lens at 18mm)
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ISO 1600 JPEG
There's no blotchiness and there are no hot pixels in the sky, and it's reasonably sharp.
(1/50 sec, f5.6, AWB, spot meter, ISO 1600, 18-55mm lens at 55mm)
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ISO 3200 JPEG
Here you can see the effect of noise reduction, but the areas that don't need it -- around the neon -- look clean.
While the default settings push the color saturation, there don't seem to be hue shifts, and the contrast bump doesn't look like it clips the shadows.
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App effects
The watercolor (left) and illustration (right) Picture Effects are built into the F3, but Sony only makes them available as part of the (free) Picture Effects+ downloadable app for the 5R. They are nice effects, though.
