The NEX-F3's JPEGs at mid-to-high ISO sensitivities look fairly typical for an entry-level interchangeable-lens camera, and are very nice at its base ISO 200.
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.
While the Sony Alpha NEX-F3's JPEGs look best at ISO 200 -- look at the shadowed area under the currency to see the processing artifacts as low as ISO 400 -- overall the F3 has a decent noise profile for its price class.
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ISO 200 JPEG
The camera does very well at its base sensitivity, ISO 200, displaying no visible JPEG artifacts.
(1/100 sec, f9, multi meter, AWB, ISO 200, 18-55mm lens at 55mm)
3 of 10Matthew Fitzgerald/CNET
ISO 200 vs. ISO 400 JPEGs
You can see how much detail gets lost due to overzealous processing between ISO 200 and ISO 400.
4 of 10Lori Grunin/CNET
Low-light video
You can see that the F3 delivers very good tonality in high-contrast video. At full size, however, the low-light video doesn't look very sharp, though that could be the meh quality of the 50mm f1.8 lens I shot with.
5 of 10Lori Grunin/CNET
ISO 800, JPEG
While I could nitpick on comparison shots, overall the F3's JPEGs retain detail and tonality very well at ISO 800.
The standard Creative Style -- there's no neutral -- renders bright, saturated colors without any noticeable hue shifts. The white balance is a bit cool in my shots because of the overcast conditions.
8 of 10Lori Grunin/CNET
Sharpness, 18-55mm lens
I think there's a hair too much sharpening, but overall the lens and body deliver a reasonably sharp image.
(1/100 sec, f8, multi meter, AWB, ISO 200, 18-55mm lens at 55mm)
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Auto Portrait Framing
New to this generation of cameras is the Auto Portrait Framing feature; in Superior Auto mode, when you frame a picture of a person in landscape (wide) orientation it will automatically create a crop that more attractively positions the person in the photo, and save both it and the original (though it seems to randomly choose between portrait and landscape orientations). This is a clever and useful idea for newbies.
(1/500 sec, f4.5, multi meter, AWB, ISO 200, 18-55mm lens at 30mm)
10 of 10Lori Grunin/CNET
Auto Portrait Framing and pixel bloat
After it crops the photo, Sony feels compelled to unnecessarily bloat it back up to 16 megapixels. At ISO 200 and when viewed at 50 percent, Sony's Clear Image Zoom interpolation technology used for uprezzing does produce a photo that looks sharper than simply cropping the original, if somewhat oversharpened. However, at higher ISO sensitivities (in other words, in any indoor portrait you'll take), it simply exacerbates the other artifacts in the photo. And even at ISO 200, the interpolation mushes up detail that looks sharp in a regular crop.
