This isn’t really a review and it’s not about video. On the way out here to the US, I did a little bit of Christmas shopping picking up a Sony NEX-3 APS-C camera at the airport for my wife. When I got the opportunity to do some sightseeing in New York I decided to take the NEX along and you know what I’m really impressed. The camera is reasonably small, pocket sized yet behaves much more like a DSLR. In fact I think for a holiday camera or travel camera in some respects it’s better. It’s very straight forward to use, fast and responsive. But the feature I like the most is the Panorama mode that combines a sequence of frames into a seamless panorama. The video is pretty good too, although if your buying one for video the slightly more expensive NEX-5 would be better as that one does 1920×1080 while the NEX-3 is 720P. I can’t wait to use the NEX to take panoramic photographs of the Arctic in January or the storms and tornadoes when I go storm chasing next year. Ah.. one small problem, this is supposed to be a Christmas present for my wife, not a new toy for me. Hmmmm might have to get another one on the way home!

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