I Bought Sony's FIRST Mirrorless Camera for $50

The plastic lens mounts on these cameras are the weak point. Install the Tough e-Mount from Fotodiox.

I still have a NEX-5 that I got in Japan when it was brand new in 2010. It came with the flash, and kit lenses SEL16F28 and SEL1855. It definitely takes more work to get results from it IMO than modern cameras, but it's surprisingly capable I feel. As mine is a Japanese unit, all the menus are locked to Japanese, so I have fun remembering and deciphering all the options. My command of Japanese is not the best, but I get by!

Had one. The interface was the biggest limit. The NEX-5N was really the revolutionary model IMO. It had features and speed that really did start to rival DSLRs of the era and a video quality that (for the most part) still holds up today.

The 18-200 is actually a good lens, very underrated

Love the channel – all of your reviews are super helpful, especially the lens comparisons. I still use the Sony NEX-6, the predecessor to the A6000. I would be very grateful to see a comparison of a NEX-6 using good glass, with the latest generation of Sony mirrorless cameras to understand what I am missing.

i had the nex5 and used it extensively. I even made money with it. Video and stills. I was shooting the local symphony orchestra with that thing and some full frame guy was giving me the stink guy but I think I had the last laugh. Never a complaint about IQ, except my own.

Does that camera have peaking or magnify for manual lenses?

Hi, could you please do review on old camera like nex6 and a3000… Thanks 😊

Wife review 😂😂

Its not sonys first mirrorless camera there are many mirrorless camera thats sony made

Someone should test to see if it has clean HDMI, so you can use with the Camlink for live streaming. Then everyone would buy this thing up…

I thought the Nex-5 was their first? I must have forgotten this

My first mirrorless was the NEX-3N. I just love the sizes of these cameras. They do feel good in the hands in that they are small. They really are high quality point and shoots in your pockets. For basic photography, you don't need all the bells and whistles.

The NEX-3 is a one of the smallest and lightest mirrorless cameras. The lack of internal flash or internal electronic viewfinder permitted a smaller lightweight camera. The NEX-3 was introduced alongside with the more expensive NEX-5 camera. Sony even today usually offers two new models of e-mount cameras. One affordable with lower specs and one more expensive with higher specs.
After Sony NEX-3 and NEX-5 introduction in 2010, Sony was constantly updating its mirrorless models, usually every six months, until 2014 with the legendary α-6000 model. That was little confusing for buyers but the price of older models was dropping fast. In 2011 I bought the NEX-3 with the pancake 16mm f/2.8 lens for 300€ instead of the introductory 500€ price of the previous year. The NEX-3 was replaced buy a new model in 2011 and it was considered an older model.
The same had happened in 2014. The second series of full frame α7 II and a7R II e-mount cameras with internal stabilization were introduced in 2014 and replaced the first series of α7 and α7R cameras of 2013. That caused a drop of the initial price of α7 and α7R cameras. In late 2014 I bought the α7 camera body for 1000€ instead of the introductory price of 1700€.
The NEX-3 and NEX-5 cameras of 2010 without doubt have the same 14.2 MP APS-C ISO200-12800 digital image sensor of the Sony Alpha α550 dSLR camera of 2009. A peculiarity of this sensor is, that it has a native ISO 200 instead of the typical ISO 100. That probably permits a higher maximum ISO 12800 with quite descent quality. The ISO 12800 was very unusual for an entry camera models of that period.
The 2009 was the last year of Sony’s relationship with dSLR technology. In 2010 Sony realized that couldn't compete with Canon and Nikon dSLR cameras. So Sony invested in two new different technologies. The SLT technology which supported the large variety of α-mount lenses from Minolta and Sony and the mirrorless technology with initially three e-mount lenses of average optical quality. SLT technology then, seemed more promising because α-mount had a long history, since 1985 with the Minolta α7000. The first SLR camera with internal autofocus system and interchangeable lenses.
Sony SLT cameras hasn't become really successful but the Sony mirrorless e-mount cameras are a game changer in the photo industry. The α-mount is a relic from the film and the Minolta era but the e-mount is new without the compromises of the much older α-mount.

The NEX-5 and NEX-3 has a base ISO of 200 and their fastest shutter speed is1/4000th sec. Both of these aren't very useful with f/1.8 lenses and daylight. My second e-mount lens is the APS-C E 50mm f/1.8 OSS. This lens at f/1.8 with daylight at the lowest ISO200 and the fastest 1/4000th sec shutter speed delivers always overexposed photos. The lens demand at least an ND4 filter white daylight shooting.

My NEX-3 with warm weather above 30° C when I shoot videos at 720 with fine or standard quality is overheating after 10-15 minutes. With direct sunlight the usable period of video shooting without overheating is even less. Fortunately the camera informs the user for the forthcoming overheating and after a few minutes automatically shuts downs to prevent any hardware damage. With very cold weather at around 5° C, the NEX-3 from my experience doesn't have overheating issues and can recording continuously for nearly the 30 minutes of the legal limit. A simple solution for the overheating issue is the selection of VGA video resolution. It is less stressful to the digital image processor and keeps the internal temperature of the camera at safe levels. Certainly the NEX-3 isn't an ideal videocamera. You can't control the ISO or the shutter speed of the video. Only the aperture and the white balance can be adjusted for video shooting. The codec of the video is a classic mpeg4, MP4. The better AVCHD, h264 codec appeared a little later with e-mount cameras.

The brightest mode of the NEX-3 display is much brighter than the brightest mode of the Sony α7 display. Sony NEX-3 doesn't have an EVF so its display has to be very bright while shooting with daylight. There is a Sony optical viewfinder for the NEX-3 and NEX-5 (Sony FDA-EV1S) but it's usable only with the angle of view of the pancake E 16mm f/2.8 lens.
The Sony NEX-3 and NEX-5 have a proprietary connection (Smart accessory terminal) for an external default and optional flash (Sony HVL-F20S), an external microphone (Sony ECMSST1) and an external optical viewfinder (Sony FDA-SV1). A little later for the Sony smart accessory terminal an external electronic viewfinder (Sony FDA-EV1S) was offered that can be inserted into the NEX-3 or NEX-5 camera but is not backwards compatible because Sony didn't bother with the NEX-3 or NEX-5 firmware.
The default external flash is very weak with guide number 7 but the optional flash (Sony HVL-F20S) is quite strong with guide number 20. I have bought the optional external flash. It takes energy from the camera and doesn't need an extra battery. It is something unique for an external flash with guide number 20.
Also there is a third party smart accessory terminal adapter that permits the use of flashes with the common hot shoe. With the third party adapter the NEX-3 can trigger the flash with hot shoe but not further adjustments are available from the camera.
The internal stereo microphones are very basic so I bought the external optional microphone which does much better job. It is impossible to connect an external microphone with a common 3.5mm jack.
The NEX-3 has contrast autofocus. From my experience is very good even with the E 50mm f/1.8 OSS lens which has very shallow depth of field at f/1.8. The hybrid phase detection autofocus appeared with the NEX-6 in 2012 two years after the introduction of NEX-3.
Something very important is that both the NEX-3 and NEX-5 doesn't offer lens corrections inside the camera. Something common with the following models of e-mount cameras.
With the Sony NEX-3 I can adjust the sharpness, contrast and saturation of photos. However the vignetting, the chromatic aberration or the geometric distortion can't be fixed digitally automatically inside the NEX-3 or NEX-5 camera. That’s why the very popular retractable, power zoom Sony E 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS PZ kit lens deliver horrible photos close to 16mm with Sony NEX-3 and NEX-5 cameras. The NEX-3 and NEXT-5 were initially delivered with the pancake wide angle Sony E 16mm f/2.8 and its optional converters, with the expensive super zoom Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS, and with the Sony E 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 OSS kit lens. All of these lenses don't have the very serious vignetting and geometric distortion issues like those of the later Sony E 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS PZ Kit lens. So inside the camera digital lens corrections weren't essential.
The first three e-mount lenses were of average quality but the next year in 2011 alongside with the groundbreaking Sony NEX-7, the great Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA lens was introduced and professional started to look seriously the e-mount cameras.

Sony NEX-3 uses the small NP-FW50 battery which isn't really discontinued yet because the very recent Sony α6100, introduced in October 2019 uses it. The larger NP-FZ100 has larger capacity but adds weight and bulk to the cameras.
As most mirrorless cameras the NEX-3 fully supports focus magnification and focus peaking. This make the NEX-3 very useful. I have bough recently the very bright and affordable e-mount APS-C manual focus Kamlan 50mm f/1.1and the 7artisans 35mm f/1.2 lenses. Both lenses with some post processing deliver fantastic photos with impressive shallow depth of field.