Sony Alpha a5100 compact mirrorless made official; features 24.3MP sensor

Sony has announced Alpha a5100, following the a6000 which marked the beginning of the rebranding of the NEX line up. The Alpha a5100 comes with the same 24.3MP APS-C sized Exmor CMOS sensor and on-chip phase-detection which was seen on the Alpha a6000 .    [caption id=“attachment_229485” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Sony Alpha a5100 comes in black and white bodies. There is a dedicated flash unit in the centre[/caption]   Code-named ILCE-5100, the Alpha a5100 comes with the BIONZ X image processor which is also seen in a6000 as well as the Alpha 7 series cameras. Sony has basically taken the good parts of the a6000 and packaged it in a compact body. The a5100 comes with the 179AF points, same as the a6000.   The combination of phase-detect and contrast-detect AF allows the a5100 to acquire a quick focus. It also comes with the Eye AF and Lock-on AF options that were first seen in the Alpha a7 and a7R along with Flexible Spot AF and AF-A that is seen on the a6000.   [caption id=“attachment_229488” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] There’s a 3-inch 921k-dot LCD screen on the rear side[/caption]   The a5100 comes with a 3-inch 921k-dot tilting LCD screen. As has become a mandatory feature now, the a5100 comes with in-built Wi-fi adapter as well as an NFC chip. This helps in quickly transferring images to your mobile devices as well as shoot remotely. You will need to download the PlayMemories mobile app to use the wireless feature.   [caption id=“attachment_229484” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] The 3-inch LCD screen on the Sony Alpha a5100 tilts by 180 degrees[/caption]   On the video front, the a5100 can shoot full HD videos in AVCHD as well as the XAVC S2 codec which records 50Mbps videos with advanced compression technology.   [caption id=“attachment_229487” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”] Sony Alpha a5100 takes in SD/ SDHC/SDXC, Memory Stick Pro Duo/ Pro-HG Duo cards[/caption]   The Sony Alpha a5100 is along with the 16-50mm kit lens priced at $700 (approx Rs 42,600), whereas the body-only cost is around $550 (approx Rs 33,500). It will start selling from September 2014 in black and white coloured bodies, though specific India availability has not been announced.