Sony a5100 Review: A great mirrorless camera for beginners
Our VerdictSony's a5100 entry-level mirrorless camera packs a DSLR-sized sensor into a compact body, delivering high image quality and fast shooting.
02/09/2021
Our Verdict
Sony's entry-level a5100 mirrorless camera packs a DSLR-sized sensor into a compact body, delivering high image quality and fast shooting.
For
pocket design
excellent image quality in low light
fast and precise autofocus
smooth video
built-in tutorials for beginners
Versus
Important settings buried in menus
does not take an external flash or microphone
Wi-Fi not compatible with iOS
Today's best Sony a5100 mirrorless camera deals
$702.51
on Amazon
To whom is it addressed:
Novices who want to develop advanced photo skills, or anyone who wants a good balance between image quality and portability.
Sony's a5100 is a scaled down version of the already small Alpha a6000 mirrorless camera. It packs some of Sony's best technology: not only a large sensor, but also Sony's ultra-fast phase-detection autofocus technology and powerful Bionz X processor. Sony's interface, while improving, is always clumsy. But, overall, I recommend the a5100 to buyers of mirrorless cameras, including those looking to develop advanced photo skills.
Since the launch of the a5100, Sony has released a number of other compact mirrorless cameras. For beginners, we recommend that you consult our
Sony A6000 Review
, as well as our
Sony A6100 Review
. We have compiled a guide to
best sony mirrorless cameras
, which compares the A5100, A6000, A6100, A6300, A6400, A6500 and A6600.
< p>Design: so compactSony Alpha 5100 (brown) on Amazon for $702.51
The a5100 is compact enough to slip into a coat pocket, and it could slip into all but the smallest purses or purses. The body measures only 4.3 x 2.5 x 1.4 inches, but the 14-ounce weight is noticeable. By comparison, the similarly priced NX300 measures 4.8 x 2.5 x 1.6 inches and weighs 11.5 ounces.
MORE: The best mirrorless cameras you can buy
The textured grip on the right may require curling your fingers more firmly than with a full-size camera. Still, it's better than what two small mirrorless cameras have to offer: the bodies
Nikon 1 (see review)
and the Samsung NX mini cases are flat slabs without a handle. (The a5100's handling is comparable to that of the NX300.)
A low power flash comes out high from the front of the camera, directly above the lens, but that's the only flash you'll get. Sony has left out its multi-interface hot shoe, which on its other cameras can support an additional flash or microphone.
The 3-inch LCD screen tilts 180 degrees for taking selfies, but it doesn't tilt down (like the Sony a6000 does) to aid in shots that require holding the camera above the head.
The a5100 lacks the crystal-clear OLED electronic viewfinder of the a6000. For that reason (and the shoe), you might prefer the more expensive a6000 ($598 with a 16-50mm lens) if you're upgrading from a DSLR. If you're using a smartphone or a point-and-shoot, the a5100 might be perfect.
Interface: Obtuse
Sony's standard rocker and four-way dial combination lets you select settings, such as light sensitivity (ISO), and then scroll through them. A toggle just above the grip (circling the shutter button) allows you to move the electronic zoom kit lens between wide and telephoto. You can also turn the ring or slide a switch on the left side of the lens to do the same. I wish this overabundance of commands would be transferred to other functions.
Sony includes the ability to reprogram the functions that almost all buttons access. Customizing them allowed me to put some of the most important options at my fingertips, but not all of them.
I could one-touch access to metering mode and focus area, for example, but I'd have to sacrifice one of those if I wanted to access white balance as well. Changing the shooting mode from, say, intelligent auto to shutter priority required two buttons and three presses, as there's no mode dial.
A touchscreen should make settings easier to access, but the a5100's screen is just a tease. It only provides two capabilities: tap to set focus or tap to focus and shoot. These are great features for action photography and are sorely lacking on the a6000. But it's silly to limit the touchscreen to just two functions when that could make up for the lack of physical controls.
Do not touch!
In-Camera Guide
A great feature that Sony offers for beginners is the in-camera guide, which you can access by pressing the button marked with a question mark on the back of the camera in the bottom right. This brings up tutorials with tips for portraits, landscape shots, night scenes, close-up macros, and fast-moving subjects. (If you don't need easy access to the Guide, you can reprogram the button for another function, such as measurement mode.)
For example, Sony's advice for capturing moving subjects is to set the shutter speed to 1/30 of a second or less to achieve motion blur and to pan with the moving subject, such as a car. This keeps it sharp while the background is blurred. Basic stuff, but a good start.
The in-camera guide provides simple instructions.
Image quality
The a5100 is simpler but very similar to Sony's a6000, and it offers equally fine image quality, especially in low-light conditions.
Color: true but subtle
The a5100 captures color fairly accurately, although this may not appeal to everyone. A photo on the roof of my colleague John in the late afternoon sun looks a bit flat – although it is actually on target. You can tell by looking at her skin tone, which doesn't have the fake pink, orange, or yellow hue that many cameras inflict.
(You can click most of the sample photos below to enlarge them.)
Aperture priority, f-7.1, 1/80 sec, ISO 640.
Advanced photographers might appreciate this precision, especially since they usually edit RAW image files in a program such as Adobe Lightroom, but that's not the kind of shooter the a5100 is intended for.
To lighten the colors, first select Creative Style from the main menu...
To get color brightness straight out of the camera, such as JPEG, switch from the default Standard mode to Vivid mode under the Creative Style menu setting. Technically, Vivid is a bit oversaturated, but it generally looks better. (My test shots, however, are in Standard mode in order to test accuracy.)
...then switch to Live.
You can see the effect in these photos taken in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood on a cloudy day in Standard (left) and Vivid (right) mode.
Exposure: good daytime range
Sony cameras tend to keep images a bit darker than rivals do, which is good for keeping skies and clouds from being overexposed, like in this view looking down at the Flatiron Building. Although much of the cloud content is cut off (rendered pure white), some texture remains and bits of open sky between the clouds are a rich blue. Yet shadow detail is also clear: even the underside of the eaves isn't completely dark. This photo was taken in pattern metering mode, which sets exposure based on the overall composition of the frame.
Program mode, f-8, 1/125 sec, ISO 100
Detail: super clean
Program mode, f-5, 1/60 sec, ISO 800
The a5100 is fully capable of capturing fine detail, day or night, even with the kit lens. In this portrait of a tie vendor at Manhattan's Union Square holiday market, the a5100 captured every detail possible, as seen in the 100% crop around his eye, below. Although shot at a moderately high sensitivity of ISO 800, this image has virtually no grain even at full size. (Since the crop is already full size, you can't click to enlarge it.)
High ISO: The killer feature
The best attribute of the a5100 is its ability to take incredibly sharp photos when set to high light sensitivity. As the cameras grab limited light, they inevitably show a bit of grain and lose some detail. What matters is how they handle such challenges. When producing JPEGs, the a5100 doesn't exaggerate the smoothing out of image noise or the blurring of detail like many other cameras do. The Samsung NX300, for example, turns high ISO photos into what look like watercolor paintings.
Up to around 50% size (which is huge for a 24.3MP photo), this shot taken at ISO 2000 shows virtually no grain - not just in the well-lit front parts, but even in darker background. At 100% the photo, although mottled in the background, still looks fine.
Program mode, f-6.3, 1/100 sec, ISO 2000
White balance: better than most
As with almost all cameras, the a5100's auto white balance works well in direct sunlight or bright lights, but is better than average in dark settings. I took this photo of a breakdancing group under the miserable fluorescent light of the NYC subway, yet the image has just a slight yellowish tint (look at the woman's neck). It's also pretty clean for a shot taken at ISO 4000.
Shutter priority, f-5, 1/250 sec, ISO 4000
The a5100 also works well outdoors at night, as in this candid of two women in Union Square. It's not a great shot, given the slight motion blur and ISO 5000 setting, but the color is near perfect despite the horrible lighting. I didn't use flash for this.
Program mode, f-4.5, 1/25 sec., ISO 5000
Autofocus & Speed: fast but temperamental
Equipped with the phase detection technology found in the a6000 (and DSLRs), the a5100 can focus fairly quickly. Many competing mirrorless cameras rely on the slower contrast detection method (which the a5100 uses in concert with phase detection). However, the simple form of face detection is disabled by default. Instead, the camera is set to a mode to register the faces of particular people to be detected, such as family members. Replace that with basic face detection (see screen below) as soon as you get the camera. Without this adjustment, you'll end up with a lot of blurry people, as happened again and again with this (albeit difficult) photo of a woman at the holiday market.
Program mode, f-6, 1/100 sec, ISO 2000, face detection off
Enabling face detection made a huge difference. Among all the details of this stand, below, the camera immediately locked on the seller, even if he is in the corner.
Program mode, f-4.5, 1/60 sec, ISO 1000, Face Detection on
The a5100 can shoot at 6 fps (the a6000 does 11 fps), and it can shoot for a long time before slowing down: up to 75 JPEGs, 23 RAW files, or 22 simultaneous JPEG and RAW images. But that's often too fast for autofocus. Shooting in burst mode, I got some great shots of the breakdancers, like the one below. There's motion blur, sure, but look at the lettering on his T-shirt.
Program mode, f-5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO 3200
Most of the photos, however, came out way too blurry to use. If you like to shoot fast action, go for the a6000 instead.
Flash: perfect for filling
The a5100's flash range of 4 meters (called the guide number) is quite low: The a6000 goes to 6 meters. The included flash of the rival Samsung NX300, which is removable, has a guide number of 8.
These pop-up flashes aren't very good at lighting up a dark room. They are best for fill flash, putting some light on, say, a face in shadow. The a5100's flash is perfect for this, as you can see in this series of photos. In fact, I had to lower the flash by 1.7 exposure values (1.7 EV, just over a quarter of its default power) to prevent my colleagues from turning into red-eyed ghosts.
Images – cropped and side by side
Aperture priority, f-7.1, 1/80 sec, ISO 640, exposure compensation -0.3 (one-third EV), default flash
Aperture priority, f-7.1, 1/60 sec, ISO 640, flash compensation -1.7
Video quality: ready for action
Like a bunch of Sony cameras we've reviewed this year, the a5100 shoots stellar video. I saw crisp detail and smooth motion, thanks to the 60fps maximum frame rate. Footage showed very little of the wonky effect in action shots (known as shutter roll) that plagues nearly all cameras not designed specifically for video, even those costing three times as much.
The autofocus is particularly powerful, as you can see in this absolute torture test film a band playing on the subway while people are constantly passing by. Even after bystanders have mostly blocked the frame, the a5100 quickly gets back at musicians. The audio is a little hollow, but that's certainly fine for something like a YouTube video.
The a5100 also kept up with our breakdancing friends well, with smooth movement. He generally resisted the urge to shift the focus to the irrelevant "Downtown" sign at the rear.
Battery life: at least as good as promised
With their image sensors and LCD screens, mirrorless cameras often fall short of DSLRs on battery life, but the a5100 shoots longer than many competitors. Using the CIPA battery test standard, Sony claims the a5100 will last around 400 photos or around 75 minutes of video (or a combination of both).
I drained the battery to 2% after taking about 480 shots (most were simultaneous JPEGs and RAWs) and about 10 minutes of video. This should get you through an average shooting day.
Lenses and accessories: not much
Lacking Sony's Multi-Interface Shoe, the a5100 lacks access to important add-ons, such as external flashes. The optional kit lens is surprisingly good: sharp, with minimal distortion. Although the electronic zoom may frustrate purists who like the feel of a manual zoom ring.
The a5100's 16-50mm, f-3.6-5.6 zoom kit lens
Sony offers a fair selection of 17 lenses for its mirrorless cameras, from a 16mm wide angle at $250 to a 28-135mm zoom at $2500. The prices are a bit high. For example, Sony's 35mm prime lens (non-zoom) costs $400. Samsung sells an excellent 30mm (we tested it) for $300. And the Samsung lens is an extra-thin "pancake" design - just right for an ultra-compact camera. Sony only has 16mm and 20mm pancake lenses, which are too wide to be the only lens you carry.
Sony has a nice selection of lenses, but no bargains. The best deal is to get the a5100 with the 16-50mm, f-3.6-5.6 zoom kit lens. It adds $150 to the price of the camera, but bought separately it sells for $300.
Wireless Capabilities: Great with Android
Sony cameras have been cantankerous with wireless connections to smartphones to transfer photos or take remote control of the camera. This was a disappointing issue with an iPhone. But that's the case with all cameras, because iOS doesn't connect as easily as Android.
After installing and starting Sony's free PlayMemories app (for Android and iOS), you start sharing to the camera. The a5100 does not offer a dedicated Wi-Fi or Share button. Instead, you have to dig into the Wireless section of the main menu. The best case scenario is with an Android phone that has an NFC (near field communication) chip. A simple touch establishes the Wi-Fi connection between the phone and the camera. Otherwise, you must manually enter the connection information for the camera's access point (displayed on its LCD screen). But you only have to do it once.
With an Android phone, it's easy to send the particular photo you're looking at on the camera to the phone, or preview all the photos in the camera on your phone screen. (I recommend the latter if you want to transfer more than one photo.)
I often couldn't connect to an iPhone over Wi-Fi.
I was able to connect an iPhone 5 without too much hassle and transfer an individual photo. But I never managed to preview all the photos on my phone screen. Instead, I kept getting this sad message: "Failed to get camera status information."
Summary
If the a51000 were a bigger camera, I might the lack of features like an accessory shoe or additional physical controls. But if that's the tradeoff for getting the camera so small, it's worth it for many people, especially novices who might not want to be overwhelmed by a big honking camera.
While the a5100 looks pretty plain on the outside, it's rich on the inside. Fast autofocus, sharp images, accurate colors, minimal grain, and rich video dramatically increase your chances of capturing wonderful moments, whether they're anticipated or spontaneous. Yes, the controls can be a pain, but all the good aspects of the camera far outweigh those negatives, making the a5100 the best entry-level mirrorless camera right now.
Key Product Specifications
< p>Model:Sony Alpha ILCE a5100
Megapixels
24.3
Kind:
without mirror p>
Price:
$350 body only; $500 with a 16-50mm, f-3.6-5.6 zoom kit
Photos per second, max:
6fps
Sensor type
APS-C
Focus points and type(s):
179 phase detection, 25 contrast detection
Shutter speed range
< p>1/4000-30 sec.ISO range
100-25,600
Main video resolutions/frame rates:
1980 X 1080p at 60 fps, 24 fps
Video file format(s)
XAVC S, AVCHD, MP4
Built-in flash:
Yes
Ice:
Nope
Card type:
single slot: SD/SDHC/SDXC
Ports:
HDMI, USB,
Photos per charge (CIPA standard)
400
Video per charge (CIPA):
75min.
Wireless Capabilities:
WiFi, NFC
Image stabilization:
< p>kit and other lensesDimensions:
4.8 x 2.5 x 1.6 inches
Weight:
10 ounces (body only)
Today's best deals for the Sony a5100 mirrorless camera
$702.51
on Amazon
Sean Captain
Sean Captain is a technology and science writer, editor, and photographer.