Advice Nex-3 upgrade

[viperry]

Initially I was waiting to upgrade my nex3 to a 5n or even possibly the nex7 in a year or so when the prices come down and or new models are released. I like to try to skip a generation in upgrading my camera.

Anyway my dilemma is an interesting one. I am leaving for Europe in 3 weeks and I have a little extra cash, I am on a tight budget so I am not looking to waste the money but these pictures are something I will inevitably cherish for a lifetime. My last trip to europe I had an A900 with zeiss 24-70 f2.8 and that was absolutely perfect for my entire trip, I never needed to change lenses and I was very satisfied with the outcome. I had to sell that lens and body 3 months ago because I lost my job. I ended up getting a job interview in Alaska/California where I purchased the Nex-3 and 18-55... I was very satisfied with the quality of both.

My only gripe is that the 18-55 is a little disappointing because f3.5 is basically only at 18-19mm... I do not want to get another lens because every time I take my lens off I always get at least one spot of dust, in a non breezy normal environment holding the body down and moving quickly. So essentially I am wondering if the 5n upgrade would be worth the extra cash to someone that is fine with 720p video and primarily concerned with raw image quality. I do not need the extra megapixels, but some low light shooting would be nice.

Also what do you guys think of using the 16-80 zeiss for APS-C alphas on the nex3 (with mirror-less adapter) would you consider that a better investment than getting a 5n with 18-55mm?

Sorry this is so long, I have 2 weeks to figure this out and I would like to make the most of my opportunity of going overseas. Oh and attached below is a picture taken with the nex3 and 18-55

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[Phoenix]

Hmm..bit of a predicament there mate

IMHO

I'd say go and get the 5n or a 7 if It is essential for you to get better image quality, this is if you are going to pixel peep or feel that image quality is an absolute must. But if you are happy with the results with the NEX 3 (and I have to say they are really good results as your photos look great) I'd say stick to with the NEX 3.
Another reason to change to a 5n or a 7 is an in built (or optional) EVF, again this will depend on the way you shoot and what you are comfortable with, if you prefer to use an EVF for composition, or to help you focus then I'd say move to the 5n or 7 but if your're perfectly fine composing via the lcd and are quite happy with AF or dont mind using the peaking feature for manual focusing then I'd say just stay with the NEX-3.

Lenses on the other hand are a different matter, (This is my rather condensed version) It depends on you and your shooting style, do you prefer AF? do you mind manual focusing? you will also have to account for OSS. Sony's current NEX lens offerings are a mixed bunch with some people liking them and some people hating them, however you can use AF and almost all of them have OSS. Using a 3rd party non E-mount lens is alright as well to use via adapter, just bear in mind that it wont have OSS and it will be MF only. Unfortunately I do not have any experience shooting with a 16-80 Zeiss, it might be worthwhile looking at images shot with this combo in flickr and see if you like the results prior to investing in one.

It's probably more viable to invest in a lens (for the time being) that you like, as upgrading the body will not negate your problem with dust during lens changing (it doesnt matter which body it is, if you keep changing lenses then you'll continue to have dust spots).

Again, this is just imho.