Thinking about switching from S95 to NEX-5N

S95 is a smaller camera compared to nex 5n and m43, so I recommend to check the cameras. M43 cameras with 20mm lens might be a good choice as you said. Also you can check the Fuji x100 if you can live with the fixed lens and also want the Sony sensor. Also Ricoh gxr uses the Sony sensors and has 28mm and 50mm modules. So there are a few choices for you.

 

Me too. 5n for me. S95 may fit in my pocket but lack of a waist level LCD option, real low light performance, etc turned out to be not what I wanted. I hope I can sell it before Canon comes out with a new version. I see the price is dropping.

 

I really loved my S90 but having owned a NEX-5, currently a C3 with a NEX 7 on order...the NEX is really in a different league altogether.

 

I wouldn't recommend the 50mm f/1.8 for street photography. On the NEX it's a short tele-portrait lens (75mm equivalence on APS-C sensor).

You could go for a Color Skopar 21mm (or the 25mm) wich is tiny and would be great for street photography, but it has a M mount so you'll need an adaptater ring (don't take the Voigtlander has it's overpriced) and you'll have to focus manually.

NEX + Color Skopar 21mm pictures: Flickriver: Searching for photos matching '21mm color skopar nex' (the picture of the NEX with the silver lens is the old version, the new one is smaller)
NEX + Color Skopar 21mm pictures: http://www.flickriver.com/search/25mm+color+skopar+nex/

As for myself, as I wanted some extra speed, I went for the Nokton 35mm 1.4 wich gives me great results and form a very small package when mated with the NEX-5, though it won't be as small as a S95 (but the results won't be the same neither).

 

If funds are short then I can understand someone thinking of selling their S90/95 I own both the S95 and the NEX 5 and its a bit like 'horses for courses' both have their place the tiny S95 is a great go everywhere camera the NEX 5 with its articulated LCD is brilliant for street photography they compliment each other in my view.

 

I upgraded from the S90 to the NEX-3 two lens kit more than a year ago. Have since acquired a few cheap but good MF DSLR lenses also. Worked out really well.

For street photography I use the 16mm, which to me is better than what a lot of people give it credit for. I crop often; and you can even get to 20mm FOV without too much problem. You also get to avoid the less sharp edges, or getting too close which gets distortions. Though not as compact as the S90/95, this combination fits in my pants/coat pocket. I use this combination a lot (second would be with the 50mm MD Rokkor.)

The 5N is even better, with more mp's to crop, and in camera lens and sensor correction that improves the IQ of the 16mm. Of course, it really depends on what works for you. When I hand my NEX with the 16mm to my wife, I get "Why is everything so far away?", and "What? this camera has no zoom?"

 

Good to see people having both S9X and 5n. I also have S90 and 5N and noticed that the S90 will more often( not to say always) give good and well balanced exposure where the 5n will struggle with over/under exposed image, particularly when shooting in high contrast situation. Is that something someone else has experimented too ?

 

I have a Canon S90 and love it for its purpose (a pocketable high quality advanced point and shoot), but there really is not a comparison with the NEX in terms of dynamic range, IMO. I have a NEX 6 now, but also used on a trial basis a 5N in the past and owned an F3 for a short period of time. The NEX cameras seem perhaps to underexpose slightly, but in my experience the S90 requires care not to blow highlights. Many people recommended dialing in a permanent negative exposure compensation to prevent this. I am by no means an expert, but my experience with the NEX camera is that it is much more capable of capturing detail in high contrast images (as one would expect given the much larger sensor compared to the S90).

Do you perhaps have an example of two images taken with the two cameras where the S90 gets proper exposure and the NEX doesn't? Maybe some folks here (with more experience than I have) could suggest if there appears to be a problem.

I must say that I miss certain things about the S90 like the larger LCD screen and the ability to change exposure compensation while the histogram is present so you can see the immediate effect of your changes. Nothing is perfect, I guess  

 

I've spent months thinking about what camera to buy

I've owned many point and shoot cameras and before that a 35mm Canon SLR Film Camera.
And for a long time was considering getting a Canon DSLR so I could reuse my old lenses.

But at the end of the day I hardly ever carried my SLR with me.

For quite some time I used Fuji compact cameras but they never lived up to their potential.
Then I managed to get a great deal on a Samsung Camera with built in GPS which was handy for where I was travelling to.

Then for the last year my Samsung camera got replaced by my Samsung Galaxy Note Mobile phone which turned out to take extremely good day time photos, indoor photos and good video.

But the one thing I missed about my SLR was Depth of Field. I used to love taking people's portraits with the blurred out background.

For me I had pretty much settled on Sony for the added video features it was just a toss up between the Alpha 37/57 or 58 and then the chance to get a good price on an NEX 5N came up so jumped on it.
Because it would have given me most of what I was after but also the much smaller size, which means I'm far more likely to carry the camera with me.

 

I traded up from an s90 to A NEX 5-N, never touched the s90 again. Gave it to my little sister.

Do it! You wont regret it.