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In the past year or so, there have been huge waves in the photography community about the Micro 4/3s format - the Olympus EP-2 and Panasonic GF1 being great examples. Sony is the latest to release the NEX-3 and NEX-5, two cameras they are calling ‘alpha compact interchangeable lens digital cameras’.

Both these cameras feature 14.2 Megapixel Exmor APS HD SMOS sensors, an ISO range of 200 – 12800, and have a large (larger than the body itself) E mount. Out of the box, you won’t be able to use existing Sony Alpha lenses, but with an adapter, anything is possible (albeit losing autofocus). The 2 lenses which use the newly introduced E mount will be the 18-55mm f2.5-6.3 zoom & 16mm f2.8 prime. Both cameras support HD video recording, the NEX-5 going up to 1080i and the NEX-3 just hitting 720p. A great feature is that alongside the more usual Memory Stick compatibility, the cameras will also take SD, SDHC and SDXC cards that you may have lying around! 

For Sony fans who are keen on the jumping on the M4/3s bandwagon, replacing hulking DSLR's with compact camera bodies (although the lens does look a little bulky), these camears may just be for you. There hasn’t been any solid pricing information thus far, but from what we hear it will be around the region of USD650 (RM2083) for the NEX-5 and USD550 (RM1763) for the NEX-3 zoom kits. 

More pictures of the NEX-5 after the jump