Sony Alpha NEX-5R Digital Camera Review

Sharpness

For a kit lens, sharpness performance of the NEX-5R in concert with the 18-55mm was quite strong. Under the best conditions (medium focal length, medium aperture) overall resolution averaged above 1800 MTF50s. We began to notice dips to around 1600 or 1500 MTF50s after decreasing focal length to 18mm, increasing focal length to 55mm, or widening the aperture. But 1600 MTF50s is still acceptable, so sharpness should remain adequate for the majority of use cases. In fact, the only way to drop sharpness down to an ugly 1300 or 1200 MTF50s is to shrink your aperture to F22, which introduces diffraction and therefore softness. More on how we test sharpness.