Who it's for: Novices who want to develop advanced photo skills, or anyone who wants a good balance of image quality and portability. Sony's a5100 is a scaled down version of the already petite Alpha a6000 mirrorless camera (see review) .

Pocket-size design; excellent low-light image quality; fast; accurate autofocus; smooth video; built-in tutorials for novices

Important settings buried in menus; doesn't take external flash or microphone; Wi-Fi not iOS friendly

The a5100 is a great beginners mirrorless camera with an ecosystem you can grow into.

Pros: Compact, Touch Focus, features galore, acceptable IQ Cons: Other thoughts: This is a awesome camera and BeachCamera is the only place I will get gear from [...] The shipping is fast, and the inventory and listings are accurate.

This is a beautifully designed compact camera that is generally easy to use and produces amazing photos. It takes a while to get to know your way through all the menus and hooking the camera up to my phone so I can take photos remotely, necessitated a trip back to the camera store but the...

I purchased this camera for a very specific purpose where I need a physically small body with high picture quality to be used with manual, prime lenses. It is only used on manual settings and I don't need a viewfinder. For all these conditions stated, it is superb.

Great Picture Quality

The A5100 may be Sony's mirrorless middle child, but it's a great value.

The A5100 may be Sony's mirrorless middle child, but it's a great value.

The Sony A5100 is a fantastic entry-level camera for anyone who wants a step-up in quality, control and flexibility over a point-and-shoot or phone. It packs a big sensor, articulated touch-screen and seamless Wifi connectivity into a small, light and affordable body that you'll take everywhere with...

Potentially great quality from 24 Mpixel sensor; Great continuous AF for photos and movies; 6fps continuous shooting with large bursts; Tilting touch-screen which can face subjects; Powerful but easy to use Wifi with NFC

To exploit 24 Mpixels; you'll need a better lens; No viewfinder nor any means to connect one; Need to boost screen brightness for outdoor use; Basic exposure control and no GPS tagging via Wifi; No miniature effect for movies

Sony Alpha 5100 Review - The Sony Alpha 5100 is one of the most feature-packed entry-level CSCs on the market, complete with a 179-point hybrid autofocus system and advanced video shooting capabilities

Impressive video capture performance; Tough body; Good image quality and AF speeds

Touchscreen performance not as comprehensive as competitors; No microphone socket

One of the smallest, lightest and most affordable mirrorless cameras currently offered with an APS-C sensor, and sharing the same imaging pipeline as the Sony A6000, the Sony A5100 has few rivals in terms of offering good quality for the price.

Very small and comfortable form factor; Very good image quality for its class; New dual video record function; Quick autofocus and good dynamic range, Amazing amount of firepower for this size and price point, Largest sensor found in an inexpensive compact camera (APS-C, Image quality is virtually...

Lacks an EVF and external mode dial; No hot shoe; JPEG processing at higher ISOs not as good as some competing mid-level models, No EVF, Limited external controls compared to some mid-range models, No mode dial - have to go into the menus to change the mode, High ISO noise handling with JPEGs is not...