Sydney – 8 June, 2011: The new NEX-C3 by Sony is the world’s smallest, lightest interchangeable lens digital camera in its class.

Offered in a choice of stylish colours, the NEX-C3 features an attractive new body design that combines a satisfyingly solid metal top casing with an easy-to-use streamlined grip shape. Reducing the size of main circuitry shrinks camera body weight to just 225g – that’s almost 6% less than the NEX-3. Image quality, functions and usability of the NEX-C3 also surpasses that of the NEX-3.

Resolution of the large Exmor™ APS HD CMOS sensor is boosted to 16.2 effective megapixels, capturing stills and 720p HD video with breath-taking clarity. The large, DSLR-sized sensor also lets you produce pro-quality ‘bokeh’ background defocus effects, whether you’re shooting HD video or stills.

Even if you’re not familiar with specialist photo jargon, the NEX-C3 puts sophisticated picture controls within easy reach, whether you’re shooting stills or HD video. The intuitive new Photo Creativity interface replaces technical terms like ‘aperture’, ‘exposure value’ and ‘white balance’ with the friendlier and more intuitive ‘background defocus’, ‘brightness’ and ‘colour’.

There’s no need to dig into confusing menu options or guess their effect on your composition. Just turn the camera’s rear-mounted control wheel and instantly see the effect of your settings previewed on screen. If you wish, two or more different settings can be combined to create more sophisticated creative effects.

A new in-camera ‘Picture Effect’ setting lets users add extra impact to stills or HD video during shooting, without the worry of editing images afterwards. ‘Picture Effect’ options include Partial Colour, Retro Photo, Pop Colour, High Contrast Monochrome, Posterisation, High-key and Toy Camera. There’s also a ‘Soft Skin’ effect that removes wrinkles and blemishes from portrait subjects.

Tilting for comfortable viewing at any angle, the high contrast 7.5cm Xtra Fine LCD features TruBlack screen technology for high-contrast images with rich, deep blacks. It’s a great way to compose shots and judge the effect of adjusting picture settings, even when you’re viewing outdoors in bright sunlight.

Advanced multi-frame imaging technologies by Sony broaden the possibilities of the NEX-C3 further still. 3D Sweep Panorama captures extra-wide images in 3D to enjoy on your 3D TV. Auto HDR ‘stacks’ a high speed burst of three successive exposures to capture extreme shadow and highlight details in a single frame.  Similarly, Handheld Twilight and Anti-Motion Blur modes automatically combine six exposures to capture smooth, low-noise images: this avoids hand-blur and subject-blur when you’re shooting in available light. The NEX-C3 works even harder to capture more amazing images and HD video between battery charges. Improved energy efficiency boosts battery stamina to a generous 400 still shots per charge – over 20% more than the NEX-5/NEX-3.

New E-mount 30mm macro lens (E 30mm F3.5 Macro) and accessories

The versatility of the E-mount compact camera system grows with new style-matched accessories to expand your shooting possibilities even further.

Joining the range of E-mount interchangeable lenses, the SEL30M35 is currently the world’s lightest life-size macro lens (138g) for interchangeable-lens cameras. This high-quality 30mm F3.5 macro lens features a 1:1 magnification ratio and minimum working distance of just 2.4 cm, making it ideal for capturing detail-packed close-ups of small subjects like flowers and insects.

Despite its extremely compact size, the SEL30M35 employs one ED glass and three aspherical lens elements for excellent optical performance, with minimised aberration and very high edge-to-edge sharpness and contrast. It also offers smooth, quiet autofocus operation whether you’re shooting stills or HD video. The macro lens is supplied with a matching lens hood.

Also available as an option, the new HVL-F20S is a style-matching flash that clips onto the camera’s Smart Accessory Terminal. Powered directly by the camera, the flash requires no batteries, achieving an ultra-compact size and light weight when you’re travelling. With a generous GN20 (50mm, at ISO 100, m) flash power rating and adjustable head, it’s ideal for creating natural fill-in and bounce flash effects with portraits and everyday shooting subjects.

The expanded range of co-ordinating accessories features a new body case/lens jacket, soft carrying case, straps and value accessory kits.

The NEX-C3 is compatible with the recently launched Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX that offers higher performance with speedy data transfers of up to 50MB/s, making it the ideal companion when taking burst shots or shooting Full HD and even 3D movies and photos.

The new NEX-C3 ultra-compact digital camera with interchangeable lenses and HVL-F20S flash will be available in Australia from July 2011.