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Stellar performance, a killer design, and a low price make the pocket-size Sony Alpha NEX-3 the compact interchangeable-lens camera to beat.

This compact and versatile interchangeable-lens camera takes excellent photos in all conditions and shoots gorgeous HD video.

... although it isn't a flawless point-and-shoot camera, it offers a great feature set at a competitive price in a conveniently small body.

If Sony can improve the menu, fix the Playback mode, and add a Quick menu, we'll be even more excited, but for now we're content to have great looks, great features, and excellent, category-leading image quality, making the Sony NEX-3 a Dave's Pick.

There is no doubting that the NEX-3 is a very capable hybrid camera and if you love the NEX-5, then the NEX-3 offers a more affordable route to much of the same goodness.

The Sony NEX-3 and NEX-5 combine startling innovation with cutting-edge technology, but they behave liked bigged-up compacts, not slimmed-down digital SLRs.

There's simply so much that Sony's got right with these cameras, so much that's way ahead of the competition, that we find ourselves willing to accept the user interface and embrace what makes them special.

With its two NEX series models you feel that Sony has done just enough to stake its claim on the fledgling compact system camera market, whilst leaving plenty of room for refinement and improvement in future models ...

If you want a little smaller of a camera with a little bit better build, and 1080i HD video capability, you may want to spring the extra $149 for the 5. If you do not need, nor care about these features, the 3 at $549 is a great price for what you get.

For more novice users on a budget, though, the Sony NEX-3 makes a logical step-up model from smaller-sensored compacts, and is our pick of the two new NEX cameras.