Nikon 1 or Sony NEX 5 or 7?

I want to get one of these cameras. I already have a Nikon 5100 DSLR, but I want to which is better a Nikon 1 or Sony NEX.

I want to know the pros and cons!

Sony use a bigger sensor than Nikon, making the NEX series a better bet.

I'd stick with the DSLR and use a pocket compact as a backup.

The larger sensor on the NEX series will give much better image quality. The NEX-7 is one of the best EVIL cameras on the market right now, but personally I prefer a proper DSLR as it's much easier to compose an image with a proper viewfinder.

http://snapsort.com/...lpha_NEX-5
http://snapsort.com/...lpha_NEX-5

The biggest factor in your decision should be the following ~

1. Do you want to utilize any lenses you already have (or will acquire in the future) for your DSLR. If so you will also need to acquire an adapter to fit those lenses onto the Nikon 1 models. You should expect to pay $200~$300 (US) to get an adapter with full functionality of AF and VR features on your existing lenses.
Here is a link to a Nikon brand adapter -

http://www.nikonusa.com/...apter.html

I don't know of any third party (not Nikon brand) adapters at this time but if the Nikon 1 line of cameras are successful in the market third parties will probably introduce more affordable choices.

2) "Better" being a relative term the so called Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera or MILC style is rapidly becoming one of the most important niche markets in the camera market.

In alphabetical order, Olympus, Panasonic and Sony are the clear leaders in this market, while the biggest names, Canon and Nikon, were slow to recognize this genre and have been late comers to the market.

The Nikon MILC models seem to be a strange deviation in Nikon's product line with a new sensor format and the first major variation in their lens mounts since the late 1950's ~ early 1960's. This seems strange but may be an attempt by Nikon to separate customers into DSLR and other "advanced user" markets. This is a typical marketing model that has been tried for many products and industries over the years with mixed success.

Sony and the Micro Four Thirds (Olympus/Panasonic) strategies seem to me to offer better solutions because they appear to be blending their MILC models into the product lines of their DSLR and (Panasonic?/Sony) video cameras. This takes advantage of existing manufacturing processes and product development investment and simplifies "crossover" usage of existing products by their customers.

The biggest drawback I see with the Sony products is that most of the lenses are comparatively large, giving up some of the advantages of the small sensors. The Micro Four Thirds cameras have placed a great deal of emphasis on reducing the size of the optics as well as the camera bodies so may be best if you are looking for a more compact, lightweight camera. The Nikon 1 cameras seem to fall in between the Sony Nex and the Micro Four Thirds in overall size.

The Micro Four Thirds have the most extensive selection of products and have been around the longest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/...rds_system
http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/body.html

The Sony Nex system followed shortly thereafter

http://en.wikipedia.org/...Sony_NEX-5

Pentax, Samsung and others moved into the market because it was experiencing some of the best growth in years and most recently Nikon and, finally, Canon introduced new products the latter possibly delayed by the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March of 2011.

Hope that helps. Feel free to email me (from my Y! A profile) if you need additional information.

I would choose the Sony Nex.

The nikon 1 system is small but with a smaller sensor the image quality is probably not as good as the sony.