The benefit of having staff around the world is that you can get to go to events around the world. Our man in Taipei has just got back from playing with the new Sony NEX-5 and NEX-3 Alpha cameras at an event going down inside the 101. 

The man's quick verdict is that it's solid and well built, however the tiltable screen is something that will take time to get used to. 

"The screens are really nice on the NEX cameras, but the samples on display had really stiff hinges. It also felt like the NEX-5 was made out of much better material and it's also a bit slimmer and if you look at the bottom, it's obviously not as high, as just under the lens there's a bit that protrudes with the tripod mount on it".

First debuted at PMA in February, the new cameras will follow the lead already started by Olympus, Panasonic and Samsung offering a compact camera with interchangeable lenses and HD video.

Assigned to the company's Alpha range, rather than its more consumer focused Cybershot offering, the new NEX-5 boasts that it is the world's smallest and lightest interchangeable lens digital camera.

The new cameras will tout a 14.2 effective megapixel Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor, whilst the NEX-5 will offer 1080i HD movie recording with stereo sound, fast and silent autofocus and support the company's range of DSLR lenses via an optional mount adaptor.

While we wait for our other man who is at the European launch in Croatia to bring us more images here are some to get you started. 

Stay tuned for more images and a first look soon. 

Photos: LG Nilsson and Gil Robson.