It's the same price as the C3 — $599.99 with an 18-55mm kit lens — but it offers some nice upgrades over last year's model: it records 1080p video, has a great tilting LCD that even lets you shoot self-portraits, and has upgraded internals that should make the 16-megapixel shooter faster and better than ever.

We wish that the LCD screen could be tilted sideways as well as up and down, the user interface was a little more intuitive and quicker to use, and the price a bit lower, but otherwise the diminutive NEX-F3 proves to be a versatile camera that is capable of taking excellent photos and video.

The Sony NEX-F3 significantly improves on its predecessor with a more versatile 180 degree tilting screen, fully integrated pop-up flash and 1080 50i/25p HD video recording.

Naturally, the NEX-F3 supports the RAW image format, as well.

In RAW mode the F3 doesn't deliver much more 'true' detail but moiré patterning is very apparent from around 2800 lp/ph..

The F3's photos generally look very good, though I wish raw file support were available, because I suspect the F3's raw photos at ISO 400 look a lot better.

The LCD also tilts up 180 degrees and down a bit as well, a nice improvement over the C3.

The tilting LCD is the same as on the C3, but Sony has added a new twist: you can flip it straight up for self-portraits, and when it's in that position it automatically goes into self-timer mode, with a countdown display appearing on the LCD.

Although not fully articulated, the fold-out-and-up design allows for considerable versatility when framing, although something I don't like about the new display is that you can only tilt it downward by 13 degrees, as opposed to 45 degrees on the NEX-C3.

It's also worth mentioning that the NEX-C3 is still a great camera, and can likely be found for considerably less than $599.99 now that the F3 is out — if you can do without 1080p video and the awesome flash, it might be a better option.

The F3 shoots 1080p video at 24 frames per second, a big upgrade over the 720p capabilities of the C3 — though oddly you can't shoot 720p video on the F3 anymore, so if you'd rather shoot 720p30 and get smaller sizes and higher fps, you're stuck with the C3.

The last feature I wish to mention is the NEX-F3's movie mode, which records Full HD video at either 24p or 60i.

Photos are impressively sharp throughout the image, even with the kit lens — a lot of cameras and kit lenses produce images that get softer as you move toward the corners, but the NEX-C3 is nicely uniform in that regard.

The NEX-F3 has a regular digital zoom feature, and if you lower the resolution, you can use it without any drop in quality.

The Sony NEX-F3 is available now in silver or black with an 18-55mm standard zoom lens for about $600 / £530.