Canon A490 vs Sony RX10 II

Its time to look closer at the Canon A490 vs Sony RX10 II, former being a Small Sensor Compact while the latter is a Large Sensor Superzoom by rivals Canon and Sony. There exists a large gap between the sensor resolutions of the A490 (10MP) and RX10 II (20MP) and the A490 (1/2.3") and RX10 II (1") feature different sensor dimensions.

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The A490 was announced 6 years before the RX10 II and that is quite a serious difference as far as technology is concerned. The two cameras offer different body type with the Canon A490 being a Compact camera and the Sony RX10 II being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before going straight into a step-by-step comparison, below is a brief overview of how the A490 scores versus the RX10 II in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Following is a preview of the gallery images for Canon PowerShot A490 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 II. The whole galleries are viewable at Canon A490 Gallery & Sony RX10 II Gallery.

If you are looking to carry your camera frequently, you'll need to factor its weight and dimensions. The Canon A490 comes with outside measurements of 94mm x 62mm x 31mm (3.7" x 2.4" x 1.2") having a weight of 175 grams (0.39 lbs) while the Sony RX10 II has dimensions of 129mm x 88mm x 102mm (5.1" x 3.5" x 4.0") with a weight of 813 grams (1.79 lbs).

Contrast the Canon A490 vs Sony RX10 II in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you are using at that moment. The following is the front view over all size comparison of the A490 and the RX10 II.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the A490 and RX10 II is 93 and 58 respectively.

Typically, it can be hard to imagine the gap between sensor sizing merely by reading technical specs. The graphic here may give you a better sense of the sensor measurements in the A490 and RX10 II.

As you have seen, each of the cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The A490 using its tinier sensor is going to make getting bokeh more challenging and the Sony RX10 II will offer extra detail with its extra 10 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also allow you to crop pictures a little more aggressively. The older A490 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor tech.