Leica SL vs Sony a3500

Its time to take a closer look at the Leica SL versus Sony a3500, one is a Pro Mirrorless and the other is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by companies Leica and Sony. The image resolution of the SL (24MP) and the a3500 (20MP) is fairly close but the SL (Full frame) and a3500 (APS-C) enjoy different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The SL was launched 20 months after the a3500 making the cameras a generation away from one another. The two cameras come with the identical body type (SLR-style mirrorless).

Before diving in to a step-by-step comparison, below is a short summation of how the SL scores against the a3500 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

Here is a sample of the gallery pictures for Leica SL and Sony Alpha a3500. The complete galleries are available at Leica SL Gallery and Sony a3500 Gallery.

If you are going to carry around your camera often, you need to factor its weight and dimensions. The Leica SL provides outside measurements of 147mm x 104mm x 39mm (5.8" x 4.1" x 1.5") having a weight of 847 grams (1.87 lbs) while the Sony a3500 has dimensions of 128mm x 91mm x 85mm (5.0" x 3.6" x 3.3") along with a weight of 411 grams (0.91 lbs).

Look at the Leica SL versus Sony a3500 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change based on the lens you are utilizing at the time. Following is the front view proportions comparison of the SL vs the a3500.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability score of the SL and a3500 is 67 and 69 respectively.

More often than not, its hard to imagine the gap in sensor sizes purely by looking through technical specs. The pic below will give you a better sense of the sensor sizing in the SL and a3500.

As you can tell, both of the cameras have got different megapixels and different sensor sizes. The SL due to its larger sensor is going to make getting shallower depth of field simpler and the Leica SL will provide you with more detail utilizing its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also let you crop images much more aggressively. The more recent SL provides an advantage in sensor technology.