Panasonic S5 vs Sony A580

Below is a comprehensive review of the Panasonic S5 versus Sony A580, one being a Pro Mirrorless and the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by manufacturers Panasonic and Sony. There exists a crucial gap between the image resolutions of the S5 (24MP) and A580 (16MP) and the S5 (Full frame) and A580 (APS-C) provide different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The S5 was revealed 9 years later than the A580 and that is quite a serious gap as far as technology is concerned. Both the cameras feature different body design with the Panasonic S5 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Sony A580 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before delving right into a more detailed comparison, here is a simple view of how the S5 scores versus the A580 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a preview of the gallery images for Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 and Sony Alpha DSLR-A580. The full galleries are provided at Panasonic S5 Gallery and Sony A580 Gallery.

If you're looking to lug around your camera frequently, you will need to factor its weight and proportions. The Panasonic S5 has outer dimensions of 133mm x 97mm x 82mm (5.2" x 3.8" x 3.2") having a weight of 714 grams (1.57 lbs) while the Sony A580 has measurements of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") with a weight of 599 grams (1.32 lbs).

Analyze the Panasonic S5 versus Sony A580 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change depending on the lens you select at the time. Below is a front view overall size comparison of the S5 compared to the A580.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the S5 and A580 is 60 and 64 respectively.

Quite often, its difficult to picture the gap between sensor measurements simply by checking technical specs. The graphic below will help provide you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the S5 and A580.

As you can tell, both of these cameras feature different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The S5 using its bigger sensor is going to make getting bokeh simpler and the Panasonic S5 will give greater detail because of its extra 8MP. Higher resolution will also let you crop pictures way more aggressively. The more modern S5 provides an edge with regard to sensor technology.