Panasonic F5 vs Sony A550

Let's look more closely at the Panasonic F5 and Sony A550, former being a Small Sensor Compact while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by companies Panasonic and Sony. The sensor resolution of the F5 (14MP) and the A550 (14MP) is fairly well matched but the F5 (1/2.3") and A550 (APS-C) provide different sensor dimensions.

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The F5 was revealed 3 years later than the A550 and that is quite a large difference as far as tech is concerned. Each of these cameras feature different body design with the Panasonic F5 being a Compact camera and the Sony A550 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before we go into a complete comparison, here is a simple overview of how the F5 matches up vs the A550 with respect to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Panasonic Lumix DMC-F5 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A550. The full galleries are provided at Panasonic F5 Gallery & Sony A550 Gallery.

For anyone who is intending to carry your camera often, you will want to think about its weight and dimensions. The Panasonic F5 has external dimensions of 97mm x 58mm x 22mm (3.8" x 2.3" x 0.9") accompanied by a weight of 121 grams (0.27 lbs) and the Sony A550 has dimensions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") with a weight of 632 grams (1.39 lbs).

Analyze the Panasonic F5 and Sony A550 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you select during that time. Here is a front view dimensions comparison of the F5 vs the A550.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability score of the F5 and A550 is 96 and 63 respectively.

Often, its tough to visualize the contrast between sensor sizing simply by looking at specs. The visual below may give you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the F5 and A550.

As you can plainly see, each of these cameras feature the identical MP but different sensor sizing. The F5 comes with the tinier sensor which should make getting shallow DOF trickier. The fresher F5 provides a benefit with regard to sensor innovation.