Panasonic FP5 vs Sony A9

Here, we will be looking at the Panasonic FP5 and Sony A9, one being a Ultracompact and the latter is a Pro Mirrorless by companies Panasonic and Sony. There exists a big gap among the resolutions of the FP5 (14MP) and A9 (24MP) and the FP5 (1/2.3") and A9 (Full frame) have different sensor size.

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The FP5 was revealed 7 years before the A9 and that is a fairly big gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Both of these cameras feature different body design with the Panasonic FP5 being a Ultracompact camera and the Sony A9 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera.

Before going right into a complete comparison, here is a short summary of how the FP5 scores vs the A9 for portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

The following is a preview of the gallery photos for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP5 and Sony Alpha A9. The full galleries are provided at Panasonic FP5 Gallery and Sony A9 Gallery.

For anyone who is looking to carry your camera often, you will want to factor its weight and measurements. The Panasonic FP5 provides external dimensions of 101mm x 59mm x 18mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 0.7") with a weight of 141 grams (0.31 lbs) whilst the Sony A9 has proportions of 127mm x 96mm x 63mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 2.5") accompanied by a weight of 673 grams (1.48 lbs).

Contrast the Panasonic FP5 and Sony A9 in the all new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change depending on the lens you are utilizing at that moment. Following is a front view dimensions comparison of the FP5 versus the A9.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the FP5 and A9 is 95 and 65 respectively.

Sometimes, it's hard to visualize the gap in sensor sizing merely by viewing specs. The visual here will help provide you a much better sense of the sensor dimensions in the FP5 and A9.

As you can plainly see, both cameras come with different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The FP5 having a smaller sensor is going to make achieving shallower depth of field trickier and the Sony A9 will result in extra detail because of its extra 10 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also make it easier to crop photographs a good deal more aggressively. The older FP5 will be disadvantaged in sensor technology.