Pentax P80 vs Sony A500

Its time to look much closer at the Pentax P80 vs Sony A500, one is a Small Sensor Compact and the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by manufacturers Pentax and Sony. The image resolution of the P80 (12MP) and the A500 (12MP) is pretty close but the P80 (1/2.3") and A500 (APS-C) use different sensor measurements.

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The P80 was introduced within a month of the A500 which means that they are of a similar generation. Both the cameras offer different body type with the Pentax P80 being a Compact camera and the Sony A500 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before getting in to a complete comparison, below is a brief introduction of how the P80 scores vs the A500 in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Pentax Optio P80 and Sony Alpha DSLR-A500. The whole galleries are provided at Pentax P80 Gallery and Sony A500 Gallery.

For anybody who is looking to travel with your camera frequently, you have to factor in its weight and dimensions. The Pentax P80 comes with outside dimensions of 102mm x 59mm x 25mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.0") accompanied by a weight of 125 grams (0.28 lbs) and the Sony A500 has dimensions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") along with a weight of 630 grams (1.39 lbs).

Examine the Pentax P80 vs Sony A500 in the latest Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change based on the lens you select during that time. Following is the front view overall size comparison of the P80 compared to the A500.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability rating of the P80 and A500 is 95 and 63 respectively.

Often, its difficult to visualize the gap in sensor dimensions merely by looking through specifications. The image here will help provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the P80 and A500.

Plainly, both the cameras enjoy the same exact MP albeit different sensor dimensions. The P80 offers the smaller sensor which will make obtaining shallow depth of field more challenging.