Pentax ist DS2 vs Sony NEX-5N

Its time to look a bit more closely at the Pentax ist DS2 and Sony NEX-5N, former is a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by rivals Pentax and Sony. There exists a noticeable gap between the resolutions of the ist DS2 (6MP) and NEX-5N (16MP) but both cameras posses the identical sensor size (APS-C).

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The ist DS2 was manufactured 7 years before the NEX-5N which is quite a sizable difference as far as technology is concerned. Both of the cameras feature different body design with the Pentax ist DS2 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony NEX-5N being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before diving right into a thorough comparison, here is a short summary of how the ist DS2 scores against the NEX-5N with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Pentax ist DS2 & Sony Alpha NEX-5N. The entire galleries are provided at Pentax ist DS2 Gallery & Sony NEX-5N Gallery.

If you are planning to carry around your camera often, you are going to need to take into account its weight and size. The Pentax ist DS2 features outside measurements of 125mm x 93mm x 66mm (4.9" x 3.7" x 2.6") accompanied by a weight of 605 grams (1.33 lbs) whilst the Sony NEX-5N has specifications of 111mm x 59mm x 38mm (4.4" x 2.3" x 1.5") accompanied by a weight of 269 grams (0.59 lbs).

See the Pentax ist DS2 and Sony NEX-5N in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you have attached at the time. Below is a front view measurements comparison of the ist DS2 against the NEX-5N.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability score of the ist DS2 and NEX-5N is 68 and 89 respectively.

Normally, its difficult to picture the gap between sensor sizes only by reading specs. The picture underneath will help provide you a stronger sense of the sensor sizing in the ist DS2 and NEX-5N.

All in all, each of these cameras come with the identical sensor size albeit different MP. You can expect the Sony NEX-5N to offer extra detail due to its extra 10 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop pictures a good deal more aggressively. The more aged ist DS2 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor tech.