Ricoh CX2 vs Sony NEX-3

Lets look a bit more closely at the Ricoh CX2 and Sony NEX-3, former being a Small Sensor Superzoom while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by brands Ricoh and Sony. There exists a considerable gap between the resolutions of the CX2 (9MP) and NEX-3 (14MP) and the CX2 (1/2.3") and NEX-3 (APS-C) posses different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The CX2 was introduced 9 months earlier than the NEX-3 so they are both of a similar age. Both the cameras have different body design with the Ricoh CX2 being a Compact camera and the Sony NEX-3 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before going right into a thorough comparison, here is a simple summary of how the CX2 matches up against the NEX-3 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery photos for Ricoh CX2 & Sony Alpha NEX-3. The whole galleries are provided at Ricoh CX2 Gallery & Sony NEX-3 Gallery.

For anybody who is planning to lug around your camera frequently, you're going to have to think about its weight and dimensions. The Ricoh CX2 comes with outer dimensions of 102mm x 58mm x 29mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 185 grams (0.41 lbs) whilst the Sony NEX-3 has dimensions of 117mm x 62mm x 33mm (4.6" x 2.4" x 1.3") accompanied by a weight of 297 grams (0.65 lbs).

Contrast the Ricoh CX2 and Sony NEX-3 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you have chosen during that time. Here is a front view measurement comparison of the CX2 versus the NEX-3.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the CX2 and NEX-3 is 93 and 89 respectively.

Normally, it's hard to imagine the gap between sensor measurements just by reading through a spec sheet. The visual here will help provide you a clearer sense of the sensor sizes in the CX2 and NEX-3.

As you can see, both cameras provide different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The CX2 using its tinier sensor is going to make shooting shallower depth of field tougher and the Sony NEX-3 will give more detail using its extra 5 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also enable you to crop photographs more aggressively. The older CX2 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor tech.