Ricoh CX4 vs Sony A290

Its time to take a more detailed look at the Ricoh CX4 and Sony A290, former is a Small Sensor Superzoom while the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by manufacturers Ricoh and Sony. There is a sizable difference among the sensor resolutions of the CX4 (10MP) and A290 (14MP) and the CX4 (1/2.3") and A290 (APS-C) posses different sensor sizes.

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The CX4 was unveiled 3 months after the A290 and they are of a similar age. Each of these cameras feature different body design with the Ricoh CX4 being a Compact camera and the Sony A290 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before going straight to a full comparison, here is a quick overview of how the CX4 scores against the A290 for portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

Following is a preview of the gallery photos for Ricoh CX4 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A290. The full galleries are provided at Ricoh CX4 Gallery & Sony A290 Gallery.

For those who are going to carry around your camera regularly, you need to factor its weight and proportions. The Ricoh CX4 enjoys external dimensions of 102mm x 59mm x 29mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 205 grams (0.45 lbs) and the Sony A290 has measurements of 128mm x 97mm x 86mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 3.4") and a weight of 549 grams (1.21 lbs).

Take a look at the Ricoh CX4 and Sony A290 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you are utilising at that moment. Following is a front view sizing comparison of the CX4 versus the A290.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability rating of the CX4 and A290 is 92 and 66 respectively.

Oftentimes, it's difficult to imagine the contrast in sensor sizes just by viewing specs. The picture underneath should give you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the CX4 and A290.

As you can plainly see, both of the cameras come with different megapixel count and different sensor sizes. The CX4 with its smaller sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field trickier and the Sony A290 will result in greater detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop shots a good deal more aggressively.