Ricoh WG-50 vs Samsung NX5

Below is a thorough assessment of the Ricoh WG-50 vs Samsung NX5, former being a Waterproof while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by competitors Ricoh and Samsung. The resolution of the WG-50 (16MP) and the NX5 (15MP) is pretty close but the WG-50 (1/2.3") and NX5 (APS-C) have totally different sensor measurements.

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The WG-50 was announced 7 years later than the NX5 and that is a fairly big difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Both of the cameras have different body design with the Ricoh WG-50 being a Compact camera and the Samsung NX5 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera.

Before going straight to a complete comparison, here is a quick view of how the WG-50 scores vs the NX5 for portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Ricoh WG-50 & Samsung NX5. The whole galleries are available at Ricoh WG-50 Gallery & Samsung NX5 Gallery.

For anybody who is planning to lug around your camera, you will want to factor its weight and size. The Ricoh WG-50 offers outside dimensions of 123mm x 62mm x 30mm (4.8" x 2.4" x 1.2") with a weight of 193 grams (0.43 lbs) whilst the Samsung NX5 has specifications of 123mm x 87mm x 40mm (4.8" x 3.4" x 1.6") and a weight of 499 grams (1.10 lbs).

Look at the Ricoh WG-50 vs Samsung NX5 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you are working with at the time. Here is a front view size comparison of the WG-50 compared to the NX5.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the WG-50 and NX5 is 91 and 80 respectively.

More often than not, its difficult to visualise the contrast in sensor measurements just by looking through a spec sheet. The photograph underneath should provide you a more clear sense of the sensor dimensions in the WG-50 and NX5.

As you can see, both cameras have different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The WG-50 using its smaller sensor will make getting shallow DOF harder and the Ricoh WG-50 will provide you with more detail with its extra 1 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also enable you to crop photographs a bit more aggressively. The fresher WG-50 is going to have an edge in sensor tech.