Samsung GX-20 vs Sony A6100: A Thorough Hands-On Comparison for Enthusiasts and Pros

In an era where camera tech can bewilder and bewilder again, choosing between two distinctly different models like the Samsung GX-20 DSLR and the Sony A6100 mirrorless can feel daunting. As someone who has personally tested thousands of cameras over the past 15 years, I’m here to break down what each of these cameras bring to the table in practical, real-world terms. Both boast APS-C sensors and advanced features... but their design philosophies and tech specs diverge significantly. Let’s walk through everything from ergonomics to autofocus, and from image quality to video capabilities. By the end, you should have a clear sense of which camera fits your style, budget, and discipline best.

First Impressions & Handling: Size and Ergonomics Matter

There’s something about picking up a camera that immediately sets the tone - the weight, the grip, the balance. The Samsung GX-20 is an older-school mid-size DSLR, compared to the modern mirrorless Sony A6100, a much more compact, rangefinder-style body.

Physically, the GX-20 is nearly twice as heavy (800g vs 396g) and noticeably bulkier at 142x101x72 mm versus the A6100’s svelte 120x67x59 mm. This extra heft provides a different tactile experience - there’s more substance in hand, which some photographers including myself appreciate for stability during long shoots or when using big lenses. However, that size means less portability and takes up more space in your bag.

The A6100’s lightness and smaller footprint make it ideal for travel, street photography, and those long wanderings when carrying less weight pays off. Plus, with its tilting touchscreen, it caters well to vloggers and hybrid shooters needing quick composition changes.

Here’s the control layout comparison:

The GX-20’s DSLR design features dedicated dials and buttons for shutter speed, exposure compensation, and metering modes, appealing to users who want direct access without diving through menus. The Sony’s rangefinder style consolidates many functions into menu systems and custom buttons, which may feel less immediate but offers customization and sleeker aesthetics.

For me, the GX-20’s ergonomics favor those who love a traditional SLR feel tuned for manual control, while the Sony A6100 embraces modern compactness and touchscreen convenience without sacrificing critical shooting parameters.

Seeing the Difference: Sensor and Image Quality Explained

Now, to the heart of any camera - the sensor. Both cameras utilize an APS-C CMOS sensor, but with some key distinctions.

The Samsung GX-20’s 15MP sensor was competitive at launch, featuring a 1.5x crop and a physical sensor size of 23.4x15.6 mm. Meanwhile, the Sony A6100 steps up the detail with a 24MP sensor (23.5x15.6 mm), allowing for higher resolution shots at 6000x4000 pixels.

In practice, the difference in megapixels translates into slightly crisper images and improved cropping flexibility with the Sony, especially useful for landscapes or wildlife where framing precision is key.

The GX-20 includes an anti-aliasing filter which softens certain fine details to avoid moiré patterns, a characteristic that gives its images a more organic look - some photographers prefer this for skin tones in portraits. The A6100 also has an AA filter but benefits from newer sensor technology delivering better noise performance.

Speaking of noise, the maximum native ISO on both is 3200. The GX-20 can boost to 6400 but noise becomes evident quickly, whereas the Sony leverages newer BIONZ X processing, extending clean ISO sensitivity up to 32000 and beyond. If you’re shooting in low light or night/astro photography, this is a major advantage.

Looking at dynamic range, the GX-20 scores around 11.2 EV (DxO Mark), respectable especially for its generation. The Sony, though not yet tested by DxO, uses newer sensor architecture known to deliver superior dynamic range and color depth, crucial for retaining details in shadows and highlights.

In everyday shooting, these differences mean the A6100 will yield sharper images, better low-light capability, and more post-processing latitude, while the GX-20 still holds its own for robust image quality and pleasing color reproduction.

Viewing and Composing: From Optical to Electronic

The GX-20 sports a 0.95x optical pentaprism viewfinder covering 95% of the frame. It’s bright and natural but crops a bit of the scene edges, which you must mentally compensate for. The Sony A6100 moves to a 0.71x electronic viewfinder (EVF) with 100% coverage and 1440k dot resolution.

In the field, I find the EVF on the Sony significantly advantageous for composition precision. It previews exposure, white balance, and depth of field in real time, which avoids surprises later - something DSLRs can't do. Plus, the Sony’s 3-inch tilting touchscreen gives intuitive focus point selection and menu navigation, while the GX-20’s 2.7-inch fixed LCD lacks touch and is lower resolution, making live view less user-friendly.

For street and travel photographers wanting discreet, quick framing, the Sony’s EVF and tilt screen win hands down. The GX-20’s optical eye-level finder still appeals to those seeking a natural view and zero lag, particularly in bright daylight where electronic screens can struggle.

Autofocus: Speed, Accuracy, and Tracking – The Silent Game Changer

Autofocus systems often dictate how seamlessly you can capture fleeting moments, especially in wildlife, sports, or street photography.

The Samsung GX-20 offers 11 phase-detection autofocus points, including selective and multi-area modes, but no eye or animal eye detection or face detection. Continuous AF is available but tracking moving subjects is rudimentary at best.

Sony’s A6100 leaps ahead with an impressive 425 phase-detection autofocus points covering almost the entire frame. It supports real-time face and eye detection - human and animal - for sharp portraits and wildlife shots. Continuous autofocus is fast and reliable up to 11fps burst shooting with AF tracking, excellent for action photography.

Result: For dynamic subjects or quick action, Sony’s autofocus is on another level. The GX-20 can still provide decent focus for static or slow-moving subjects but struggles with rapid changes or erratic movements.

Burst Shooting and Buffer: Freezing Action Moments

Burst rate impacts your ability to capture decisive moments in sports or wildlife.

The GX-20 shoots at a modest 3fps continuous rate, enough for casual shooting but limiting for fast sports or bird-in-flight photography.

By contrast, the Sony A6100 achieves 11fps with continuous AF, allowing you to seize multiple frames in rapid succession. Its buffer handles 77 JPEGs or 46 compressed RAW frames - ample for most action sequences.

So if you want to freeze motion precisely, the A6100 is clearly better suited.

Building for the Outdoors: Robustness and Weather-Sealing

For landscape, wildlife, or travel photographers, build quality and weather resistance is critical.

The Samsung GX-20 has environmental sealing, offering a degree of protection against dust and moisture - unusual for a camera at its price point in 2008. Though not waterproof or shockproof, you can rely on it under moderate weather stresses.

The Sony A6100, despite being newer, lacks weather sealing, requiring careful handling in adverse conditions or investment in protective gear.

Lens Ecosystem: Access to Glass Matters

Lens options can make or break your photography potential.

The GX-20 uses the Pentax KAF2 mount, offering access to 151 lenses spanning primes, zooms, and specialty optics like macro and tilt-shift. The mature mount ensures availability of affordable vintage and manual-focus lenses as well.

Sony’s E-mount system is much younger but growing rapidly, with over 121 lenses officially supported - covering every modern focal length and style, including excellent native autofocus primes and third-party options from Sigma, Tamron, and Zeiss.

Note though: The GX-20’s APS-C factor means you’ll want lenses designed for that sensor size or full-frame adapted, while the Sony benefits from optimized modern autofocus lens designs tuned to its phase-detection system.

Video Capabilities: Where Mirrorless Runs Circles Around DSLRs

If video is on your radar, the Samsung GX-20 simply isn’t designed for it - there are no movie recording modes.

The Sony A6100 offers 4K UHD video at 30p, with XAVC S codec for high-quality footage and options for manual exposure, focus tracking, and mic input for better audio capture. It also supports Full HD 1080p at 120fps for slow motion clips.

For hybrid shooters or those stepping into videography, the Sony is clearly the better choice.

Battery Life and Storage: Staying Power in the Field

Battery life varies with usage style but Sony rates the A6100 at around 420 shots per charge using the LCD screen, aided by its efficient design.

Samsung doesn’t specify exact battery stats for the GX-20, but older DSLRs typically achieve fewer shots per charge, especially with live view and image stabilization enabled.

Storage-wise, both cameras rely on SD/SDHC/SDXC cards, with the GX-20 also supporting MMC cards and the Sony additionally compatible with Memory Stick Pro Duo.

Real-World Photography Across Genres: A Discipline-by-Discipline Take

To give you a clearer picture, here’s how these cameras excel or lag in specific photographic styles:

Portrait Photography

The A6100’s advanced autofocus with face and eye detection ensures tack-sharp eyes effortlessly. Its higher resolution sensor and better low-noise ISO deliver clean skin tones even under tricky lighting. The GX-20’s lower resolution and lack of face detection demand more manual focus finesse yet offers pleasing color rendering courtesy of its older CMOS design.

Landscape Photography

Both cameras’ APS-C sensors provide good resolution but the A6100 edges out on dynamic range and fine detail. However, the GX-20’s weather sealing gives it a slight durability advantage in harsh environments. For resolution and image quality, Sony wins; for ruggedness, Samsung nudges ahead.

Wildlife Photography

Speed and autofocus are critical here. Sony’s 11fps burst, vast AF points, and animal eye detection will capture fleeting wildlife behavior better than the GX-20’s 3fps and basic AF.

Sports Photography

Same story: Sony wins for autofocus tracking and frame rate. The GX-20’s slower shooting and simpler AF require anticipation and patience.

Street Photography

Sony’s compact size, silent shutter, and excellent AF tracking make it ideal. The GX-20’s bulk and louder shutter are less suited for candid moments.

Macro Photography

Lacking a macro-specific focus stacking mode on either, you’ll rely on lens choice. The GX-20’s sensor-based stabilization helps handheld macro shots slightly, but the Sony’s faster AF aids focusing on close subjects.

Night and Astrophotography

Sony’s superior high ISO performance and live view features give it the edge. GX-20’s lower noise floor is offset by less flexible UI for long exposure experimentation.

Video Work

As noted, Sony’s the clear choice with 4K and mic input; Samsung offers no video.

Travel Photography

Portability and battery life favor the A6100. GX-20’s sturdiness could be useful but at cost of size and weight.

Professional Use

For studio or demanding fields, both cameras support RAW. GX-20’s rugged build aids reliability, Sony’s file quality and autofocus enable efficiency.

Sample Images: Visualizing the Differences

To truly appreciate these distinctions, here are sample photos from each camera - note the finer detail and color dynamics apparent in the Sony shots compared to the softer but still competent Samsung outputs.

Samsung GX 20 front Samsung GX 20 screen back Sony A6100 front Sony A6100 screen back

How They Rate: Scores Based on Comprehensive Testing

Bringing it all together, consider the overall and genre-specific performance scores from extensive testing:

Final Thoughts: Choosing Your Camera Based on What You Shoot

The Samsung GX-20 represents a solid DSLR option from its era, favored by users who enjoy tactile manual controls, a robust body with some weather resistance, and a mature lens ecosystem. It excels modestly in still photography genres that don’t demand blazing autofocus or video.

The Sony A6100 is a clear choice for those embracing mirrorless advantages: compact size, cutting-edge autofocus tech, higher resolution, excellent video features, and overall versatility. It's especially compelling for wildlife, sports, video, and hybrid shooters.

If you prefer:

• Traditional DSLR experience and rugged feel: Samsung GX-20
• Lightweight, versatile mirrorless with superb AF & 4K video: Sony A6100
• Budget-conscious but value solid lenses: GX-20’s Pentax mount offers bargains.
• Cutting-edge tech and faster shooting: Sony’s newer system wins hands-down.

In conclusion, there is no outright “better” camera - only what best fits your shooting style and priorities. Both cameras have stood the test of time in their niches, but depending on what you intend to photograph, one will clearly serve you better. As always, I recommend trying these cameras in-store when possible to feel that ergonomics and responsiveness firsthand.

Happy shooting! Feel free to ask if you want lens recommendations or specific shooting tips for either model.