Samsung ST30 vs Sony A500

Its time to look more closely at the Samsung ST30 and Sony A500, one being a Ultracompact and the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by companies Samsung and Sony. The resolution of the ST30 (10MP) and the A500 (12MP) is fairly well matched but the ST30 (1/3") and A500 (APS-C) provide different sensor size.

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The ST30 was revealed 17 months later than the A500 making them a generation apart from each other. Both of these cameras have different body design with the Samsung ST30 being a Ultracompact camera and the Sony A500 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before getting straight to a in depth comparison, here is a short synopsis of how the ST30 scores against the A500 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Samsung ST30 and Sony Alpha DSLR-A500. The full galleries are available at Samsung ST30 Gallery and Sony A500 Gallery.

For anybody who is planning to lug around your camera often, you are going to need to take into account its weight and measurements. The Samsung ST30 offers external measurements of 82mm x 52mm x 17mm (3.2" x 2.0" x 0.7") having a weight of 87 grams (0.19 lbs) and the Sony A500 has proportions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") along with a weight of 630 grams (1.39 lbs).

See the Samsung ST30 and Sony A500 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change based on the lens you have at the time. Following is a front view measurements comparison of the ST30 compared to the A500.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability score of the ST30 and A500 is 98 and 63 respectively.

Usually, it can be hard to picture the gap between sensor measurements merely by checking technical specs. The visual below should provide you a much better sense of the sensor measurements in the ST30 and A500.

As you have seen, both of the cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The ST30 having a tinier sensor is going to make achieving bokeh trickier and the Sony A500 will resolve extra detail because of its extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution will allow you to crop images a bit more aggressively. The more recent ST30 should have a benefit with regard to sensor technology.