Sigma SD1 Merrill vs Sony RX100 VA

Its time to take a more detailed look at the Sigma SD1 Merrill and Sony RX100 VA, one being a Advanced DSLR and the latter is a Large Sensor Compact by rivals Sigma and Sony. There exists a crucial gap between the sensor resolutions of the SD1 Merrill (15MP) and RX100 VA (20MP) and the SD1 Merrill (APS-C) and RX100 VA (1") enjoy totally different sensor sizes.

Photography Glossary

The SD1 Merrill was revealed 7 years before the RX100 VA and that is quite a serious gap as far as technology is concerned. Both of the cameras come with different body type with the Sigma SD1 Merrill being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony RX100 VA being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before diving through a more detailed comparison, below is a simple summary of how the SD1 Merrill scores vs the RX100 VA with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

The following is a preview of the gallery photos for Sigma SD1 Merrill and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 V(A). The full galleries are viewable at Sigma SD1 Merrill Gallery and Sony RX100 VA Gallery.

For those who are intending to carry your camera, you're going to have to think about its weight and volume. The Sigma SD1 Merrill provides outside measurements of 146mm x 113mm x 80mm (5.7" x 4.4" x 3.1") having a weight of 790 grams (1.74 lbs) while the Sony RX100 VA has sizing of 102mm x 58mm x 41mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.6") along with a weight of 299 grams (0.66 lbs).

Look at the Sigma SD1 Merrill and Sony RX100 VA in the new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary dependant on the lens you have chosen during that time. Below is the front view scale comparison of the SD1 Merrill versus the RX100 VA.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the SD1 Merrill and RX100 VA is 57 and 89 respectively.

Normally, its tough to visualise the difference between sensor sizing merely by reading a spec sheet. The visual below will help provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizing in the SD1 Merrill and RX100 VA.

As you can see, each of the cameras posses different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The SD1 Merrill using its bigger sensor will make shooting shallower depth of field simpler and the Sony RX100 VA will offer you greater detail because of its extra 5 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also enable you to crop pictures somewhat more aggressively. The older SD1 Merrill is going to be disadvantaged in sensor technology.