Sony A9 vs Sony NEX-5

Below is a in-depth comparison of the Sony A9 and Sony NEX-5, former being a Pro Mirrorless while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless and both are offered by Sony. There exists a sizable gap among the sensor resolutions of the A9 (24MP) and NEX-5 (14MP) and the A9 (Full frame) and NEX-5 (APS-C) boast totally different sensor measurements.

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The A9 was announced 6 years later than the NEX-5 and that is a fairly significant difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of these cameras have different body design with the Sony A9 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Sony NEX-5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before going right into a more detailed comparison, here is a short highlight of how the A9 scores vs the NEX-5 for portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a preview of the gallery images for Sony Alpha A9 & Sony Alpha NEX-5. The whole galleries are viewable at Sony A9 Gallery & Sony NEX-5 Gallery.

For those who are intending to lug around your camera, you'll need to factor its weight and proportions. The Sony A9 has got outer measurements of 127mm x 96mm x 63mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 2.5") having a weight of 673 grams (1.48 lbs) and the Sony NEX-5 has measurements of 111mm x 59mm x 38mm (4.4" x 2.3" x 1.5") and a weight of 287 grams (0.63 lbs).

Compare the Sony A9 and Sony NEX-5 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will differ depending on the lens you are utilising at that moment. The following is a front view size comparison of the A9 against the NEX-5.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability score of the A9 and NEX-5 is 65 and 89 respectively.

Quite often, it is very tough to see the contrast in sensor measurements just by looking through specs. The graphic underneath might offer you a greater sense of the sensor measurements in the A9 and NEX-5.

As you can plainly see, both of those cameras provide different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The A9 with its bigger sensor will make getting shallow DOF simpler and the Sony A9 will provide you with more detail with its extra 10 Megapixels. Higher resolution will make it easier to crop pictures more aggressively. The newer A9 is going to have an advantage with regard to sensor technology.