Sony A99 II vs Sony NEX-5

Lets take a closer look at the Sony A99 II vs Sony NEX-5, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless and both of them are manufactured by Sony. There is a large difference between the resolutions of the A99 II (42MP) and NEX-5 (14MP) and the A99 II (Full frame) and NEX-5 (APS-C) enjoy totally different sensor sizes.

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The A99 II was manufactured 6 years later than the NEX-5 and that is quite a serious difference as far as tech is concerned. Both of the cameras offer different body type with the Sony A99 II being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony NEX-5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before getting through a more detailed comparison, below is a simple view of how the A99 II scores against the NEX-5 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Sony Alpha A99 II & Sony Alpha NEX-5. The entire galleries are available at Sony A99 II Gallery & Sony NEX-5 Gallery.

If you are planning to lug around your camera regularly, you have to factor its weight and proportions. The Sony A99 II enjoys external measurements of 143mm x 104mm x 76mm (5.6" x 4.1" x 3.0") along with a weight of 849 grams (1.87 lbs) and the Sony NEX-5 has measurements of 111mm x 59mm x 38mm (4.4" x 2.3" x 1.5") accompanied by a weight of 287 grams (0.63 lbs).

Compare the Sony A99 II vs Sony NEX-5 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you are working with at that moment. Below is the front view proportions comparison of the A99 II compared to the NEX-5.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability score of the A99 II and NEX-5 is 57 and 89 respectively.

Often, its tough to envision the gap between sensor measurements purely by reading a spec sheet. The visual below should give you a far better sense of the sensor measurements in the A99 II and NEX-5.

As you can see, both cameras enjoy different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The A99 II featuring a bigger sensor will make getting shallow depth of field less difficult and the Sony A99 II will offer you greater detail due to its extra 28 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also make it easier to crop photographs far more aggressively. The more recent A99 II is going to have an edge with regard to sensor innovation.