Sony A290 vs Sony G3

Let's look a little more in depth at the Sony A290 vs Sony G3, one is a Entry-Level DSLR and the other is a Small Sensor Compact and both are sold by Sony. There exists a sizeable gap among the sensor resolutions of the A290 (14MP) and G3 (10MP) and the A290 (APS-C) and G3 (1/2.3") enjoy totally different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The A290 was announced 18 months after the G3 making the cameras a generation away from one another. Both of these cameras offer different body type with the Sony A290 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony G3 being a Compact camera.

Before getting through a more detailed comparison, below is a concise overview of how the A290 matches up vs the G3 with respect to portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

Following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Sony Alpha DSLR-A290 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-G3. The whole galleries are provided at Sony A290 Gallery and Sony G3 Gallery.

In case you're intending to carry around your camera frequently, you are going to need to take into account its weight and proportions. The Sony A290 offers outer dimensions of 128mm x 97mm x 86mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 3.4") and a weight of 549 grams (1.21 lbs) whilst the Sony G3 has measurements of 97mm x 59mm x 22mm (3.8" x 2.3" x 0.9") and a weight of 185 grams (0.41 lbs).

Take a look at the Sony A290 vs Sony G3 in the new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ based on the lens you select during that time. Following is the front view sizing comparison of the A290 against the G3.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the A290 and G3 is 66 and 94 respectively.

More often than not, its difficult to see the contrast in sensor sizes only by looking through specs. The image underneath should give you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the A290 and G3.

As you can plainly see, each of the cameras enjoy different resolutions and different sensor sizes. The A290 with its larger sensor will make achieving shallower depth of field simpler and the Sony A290 will render more detail with its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also enable you to crop pics far more aggressively. The younger A290 will have a benefit when it comes to sensor technology.