Sony A500 vs Sony W550

Lets take a deeper look at the Sony A500 and Sony W550, former is a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Ultracompact and both of them are designed by Sony. The image resolution of the A500 (12MP) and the W550 (14MP) is very similar but the A500 (APS-C) and W550 (1/2.3") posses totally different sensor sizing.

Photography Glossary

The A500 was brought out 23 months earlier than the W550 making them a generation away from each other. Both the cameras feature different body design with the Sony A500 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony W550 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before delving right into a in depth comparison, here is a brief synopsis of how the A500 scores versus the W550 with respect to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Sony Alpha DSLR-A500 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W550. The entire galleries are provided at Sony A500 Gallery & Sony W550 Gallery.

If you are intending to travel with your camera, you're going to have to take into account its weight and dimensions. The Sony A500 has physical measurements of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") and a weight of 630 grams (1.39 lbs) whilst the Sony W550 has dimensions of 94mm x 56mm x 19mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.7") and a weight of 110 grams (0.24 lbs).

Contrast the Sony A500 and Sony W550 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you have at that time. Here is a front view measurement comparison of the A500 compared to the W550.

Considering size and weight, the portability score of the A500 and W550 is 63 and 96 respectively.

Usually, its difficult to see the difference between sensor dimensions only by reviewing a spec sheet. The image underneath will help give you a far better sense of the sensor measurements in the A500 and W550.

As you can see, both of these cameras feature different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The A500 featuring a larger sensor will make shooting shallower DOF simpler and the Sony W550 will deliver greater detail having its extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop photos way more aggressively. The more aged A500 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.