Sony A500 vs Sony W710

Lets look a little more in depth at the Sony A500 vs Sony W710, one being a Entry-Level DSLR and the other is a Small Sensor Compact and both are sold by Sony. There exists a big gap among the image resolutions of the A500 (12MP) and W710 (16MP) and the A500 (APS-C) and W710 (1/2.3") offer totally different sensor sizes.

Photography Glossary

The A500 was manufactured 4 years before the W710 and that is a fairly big gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of these cameras feature different body design with the Sony A500 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony W710 being a Compact camera.

Before delving into a detailed comparison, here is a quick overview of how the A500 scores against the W710 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Sony Alpha DSLR-A500 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W710. The entire galleries are provided at Sony A500 Gallery and Sony W710 Gallery.

If you're looking to lug around your camera often, you'll need to think about its weight and proportions. The Sony A500 features 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 W710 has measurements of 97mm x 55mm x 20mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.8") having a weight of 114 grams (0.25 lbs).

Compare the Sony A500 vs Sony W710 in the latest Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change based on the lens you are utilising at the time. Following is a front view measurements comparison of the A500 and the W710.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the A500 and W710 is 63 and 96 respectively.

Sometimes, it can be hard to see the difference in sensor measurements simply by seeing technical specs. The visual below will help offer you a stronger sense of the sensor measurements in the A500 and W710.

As you can tell, each of these cameras come with different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The A500 because of its larger sensor will make shooting shallow DOF simpler and the Sony W710 will provide extra detail due to its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop photos a good deal more aggressively. The older A500 will be disadvantaged in sensor tech.