Sony A550 vs Sony RX100 II

Below is a in-depth comparison of the Sony A550 and Sony RX100 II, one being a Entry-Level DSLR and the latter is a Large Sensor Compact and both are built by Sony. There exists a crucial gap among the sensor resolutions of the A550 (14MP) and RX100 II (20MP) and the A550 (APS-C) and RX100 II (1") come with totally different sensor measurements.

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The A550 was released 4 years before the RX100 II and that is a fairly serious gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Both of these cameras offer different body type with the Sony A550 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony RX100 II being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before getting through a thorough comparison, below is a concise highlight of how the A550 scores versus the RX100 II with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Sony Alpha DSLR-A550 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II. The complete galleries are provided at Sony A550 Gallery and Sony RX100 II Gallery.

For those who are going to lug around your camera frequently, you will want to think about its weight and size. The Sony A550 provides outer measurements of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") with a weight of 632 grams (1.39 lbs) and the Sony RX100 II has specifications of 102mm x 58mm x 38mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.5") accompanied by a weight of 281 grams (0.62 lbs).

Contrast the Sony A550 and Sony RX100 II in the latest Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change depending on the lens you are working with at the time. Underneath is the front view overall size comparison of the A550 vs the RX100 II.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability score of the A550 and RX100 II is 63 and 89 respectively.

Normally, its hard to envision the difference in sensor measurements only by researching technical specs. The visual below will offer you a much better sense of the sensor measurements in the A550 and RX100 II.

As you have seen, both of the cameras offer different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The A550 due to its bigger sensor will make achieving shallow DOF easier and the Sony RX100 II will result in more detail as a result of its extra 6 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also allow you to crop pictures a little more aggressively. The older A550 will be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.