Sony A550 vs Sony TX20

Lets look more closely at the Sony A550 and Sony TX20, one is a Entry-Level DSLR and the latter is a Ultracompact and both are produced by Sony. The sensor resolution of the A550 (14MP) and the TX20 (16MP) is pretty similar but the A550 (APS-C) and TX20 (1/2.3") use different sensor dimensions.

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The A550 was unveiled 3 years prior to the TX20 which is quite a significant gap as far as technology is concerned. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Sony A550 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony TX20 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before getting straight into a thorough comparison, below is a brief summation of how the A550 scores versus the TX20 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

Here is a preview of the gallery images for Sony Alpha DSLR-A550 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX20. The full galleries are available at Sony A550 Gallery and Sony TX20 Gallery.

If you're intending to carry around your camera, you are going to need to think about its weight and proportions. The Sony A550 has external dimensions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") having a weight of 632 grams (1.39 lbs) while the Sony TX20 has measurements of 96mm x 56mm x 18mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.7") with a weight of 133 grams (0.29 lbs).

Check the Sony A550 and Sony TX20 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ based on the lens you are using at the time. Following is the front view dimensions comparison of the A550 versus the TX20.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the A550 and TX20 is 63 and 96 respectively.

Quite often, it's difficult to picture the difference between sensor sizes simply by reviewing technical specs. The picture below may give you a better sense of the sensor sizes in the A550 and TX20.

As you have seen, the two cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor sizes. The A550 with its bigger sensor is going to make getting shallow DOF easier and the Sony TX20 will deliver extra detail having an extra 2 Megapixels. Higher resolution will enable you to crop photographs much more aggressively. The more aged A550 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.