Sony A580 vs Sony S980

On this page, we are looking at the Sony A580 vs Sony S980, former is a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Compact and both are built by Sony. There is a large difference among the sensor resolutions of the A580 (16MP) and S980 (12MP) and the A580 (APS-C) and S980 (1/2.3") posses different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The A580 was manufactured 2 years after the S980 which is a fairly serious difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Both of the cameras have different body design with the Sony A580 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony S980 being a Compact camera.

Before going into a comprehensive comparison, here is a quick view of how the A580 matches up against the S980 in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

Following is a sample of the gallery pics for Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S980. The entire galleries are provided at Sony A580 Gallery & Sony S980 Gallery.

For anyone who is planning to carry around your camera often, you need to consider its weight and size. The Sony A580 enjoys outside measurements of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") accompanied by a weight of 599 grams (1.32 lbs) and the Sony S980 has specifications of 93mm x 56mm x 24mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") accompanied by a weight of 167 grams (0.37 lbs).

Look at the Sony A580 vs Sony S980 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will vary depending on the lens you are utilising during that time. Following is a front view overall size comparison of the A580 compared to the S980.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability score of the A580 and S980 is 64 and 94 respectively.

In many cases, its hard to imagine the difference in sensor sizes purely by going through technical specs. The picture below might provide you a greater sense of the sensor measurements in the A580 and S980.

As you have seen, both of the cameras provide different megapixel count and different sensor sizes. The A580 because of its larger sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field less difficult and the Sony A580 will provide more detail due to its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution will allow you to crop pics more aggressively. The fresher A580 should have an edge in sensor innovation.