Sony A850 vs Sony HX10V

Lets look a little more closely at the Sony A850 and Sony HX10V, one being a Advanced DSLR and the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom and both of them are manufactured by Sony. There is a crucial difference between the resolutions of the A850 (25MP) and HX10V (18MP) and the A850 (Full frame) and HX10V (1/2.3") enjoy different sensor dimensions.

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The A850 was revealed 22 months before the HX10V making the cameras a generation apart from each other. Both of the cameras offer different body type with the Sony A850 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony HX10V being a Compact camera.

Before going straight into a thorough comparison, below is a simple summary of how the A850 matches up against the HX10V for portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a sample of the gallery pictures for Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX10V. The full galleries are available at Sony A850 Gallery and Sony HX10V Gallery.

For those who are looking to lug around your camera regularly, you will have to think about its weight and volume. The Sony A850 has got exterior measurements of 156mm x 117mm x 82mm (6.1" x 4.6" x 3.2") having a weight of 895 grams (1.97 lbs) whilst the Sony HX10V has sizing of 105mm x 60mm x 34mm (4.1" x 2.4" x 1.3") with a weight of 234 grams (0.52 lbs).

Check the Sony A850 and Sony HX10V in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ dependant on the lens you are utilising at that moment. Following is the front view proportions comparison of the A850 against the HX10V.

Looking at size and weight, the portability rating of the A850 and HX10V is 54 and 91 respectively.

In many cases, its difficult to picture the contrast between sensor measurements simply by reviewing a spec sheet. The visual underneath will provide you a better sense of the sensor measurements in the A850 and HX10V.

As you can see, each of the cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The A850 using its larger sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field easier and the Sony A850 will deliver extra detail because of its extra 7 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also let you crop images a little more aggressively. The older A850 is going to be behind in sensor innovation.