Sony A850 vs Sony WX70

On this page, we are looking at the Sony A850 versus Sony WX70, former being a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Compact and both are produced by Sony. There exists a sizable gap between the image resolutions of the A850 (25MP) and WX70 (16MP) and the A850 (Full frame) and WX70 (1/2.3") offer different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The A850 was announced 21 months earlier than the WX70 making them a generation apart from one another. Both of the cameras have different body design with the Sony A850 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony WX70 being a Compact camera.

Before delving straight to a thorough comparison, here is a short highlight of how the A850 scores against the WX70 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a sample of the gallery pictures for Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX70. The whole galleries are provided at Sony A850 Gallery & Sony WX70 Gallery.

For anybody who is intending to lug around your camera often, you should consider its weight and dimensions. The Sony A850 provides outer dimensions of 156mm x 117mm x 82mm (6.1" x 4.6" x 3.2") with a weight of 895 grams (1.97 lbs) while the Sony WX70 has dimensions of 92mm x 52mm x 19mm (3.6" x 2.0" x 0.7") having a weight of 114 grams (0.25 lbs).

Contrast the Sony A850 versus Sony WX70 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you are utilizing at that moment. Following is a front view measurement comparison of the A850 versus the WX70.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the A850 and WX70 is 54 and 97 respectively.

Quite often, it can be hard to visualize the difference between sensor measurements just by going over technical specs. The visual below should give you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the A850 and WX70.

As you can tell, both the cameras have different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The A850 using its larger sensor is going to make achieving shallow DOF less difficult and the Sony A850 will offer extra detail with its extra 9MP. Greater resolution will help you crop photos a bit more aggressively. The older A850 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.