Sony A900 vs Sony NEX-3

Its time to take a deeper look at the Sony A900 versus Sony NEX-3, former is a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless and they are both produced by Sony. There is a large difference between the resolutions of the A900 (25MP) and NEX-3 (14MP) and the A900 (Full frame) and NEX-3 (APS-C) come with different sensor dimensions.

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The A900 was introduced 19 months prior to the NEX-3 which makes the cameras a generation away from each other. Both cameras come with different body type with the Sony A900 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony NEX-3 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before we go in to a comprehensive comparison, below is a quick view of how the A900 matches up versus the NEX-3 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Here is a preview of the gallery photos for Sony Alpha DSLR-A900 & Sony Alpha NEX-3. The whole galleries are available at Sony A900 Gallery & Sony NEX-3 Gallery.

For those who are planning to travel with your camera often, you need to consider its weight and proportions. The Sony A900 provides outside dimensions of 156mm x 117mm x 82mm (6.1" x 4.6" x 3.2") accompanied by a weight of 895 grams (1.97 lbs) while the Sony NEX-3 has measurements of 117mm x 62mm x 33mm (4.6" x 2.4" x 1.3") with a weight of 297 grams (0.65 lbs).

Check out the Sony A900 versus Sony NEX-3 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you have attached at that time. Here is the front view over all size comparison of the A900 against the NEX-3.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability rating of the A900 and NEX-3 is 54 and 89 respectively.

Generally, its tough to picture the gap between sensor dimensions purely by reading technical specs. The pic here should offer you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the A900 and NEX-3.

As you have seen, both of these cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The A900 with its bigger sensor is going to make shooting shallower DOF simpler and the Sony A900 will deliver extra detail using its extra 11 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop photographs much more aggressively. The more aged A900 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.