Sony NEX-3 vs. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W710: An In-Depth Camera Comparison for Enthusiasts and Professionals

Selecting the right camera involves navigating a complex intersection of specifications, real-world performance, and photography needs. In this article, we methodically compare two Sony models from distinctly different categories - the Sony Alpha NEX-3, an entry-level mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera launched in 2010, and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W710, a compact point-and-shoot released in 2013. Though both carry the Sony brand, their fundamentally different sensor types, handling characteristics, and feature sets make them suitable for diverging user profiles.

Drawing from over 15 years’ experience rigorously testing a spectrum of digital cameras, this comparison leverages hands-on insights, technical analyses, and practical evaluations to assist both enthusiasts and professionals in understanding what these cameras offer - and where they fall short. We’ll cover all major photographic disciplines, breaking down how each camera performs from portraiture to wildlife, landscape to video, ensuring you leave with clear recommendations tailored to your requirements.

Let’s start by visually appreciating their physical attributes, an essential dimension for usability and portability considerations.

First Impressions: Size, Ergonomics, and Build Quality

The Sony NEX-3 sports a rangefinder-style mirrorless body, markedly larger and more substantial than the ultra-compact W710. At 117 x 62 x 33 mm and 297 grams, the NEX-3 strikes a balance between portability and a robust grip, which is critical for shooting stability, especially with larger lenses in varied conditions.

Conversely, the compact DSC-W710 measures just 97 x 55 x 20 mm and weighs a mere 114 grams, designed primarily for casual shooting and pocketability. Its diminutive body is inherently less ergonomic and lacks the tactile controls favored by serious photographers, but it excels in convenience and spontaneity.

In terms of build quality, neither camera offers weather sealing or ruggedized protection, making them both vulnerable to inclement conditions - a critical factor in professional or harsh-environment usage.

Control Layout and Interface: Intuitive Operation for Different Users

Observing the top control layouts reveals the NEX-3’s advantage from a usability standpoint. Its dedicated shutter speed dial, mode selector with Manual (M), Aperture (A), Shutter Priority (S), and Program (P) modes, exposure compensation dial, and separate control dials give photographers precise exposure manipulation and rapid parameter adjustments. This level of control is conducive to learning and creative experimentation - hallmarks of mirrorless systems.

The W710, geared towards the casual shooter, pares controls back for simplicity, including a mode dial that primarily cycles through automatic presets, scene modes, and a modestly featured menu system. Not having dedicated manual exposure modes will limit creativity but aid new users in getting started quickly without wrestling with complex settings.

Sensor Technology and Image Quality: The Heart of Image Creation

At the core of their image creation:

• The Sony NEX-3 features a large APS-C sized 23.4 x 15.6 mm CMOS sensor with 14 megapixels, a size often regarded as the baseline for serious photography due to its superior light gathering, dynamic range, and depth-of-field control. The NEX-3’s sensor area is approximately 365 mm², vastly larger than the compact’s.
• The Sony W710 employs a small 1/2.3" CCD sensor (6.17 x 4.55 mm) with 16 megapixels. High pixel counts on tiny sensors translate to smaller photodiodes, inherently limiting dynamic range and noise control.

In practical shooting, the NEX-3 affords superior image quality across ISO sensitivity ranges. Its maximum native ISO of 12800 (with a low native ISO of 200) coupled with a clean sensor design means more usable low-light images and much richer tonal gradations, important for skin tone rendition in portraits and subtle nuances in landscapes.

The W710’s maximum ISO tops out at 3200, but noise becomes noticeable well before that threshold due to the sensor’s limited light capture per pixel. This constrains low-light usability primarily to brightly lit scenes or flash use.

Sony’s Bionz processor in the NEX-3 further aids high ISO noise reduction and color fidelity, whereas the W710’s processing engine is dated and less sophisticated.

Overall, users prioritizing image quality - particularly enthusiasts and professionals aiming for print or serious post-processing - will find the NEX-3’s sensor and processor combination decisively advantageous.

Display and Viewfinder Experience: Composing and Reviewing Shots

Neither camera features an electronic viewfinder, a notable absence in the NEX-3, especially at its price point and mirrorless category, where EVFs are standard for precise framing and shooting in bright sunlight.

Both rely on LCD screens for composition:

• The NEX-3’s 3-inch tilting TFT Xtra Fine LCD offers 920k-dot resolution, excellent for image review and menu navigation. Its tilt mechanism facilitates high- and low-angle shooting.
• The W710’s 2.7-inch fixed screen is smaller with a much lower resolution (230k-dots), limiting clarity when critically evaluating focus or detail immediately after capture.

The NEX-3 enables live view with face detection AF, streamlining portrait work; the W710 supports face detection but lacks live view autofocus sophistication.

Autofocus Performance and Shooting Speed: Tracking Action and Precision

For decisive action and creative control, autofocus and continuous shooting performance are critical:

The NEX-3’s ability to achieve 7 frames per second burst speed attests to its fast buffer and processing chain, facilitating sports or wildlife photography where capturing decisive moments is essential.

Though lacking phase detection AF (now standard in recent mirrorless models), its many AF points and face detection ensure reasonably accurate focus in static and moderately dynamic scenarios.

The W710’s single-burst capture speed and simple AF system curtail its usefulness in fast-moving subjects, relegating it mainly to static scenes like casual portraits and snapshots.

Lens Versatility and Ecosystem Compatibility: Creative Flexibility

Sony NEX 3 front Sony NEX 3 screen back Sony W710 front Sony W710 screen back

A major advantage of the NEX-3 lies in its Sony E-mount system, granting compatibility with over 120 lenses ranging from ultra-wide primes to super-telephoto zooms, macro options, tilt-shift lenses, and third-party offerings. This extensive lens portfolio allows photographers to tailor their gear precisely to their genre, be it portraits or landscapes.

On the contrary, the W710 has a fixed 28-140mm (35mm equivalent) zoom, with a relatively slow aperture (f/3.2-6.5), limiting depth of field control and low-light performance. Its macro mode focusing as close as 10cm is handy but constrained by the fixed optics.

Thus, the NEX-3 encourages gradual investment and growth in creative capability, while the W710 suits travelers and casual users favoring simplicity.

Detailed Dive into Photography Disciplines

Portrait Photography: Capturing Skin Tones and Expression

The NEX-3’s large sensor and larger pixels considerably improve skin tone rendition and bokeh quality, creating pleasing background separation that makes subjects pop - a key for professional and artistic portraiture. Its continuous AF and face detection offer sharper focus on eyes, a crucial factor for compelling portraits.

By contrast, the W710’s small sensor limits background blur due to its deep depth of field, and images tend to appear flat with less tonal richness. However, its face detection helps maintain focus on human subjects in casual shooting scenarios.

Landscape Photography: Resolution and Dynamic Range Matter

Sony’s APS-C sensor achieves a dynamic range of approximately 12 stops (DxOMark score 68 overall), critical for landscapes with stark contrasts like sunsets or shaded forests. Its 14-megapixel resolution offers ample detail for large prints or cropping.

The W710’s small sensor struggles to capture wide dynamic range, often clipping highlights or swallowing shadow details. Its 16MP resolution is somewhat impressive on paper but compromised by noise and loss of detail at base sensitivities.

Notably, neither camera offers weather sealing, so professional landscape shooters venturing into harsh environments will need protective housing or careful handling.

Wildlife Photography: Autofocus Speed and Telephoto Reach

While the NEX-3’s 7 fps burst and lens ecosystem (including telephoto zooms like Sony’s 55-210mm) enable basic wildlife photography, its lack of phase-detection AF limits fast-moving animal tracking in low light.

The W710's zoom optics offer reach but narrow apertures plus a slow AF system hinder sharp shots of fast subjects. Slow continuous shooting speed (1 fps) essentially rules out action wildlife capture.

Sports Photography: Precision and Speed

Sports photography demands rapid autofocus and burst shooting. The NEX-3, with togglable continuous AF and 7 fps shooting, can handle slower-paced sports or enthusiast use adequately, especially with the right long lenses.

The W710 is unsuitable for sports, given its single FPS capability, slow AF, and limited focal length flexibility.

Street Photography: Portability and Discreteness

From a spontaneity viewpoint, the W710’s compact size and quiet operation are assets in street settings, where blending in matters. Its zoom range allows framing versatility without lens swaps.

The NEX-3, though compact compared to DSLRs, is more conspicuous and less naturally discrete but offers higher image quality for convincing street portraits.

Macro Photography: Focusing Precision and Detail Capture

The W710’s fixed lens macro mode focusing down to 10cm enables straightforward close-up shooting but with shallow depth of field and less detail due to sensor limitations.

The NEX-3, combined with purpose-built macro lenses, achieves much higher magnification, resolving fine textures and precise focusing with focus peaking available in third-party lenses - essential for professional macro work.

Night and Astrophotography: High ISO Performance and Noise Control

High ISO capabilities make or break night photography. The NEX-3’s ISO up to 12800 and clean sensor output offer usable exposures at night or in astrophotography, combined with manual exposure control and remote shutter release compatibility.

The W710’s high ISO noise severely limits low-light shooting and lacks manual exposure features, making night scenes grainy and poorly detailed.

Video Capabilities: Recording Resolution and Stabilization

Both cameras shoot 720p HD video at 30 fps, but the NEX-3’s superior sensor and processor provide cleaner images and more manual control over exposure during capture.

The NEX-3 lacks image stabilization in-body and lacks microphone and headphone jacks, limiting audio control for videographers. However, its E-mount lenses can feature optical stabilization.

The W710 has optical image stabilization but a weaker sensor, and no external audio inputs, positioning it as a casual video recorder.

Travel Photography: Versatility and Battery Life on the Go

Travel demands lightweight gear, versatility, and longevity:

• The W710 offers excellent portability and simple operation with a 240-shot battery life but compromises image quality and lacks raw output for editing flexibility.
• The NEX-3 is still surprisingly compact for a mirrorless camera, albeit heavier, with better battery endurance (330 shots) and raw file support - favored by travelers willing to carry extra lenses and gear.

Professional Workflows: Reliability and Post-Processing

The NEX-3’s support for raw files, manual controls, and compatibility with professional-grade lenses make it appropriate for budding professionals and serious hobbyists integrating into Adobe Lightroom, Capture One, and other workflows.

The W710 only saves JPEGs, lacks manual exposure, and offers constrained creative control, limiting usability in professional contexts.

Connectivity, Storage, and Battery: Everyday Practicalities

While neither camera features Bluetooth or Wi-Fi proper, the NEX-3’s compatability with Eye-Fi cards allows some wireless image transfer - a helpful but limited solution compared to modern standards.

The NEX-3’s HDMI output facilitates tethered shooting and external monitoring, useful in studios or video capture scenarios.

Summary of Performance Scores and Genre Rankings

Collectively, the NEX-3 scores well above the W710 across all key metrics including image quality, autofocus performance, and user control, affirming its status as the superior photographic tool. The W710’s strengths lie primarily in portability and simplicity.

Final Recommendations: Matching Cameras to Users and Budgets

• For Beginners Transitioning to Serious Photography: The Sony NEX-3 offers a potent entry point into interchangeable lens mirrorless cameras. Its manageable size, extensive lens ecosystem, and manual controls provide learning opportunities without the overwhelming complexity of higher-end models. Ideal for portrait, landscape, and travel photography enthusiasts who prioritize image quality and creative flexibility.

• Casual Photographers and Travelers Prioritizing Portability and Simplicity: The Sony DSC-W710 is a budget-friendly compact ideal for users whose primary needs include effortless snapshot shooting, holiday photos, and everyday convenience. It suits those who rarely edit images and prefer a straightforward, lightweight point-and-shoot.

• Professionals Requiring a Secondary Travel Camera: The W710 can be a backup in some travel kits but is generally insufficient for professional assignments given its small sensor and limited manual options. The NEX-3, while aging, may still serve as a capable budget mirrorless backup but consider newer mirrorless bodies if budget permits.

Closing Thoughts on Longevity and Investment Value

While the NEX-3 launched in 2010 and the W710 in 2013, their respective sensor and system types highlight divergent technological trajectories. The mirrorless market has since evolved rapidly, with newer models offering phase detection AF, in-body stabilization, higher-resolution screens, and 4K video. Thus, both these cameras show their age; however:

• The NEX-3 remains relevant for users seeking quality APS-C sensor output on a budget or as an education platform.
• The W710 appeals mainly where extreme portability or very low-cost photography is paramount.

Prospective buyers should carefully evaluate their use-case priorities, bearing in mind that these models, while commendable in their day, are best-suited to specific niches within the broader photography ecosystem.

Technical Appendix: Key Specifications At a Glance

With insights grounded in extensive industry-standard testing and practical experience, this detailed comparison should empower your decision-making, highlighting where the Sony NEX-3 and Sony DSC-W710 shine and where their compromises lie. For serious image quality and creative potential, the NEX-3 remains the clear choice. For ultra-compact convenience, the W710 holds appeal - but at an inherent cost to photographic capability.

Choosing the ideal camera is always about matching tools to vision and trade-offs to priorities. Both cameras offer that, but for distinctly different photographers.

Thank you for reading. For detailed sample galleries, workflow tips, and further technical notes, see our accompanying resources.