Sony NEX-5R vs Sony RX100 II

Below is a extensive review of the Sony NEX-5R and Sony RX100 II, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Large Sensor Compact and both are designed by Sony. The image resolution of the NEX-5R (16MP) and the RX100 II (20MP) is fairly similar but the NEX-5R (APS-C) and RX100 II (1") enjoy different sensor measurements.

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The NEX-5R was unveiled 10 months prior to the RX100 II so they are both of a similar age. Each of the cameras offer different body type with the Sony NEX-5R being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony RX100 II being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before diving through a more detailed comparison, below is a simple introduction of how the NEX-5R scores vs the RX100 II when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Sony Alpha NEX-5R & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 II. The full galleries are available at Sony NEX-5R Gallery & Sony RX100 II Gallery.

For those who are going to lug around your camera, you will need to take into account its weight and measurements. The Sony NEX-5R comes with physical measurements of 111mm x 59mm x 39mm (4.4" x 2.3" x 1.5") along with a weight of 276 grams (0.61 lbs) and the Sony RX100 II has proportions of 102mm x 58mm x 38mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.5") accompanied by a weight of 281 grams (0.62 lbs).

Check out the Sony NEX-5R and Sony RX100 II in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an ILC will change based on the lens you have chosen at the time. Underneath is the front view size comparison of the NEX-5R against the RX100 II.

Considering size and weight, the portability grade of the NEX-5R and RX100 II is 89 and 89 respectively.

In many cases, its difficult to imagine the contrast between sensor measurements just by reading a spec sheet. The graphic here might provide you a far better sense of the sensor measurements in the NEX-5R and RX100 II.

As you can see, both of the cameras offer different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The NEX-5R with its larger sensor is going to make getting shallow DOF less difficult and the Sony RX100 II will offer you more detail having an extra 4MP. Greater resolution will let you crop photos a little more aggressively. The older NEX-5R is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor tech.