Sony S950 vs Sony A58

Here, we will be matching up the Sony S950 versus Sony A58, one being a Small Sensor Compact and the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR and both of them are manufactured by Sony. There is a huge difference among the sensor resolutions of the S950 (10MP) and A58 (20MP) and the S950 (1/2.3") and A58 (APS-C) posses different sensor sizing.

Pentax 17 Pre-Orders Outperform Expectations by a Landslide

The S950 was unveiled 5 years earlier than the A58 and that is a fairly significant gap as far as camera tech is concerned. Both of the cameras feature different body design with the Sony S950 being a Compact camera and the Sony A58 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before getting right into a full comparison, here is a brief summation of how the S950 scores versus the A58 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a preview of the gallery images for Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S950 and Sony SLT-A58. The full galleries are available at Sony S950 Gallery and Sony A58 Gallery.

If you are intending to lug around your camera often, you have to factor its weight and dimensions. The Sony S950 enjoys outer dimensions of 93mm x 56mm x 24mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") with a weight of 167 grams (0.37 lbs) and the Sony A58 has dimensions of 129mm x 95mm x 78mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 3.1") having a weight of 492 grams (1.08 lbs).

See the Sony S950 versus Sony A58 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ based on the lens you are using at the time. Here is a front view sizing comparison of the S950 compared to the A58.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability rating of the S950 and A58 is 94 and 68 respectively.

In many cases, it is very tough to imagine the contrast in sensor measurements simply by seeing a spec sheet. The visual here may offer you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the S950 and A58.

Clearly, the two cameras come with different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The S950 with its smaller sensor is going to make achieving shallow depth of field tougher and the Sony A58 will produce greater detail having an extra 10 Megapixels. Higher resolution will enable you to crop pictures a good deal more aggressively. The older S950 will be disadvantaged in sensor technology.