Sony WX500

Sony WX500 is Sony's Small Sensor Superzoom camera originally announced on April of 2015. The camera has got a 18MP, BSI-CMOS 1/2.3" size sensor with a maximum resolution of 4896 x 3672.

Sony released this camera to improve the previous Sony WX350 (Read Full Comparison)

The WX500 comes in at #28 out of 244 in Small Sensor Superzoom cameras and all round #454 out of 1465 for cameras in our list. Remember to check out our Smart camera search to get camera rankings based on your custom factors.

Below is a graph of various criteria used in the scoring system.

The Sony WX500 is part of a family of cameras. You can view the detailed list underneath.

You can look at the WX500 from different angles in the gallery underneath.

Here is a collection of pros and cons of the Sony WX500 based on things which are often viewed as necessary in a camera.

The Sony WX500 features the Bionz X chip. The spec of the sensor on the Sony WX500 is 6.17mm x 4.55mm (1/2.3"). The 28 mm² sensor has the capability to resolve 4896 x 3672 pixels using aspect ratios of 1:1, 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9. The camera includes Image Stabilization (Optical). In body stabilization is preferable than digital stabilization since the latter can easily cause cropping.

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The BSI-CMOS sensor boasts 18 megapixels and provides a native ISO range of 80 to 12800. Unfortunately, RAW format is not supported therefore you have less margin for error.

The graphic underneath illustrates the WX500's sensor size when compared to other common sizes. The WX500 sensor comes with a crop factor of 5.8 and is showcased in green.

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To get a sense of different aspect ratios, you should refer to the visual below.

Sony WX500 weighs around 0.52 pounds (236 grams / 8.32 oz) and features exterior dimensions of 102mm x 58mm x 36mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.4"). The weight of normal Small Sensor Superzoom camera is 387 grams and the Sony WX500 is lighter as compared to other rivals.

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Underneath is a picture of the Sony WX500 besides a softdrink so you're able to have a feel for its size.

The top view under will highlight the button design on the WX500.

The WX500 comes with a built in lens offering a focal range of 24-720mm making it a 30.0 x zoom which is very good and can make it easier to zoom all the way in.

At it's widest 24mm, it offers an aperture of f3.5 making it somewhat sluggish and not the best in low light circumstances and you will likely find it difficult to capture a shallow depth of field. You would also have to increase your ISO setting which causes noisy files. With the long end, 720mm is incredible zoom and comes to f6.4 making it really sluggish and you may have to go with slow shutter speeds.

The WX500 has the following connectivity:

• USB Yes
• Wireless Yes
• NFC Yes
• HDMI Yes

Cameras that consist of NFC and Bluetooth support can be controlled wirelessly through smartphones. You can send photos and oftentimes alter settings with no need to connect directly with the camera.

Certain apps also stream a Liveview and click the shutter if you aren't close to the camera. If the camera includes a HDMI out, it can be hooked up to an external display. Virtually all cameras enable you to charge the battery using the USB socket.

The maximum video quality on the Sony WX500 is 1920 x 1080 and it can record in AVCHD and XAVC S format. 1080p quality provides a good balance in quality versus file size but FULL HD will not give you much room to crop. The body doesn't feature a mic and headphone jack which means that you have absolutely no control over your audio. It is probably best to take a look at another model should you require decent audio in your video clips.

Sony WX500 doesn't have weather proofing so rainy conditions can easily affect the camera.

The Sony WX500 has got a 3 inch tilting display having a resolution of 921 thousand dots.

Unfortunately the display is not a touch screen.

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The ViewFinder specs regarding Sony WX500 are the following:

• ViewFinder None

Viewfinders are pretty useful in sunny outdoor conditions which will make the camera display washed out and very difficult to view.

Sony WX500 continuous shooting rate is 10.0 frames per second. The maximum shutter speed is 1/2000 sec.

Sony WX500 includes just inbuilt flash with missing external flash ability.

Sony WX500 includes only Contrast Detect Autofocus and is missing Phase Detect Autofocus. Phase Detection autofocusing is more snappier & accurate as compared to Contrast Detect autofocusing. The camera has got Face detect which makes it helpful for portrait photography.

It also has Tracking Autofocus for subjects that move. Sony WX500 does not have manual focus. Manual focus can be good in low light occasions or you require more accurate focus control.

The battery (NP-BX1) on the Sony WX500 is designed to last for 360 shutters according to the CIPA benchmarks making it higher than average for its class. The general Small Sensor Superzoom camera battery life is 316. Fujifilm HS35EXR has the highest possible (600) battery life in this group of cameras.

Following is a list of Small Sensor Superzoom cameras having the best battery life:

ModelVisualizeBattery LifeRAWNFCBluetooth

Fujifilm HS35EXR
WX500 vs Fujifilm HS35EXR600 yesnono

Nikon B500
WX500 vs B500600 nonoyes

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Nikon L840
WX500 vs L840590 noyesno

Panasonic FZ200
WX500 vs FZ200540 yesnono

Leica V-Lux 4
WX500 vs V-Lux 4540 yesnono

The following illustration gives a analysis of the Sony WX500 for various forms of photography. To understand more, scroll to the specific paragraph underneath.

The Sony WX500 has a points tally of 39 which is bad, meaning that it is not really very good for portrait images. Photographing portrait images favors heavily to sensor dimensions, support for RAW files & potential to work with external flash.

Getting a nice score of 69, the Sony WX500 is a good choice to buy for street photography. A good street photography camera features a good balance of image quality and portability.

A modest sports photography score of 57 indicates the Sony WX500 is reasonably suitable for taking pictures of sports. A camera should have very good autofocus and fast continuous shooting for sports photography.

Size is pretty crucial when buying a camera for travel. In general, the Sony WX500 gets a above average 71 as a travel camera which is a good choice to take on your journeys.

When you are planning to purchase a digital camera for landscape photography, the most vital factor is going to be image quality. The Sony WX500 with it's average grade of 49 for a landscape camera is reasonably acceptable among it's competition.

A camera for vlogging really should offer a moving display, microphone input and ideally image stabilization. Taking everything in to account, the Sony WX500 is not really very good as a vlog camera as it gets a bad rating of 35.

If you want replacements to the WX500, below is a range of the highest rated cameras which fall in to the family of Small Sensor Superzoom.

The diagram underneath will give you a bird's eye view of the WX500 compared to it's top scored rivals shown earlier.

These are some more cameras you might take a look at as alternative options. To review a thorough comparison, go to the "compare" link.