Size and weight is a big decision factor when you are trying to find the ideal camera for your needs.
In this section, We are going to illustrate Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77 side-by-side from the front, back and top in their relative dimensions. Nikon 1 J4 has external dimensions of 100 x 60 x 29 mm (3.92 x 2.36 x 1.12″) and weighs 232 g (0.51 lb / 8.18 oz) (including batteries). Sony A77 has external dimensions of 143 x 104 x 81 mm (5.63 x 4.09 x 3.19″) and weighs 732 g (1.61 lb / 25.82 oz) (including batteries).
Below you can see the front view size comparison of Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77. Nikon 1 J4 is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 43mm narrower, 44mm shorter and 52mm thinner than Sony A77.
![Nikon 1 J4 vs Sony A77 Camera Size Comparison - Front View]()
Comparison image of Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77 Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View
Now lets look at the top view comparison of Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77.
![Nikon 1 J4 vs Sony A77 Camera Size Comparison - Top View]()
Top View Comparison image of Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77 Size
Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Nikon 1 J4 is significantly lighter (500g ) than the Sony A77 which may become a big advantage especially on long walking trips.
Also keep in mind that body weight is not the only deciding factor when comparing two interchangeable camera bodies, you have to also take into account the lenses that you will be using with these bodies. Since Sony A77 has an APS-C sized sensor and Nikon 1 J4 has a smaller 1" sensor, Nikon 1 J4's lenses for a similar focal length and aperture will generally be lighter and smaller than the Sony A77 lenses.
Weight Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Thickness Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Weather Sealing
Thanks to the weather sealed body of A77, you can use this camera with more confidence under conditions where there is risk of exposure to water and dust compared to 1 J4.
LCD Screen Size and Features
Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77's LCD screens has the same diagonal size of 3".
On the other hand, Sony A77 sports a
Fully Articulated screen which you can change the angle and position of the screen almost freely, making it possible to shoot from waist or over the head levels, and especially very useful for shooting selfies and video. Nikon 1 J4's LCD screen is a fixed type which provides almost no flexibility in shooting positions compared to A77.
Nikon 1 J4 has a 18.0MP 1" (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 4 processor. On the other hand, Sony A77 has a 24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz processor.
Sony A77's sensor provides 6MP more than Nikon 1 J4's sensor, which gives a significant advantage in real life. You can print your images larger or crop more freely.
On the other hand, please keep in mind that Max sensor resolution is not the only determinant of resolving power. Factors such as the optical elements, low pass filter, pixel size and sensor technology also affects the final resolution of the captured image.
Below you can see the 1 J4 and A77 sensor size comparison.
![Nikon 1 J4 vs Sony A77 Sensor Size Comparison]()
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77 Cameras
As seen above, Sony A77 has a 3.2x Larger sensor area than Nikon 1 J4. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.
Number of available lenses is a big decision factor while choosing your interchangeable lens camera. When we look at the available lenses for these two cameras, we see that Sony A77 has an advantage over Nikon 1 J4 There are 143 lenses for Sony A77's Sony/Minolta Alpha mount, on the other hand there are only 13 lenses for Nikon 1 J4's Nikon 1 lens mount.
Another important factor is the availability of image stabilization. Sony A77 has a big advantage in this regard because it has a sensor based image stabilization which means that all the lenses mounted to this body will be stabilized. On the other hand, Nikon 1 J4 doesn't have this feature so you have to buy a lens with optical stabilization feature. Currently there are 7 lenses for Nikon 1 mount with Optical Image Stabilization features.
| Lens Type |
# of Nikon 1 J4 Lenses |
# of Sony A77 Lenses |
| Standard Zoom |
4 |
20 |
| Standard Prime |
2 |
9 |
| Wideangle Zoom |
1 |
11 |
| Wideangle Prime |
2 |
18 |
| Telephoto Zoom |
2 |
26 |
| Telephoto Prime |
n/a |
12 |
| SuperZoom |
2 |
19 |
| Wideangle Fisheye Prime |
n/a |
4 |
| Macro Prime |
n/a |
12 |
| Perspective Control Prime |
n/a |
10 |
| Telephoto Mirror Prime |
n/a |
2 |
| TOTAL |
13 |
143 |
In this section, we rank and compare Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77 for five different photography types in order to make your decision process easier in case you are specifically interested in one or more of these areas.
Nikon 1 J4 for Portrait Photography
Sony A77 for Portrait Photography
Average sized 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 18.0MP
Average Ergonomics&Handling
No Image Stabilization
No Built-in Viewfinder
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 24.0MP
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details
Nikon 1 J4 for Street Photography
Sony A77 for Street Photography
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Average sized 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm) sensor
Medium sized Body
No Image Stabilization
No Built-in Viewfinder
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Fully Articulated LCD Screen
Large Body
Read the details
Nikon 1 J4 for Sports Photography
Sony A77 for Sports Photography
Fast Continuous Shooting: 60.0fps
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/4000s
105 Cross Type Focus sensors
171 Focus Points
Wireless Connection
Average Ergonomics&Handling
No Image Stabilization
No Built-in Viewfinder
Environmental Sealings
Read the details
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Fast Continuous Shooting: 12.0fps
Environmental Sealings
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/8000s
11 Cross Type Focus sensors
19 Focus Points
Read the details
Nikon 1 J4 for Daily Photography
Sony A77 for Daily Photography
Large APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Large Body
732g
Body Thickness 81mm
Read the details
Nikon 1 J4 for Landscape Photography
Sony A77 for Landscape Photography
Very High Resolution Sensor: 18.0MP
Live-view
Average sized 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm) sensor
No Environmental Sealings
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 24.0MP
Environmental Sealings
Live-view
Built-in GPS
Read the details
You may have already made your decision about which camera suits better for your needs and your budget so far but in case you wonder how we rated Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77, below you can find their scores in five different aspects.
Our Decision Algorithm dynamically scores cameras using 63 different specs, current price and DxO Mark scores (where possible) in order to make a more objective and consistent comparison.
Here is a summary of how Nikon 1 J4 and Sony A77 scores compare:
Nikon 1 J4
Ranked
#70 out of 126 in Rangefinder-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#327 out of 1220 in all Cameras
Sony A77
Ranked
#26 out of 94 in Mid-size SLR cameras
Ranked
#95 out of 1220 in all Cameras
Sony A77 is the overall winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Nikon 1 J4 in all criteria except one: Portability.
If small size and light body is a big priority for you, choose Nikon 1 J4. Otherwise, Sony A77 is the better camera overall.
| General |
Nikon 1 J4 |
Sony SLT-A77 |
| Brand |
Nikon |
Sony |
| Announced |
2014-04-10 |
2011-10-25 |
| Body Type |
Rangefinder-style mirrorless |
Mid-size SLR |
Sensor |
|
|
| Type |
CMOS |
CMOS |
| Size |
1" |
APS-C |
| Dimensions |
13.2 x 8.8 mm |
23.5 x 15.6 mm |
| Area |
116.16mm2 |
366.60mm2 |
| Megapixels |
18 megapixels |
24 megapixels |
| Max Resolution |
5232 x 3488 |
6000 x 4000 |
| Max Native Light sensitivity |
12,800 ISO |
16,000 ISO |
| Max Boosted Light Sensitivity |
- |
25600 ISO |
| Min Native Light sensitivity |
160 ISO |
50 ISO |
| RAW Support |
|
|
Autofocus |
|
|
| AF Touch |
|
|
| AF Continuous |
|
|
| AF Single |
|
|
| AF Tracking |
|
|
| AF Selective |
|
|
| AF Center |
|
|
| AF Multi Area |
|
|
| AF Live View |
|
|
| AF Face Detection |
|
|
| AF Contrast Detection |
|
|
| AF Phase Detection |
|
|
| Number of Focus Points |
171 |
19 |
Lens |
|
|
| Manual Focus |
|
|
| Lens Mount |
Nikon 1 |
Sony/Minolta Alpha |
| Number of Available Lenses |
13 |
143 |
Screen |
|
|
| Type |
Fixed type |
Fully Articulated |
| Size |
3" |
3" |
| Resolution |
1,037k dots |
921k dots |
| Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
| Viewfinder |
None |
Electronic |
| Viewfinder Resolution |
no electronic viewfinder |
2,359k dots |
| Viewfinder Coverage |
n/a |
100% |
| Viewfinder Magnification |
n/a |
0.73x |
Photography Features |
|
|
| Max Mechanical Shutter |
1/4000s |
1/8000s |
| Max Electronic Shutter |
1/16000s |
n/a |
| Shutter Priority |
|
|
| Aperture Priority |
|
|
| Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
| Custom White Balance |
|
|
| Image Stabilization |
No |
Sensor-shift |
| Built-in Flash |
|
|
| Flash Range |
5.00 m (ISO 100) |
12.00 m |
| Max Flash Sync |
n/a |
1/250s |
| External Flash |
|
|
| Continuous Shooting |
60.0 fps |
12.0 fps |
| Multi-Segment |
|
|
| Average |
|
|
| Spot |
|
|
| Partial |
|
|
| AF-Area |
|
|
| Center Weighted |
|
|
| AE Bracketing |
|
|
| WB Bracketing |
|
|
Video Features |
|
|
| Max Video Resolution |
1920 x 1080 |
1920 x 1080 |
| Video Formats |
MPEG-4, H.264 |
MPEG-4, AVCHD, H.264 |
| Microphone Port |
|
|
| Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
| Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
Eye-Fi Connected |
| HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
| Environmental Sealing |
|
|
| Weight |
232g |
732g |
| Dimensions |
100 x 60 x 29mm |
143 x 104 x 81mm |
| Battery Life |
300 shots |
470 shots |
Other Features |
|
|
| Timelapse Recording |
|
|
| GPS |
None |
BuiltIn |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
| DxO Overall Score |
not tested |
78 |
| DxO Color Depth |
not tested |
24.0 |
| DxO Dynamic Range |
not tested |
13.2 |
| DxO Low Light ISO |
not tested |
801 |
|
Report a correction |
Report a correction |