Nikon D600 has a
24.0MP Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 3 processor. On the other hand, Sony A580 has a
16.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz processor.
Nikon D600's sensor provides 8MP more than Sony A580'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 D600 and A580 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D600 has a 2.4x Larger sensor area than Sony A580. 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.
DxOMark Sensor Scores
Both Nikon D600 and Sony A580 sensors have been tested by DxoMark. DxoMark scores camera sensors for color depth (DXO Portrait), dynamic range (DXO Landscape) and low-light sensitivity (DXO Sports), and also gives them an overall score. Of the two cameras that we are comparing, D600 has scored 94, 14 points higher than A580.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D600 |
94 |
25.1 bits |
14.2 Evs |
2980 ISO |
Sony A580 |
80 |
23.8 bits |
13.3 Evs |
1121 ISO |