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 Sony A7S and Nikon D1 side-by-side from the front, back and top in their relative dimensions. Sony A7S has external dimensions of 127 x 94 x 48 mm (5 x 3.7 x 1.89″) and weighs 489 g (1.08 lb / 17.25 oz) (including batteries). Nikon D1 has external dimensions of 157 x 153 x 85 mm (6.18 x 6.02 x 3.35″) and weighs 1200 g (2.65 lb / 42.33 oz) (including batteries).
Below you can see the front view size comparison of Sony A7S and Nikon D1. Sony A7S is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 30mm narrower, 59mm shorter and 37mm thinner than Nikon D1.
![Sony A7S vs Nikon D1 Camera Size Comparison - Front View]()
Comparison image of Sony A7S and Nikon D1 Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View
Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Sony A7S is significantly lighter (711g ) than the Nikon D1 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 A7S has a Full frame sensor and Nikon D1 has a smaller APS-C sensor, Nikon D1's lenses for a similar focal length and aperture will generally be lighter and smaller than the Sony A7S lenses.
Weight Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Thickness Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Weather Sealing
With its weather sealed body, we believe that A7S has a big advantage over D1 which doesn't provide any kind of environmental sealing.
LCD Screen Size and Features
Sony A7S's 3 LCD screen is slightly larger than Nikon D1's 2" screen.
In addition to the size advantage, Sony A7S LCD screen also has a
Tilting feature where you can change the angle of the screen to make it easier to shoot from waist or over the head levels. On the other hand, Nikon D1 has a fixed type screen which provides less flexibility in shooting positions compared to A7S.
Sony A7S has a 12.0MP Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor. On the other hand, Nikon D1 has a 3.0MP APS-C (23.7 x 15.5 mm ) sized CCD sensor .
Sony A7S's sensor provides 9MP more than Nikon D1'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 A7S and D1 sensor size comparison.
![Sony A7S vs Nikon D1 Sensor Size Comparison]()
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Sony A7S and Nikon D1 Cameras
As seen above, Sony A7S has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Nikon D1. 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 Nikon D1 has an advantage over Sony A7S There are 309 lenses for Nikon D1's Nikon F mount, on the other hand there are only 128 lenses for Sony A7S's Sony E lens mount.
Another important factor is the availability of image stabilization. None of these bodies have sensor based image stabilization so you have to buy lenses with Optical stabilization feature. Currently there are 31 lenses for Sony E mount and 106 lenses for Nikon F mount with IS.
| Lens Type |
# of Sony A7S Lenses |
# of Nikon D1 Lenses |
| Standard Zoom |
12 (9 Full Frame) |
33 |
| Standard Prime |
18 (9 Full Frame) |
21 |
| Wideangle Zoom |
7 (6 Full Frame) |
33 |
| Wideangle Prime |
42 (26 Full Frame) |
48 |
| Telephoto Zoom |
9 (7 Full Frame) |
53 |
| Telephoto Prime |
18 (14 Full Frame) |
45 |
| SuperZoom |
8 (1 Full Frame) |
30 |
| Wideangle Fisheye Prime |
2 (0 Full Frame) |
8 |
| Macro Prime |
8 (7 Full Frame) |
26 |
| Perspective Control Prime |
2 (2 Full Frame) |
11 |
| Telephoto Mirror Prime |
n/a |
1 |
| TOTAL |
128 (81 Full Frame) |
309 |
Now let's compare some sample lenses from each mount with typical Focal ranges for Sony A7S and Nikon D1 to see how these lenses compares:
Fast Standard Zoom Lenses
Fast Tele Zoom Equivalent Lenses
Fast Normal Prime Equivalent Lenses
Fast Wideangle Zoom Equivalent Lenses
24-105mm f4 Equivalent Lenses
Super-Tele Zoom Equivalent Lenses
In this section, we rank and compare Sony A7S and Nikon D1 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.
Sony A7S for Portrait Photography
Nikon D1 for Portrait Photography
Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.7 x 15.5 mm) sensor
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Very Low Resolution Sensor: 3.0MP
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Sony A7S for Street Photography
Nikon D1 for Street Photography
Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Tilting LCD Screen
Medium sized Body
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.7 x 15.5 mm) sensor
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
No Image Stabilization
No Live-view
Large Body
Read the details
Sony A7S for Sports Photography
Nikon D1 for Sports Photography
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Environmental Sealings
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/8000s
25 Focus Points
Good Low Light ISO
Wireless Connection
Average Continuous Shooting: 5.0fps
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/16000s
Average Continuous Shooting: 5.0fps
No Image Stabilization
Environmental Sealings
Focus Points
Read the details
Sony A7S for Daily Photography
Nikon D1 for Daily Photography
Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Medium size Body
489g
Body Thickness 48mm
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.7 x 15.5 mm) sensor
Large Body
1200g
Body Thickness 85mm
Read the details
Sony A7S for Landscape Photography
Nikon D1 for Landscape Photography
Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Live-view
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.7 x 15.5 mm) sensor
Very Low Resolution Sensor: 3.0MP
No Environmental Sealings
No Live-view
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 Sony A7S and Nikon D1, 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 Sony A7S and Nikon D1 scores compare:
Sony A7S
Ranked
#39 out of 86 in SLR-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#71 out of 1220 in all Cameras
Nikon D1
Ranked
#34 out of 36 in Large SLR cameras
Ranked
#892 out of 1220 in all Cameras
Sony A7S is the clear winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Nikon D1 in all criteria. It has better general image quality, more features, more compact body and offers more value for the money
| General |
Sony Alpha A7S |
Nikon D1 |
| Brand |
Sony |
Nikon |
| Announced |
2014-04-06 |
2000-11-27 |
| Body Type |
SLR-style mirrorless |
Large SLR |
Sensor |
|
|
| Type |
CMOS |
CCD |
| Size |
Full frame |
APS-C |
| Dimensions |
35.8 x 23.9 mm |
23.7 x 15.5 mm |
| Area |
855.62mm2 |
367.35mm2 |
| Megapixels |
12 megapixels |
3 megapixels |
| Max Resolution |
4240 x 2832 |
2000 x 1312 |
| Max Native Light sensitivity |
409,600 ISO |
1,600 ISO |
| Min Native Light sensitivity |
100 ISO |
200 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 |
25 |
n/a |
Lens |
|
|
| Manual Focus |
|
|
| Lens Mount |
Sony E |
Nikon F |
| Number of Available Lenses |
128 |
309 |
Screen |
|
|
| Type |
Tilting |
Fixed type |
| Size |
3 |
2" |
| Resolution |
1,230k dots |
130k dots |
| Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
| Viewfinder |
Electronic |
Optical (pentaprism) |
| Viewfinder Resolution |
2,359k dots |
no electronic viewfinder |
| Viewfinder Coverage |
100% |
96% |
| Viewfinder Magnification |
0.71x |
0.53x |
Photography Features |
|
|
| Max Mechanical Shutter |
1/8000s |
1/16000s |
| Shutter Priority |
|
|
| Aperture Priority |
|
|
| Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
| Custom White Balance |
|
|
| Image Stabilization |
No |
No |
| Built-in Flash |
|
|
| Max Flash Sync |
n/a |
1/500s |
| External Flash |
|
|
| Continuous Shooting |
5.0 fps |
5.0 fps |
| Multi-Segment |
|
|
| Average |
|
|
| Spot |
|
|
| Partial |
|
|
| AF-Area |
|
|
| Center Weighted |
|
|
| AE Bracketing |
|
|
| WB Bracketing |
|
|
Video Features |
|
|
| Max Video Resolution |
3840 x 2160 |
None |
| Video Formats |
MPEG-4, AVCHD, XAVC |
n/a |
| Microphone Port |
|
|
| Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
| Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
None |
| HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
| Environmental Sealing |
|
|
| Weight |
489g |
1200g |
| Dimensions |
127 x 94 x 48mm |
157 x 153 x 85mm |
| Battery Life |
360 shots |
n/a |
Other Features |
|
|
| Timelapse Recording |
With Downloadable App |
|
| GPS |
None |
None |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
| DxO Overall Score |
87 |
not tested |
| DxO Color Depth |
23.9 |
not tested |
| DxO Dynamic Range |
13.2 |
not tested |
| DxO Low Light ISO |
3702 |
not tested |
|
Report a correction |
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