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 Sony NEX-5 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). Sony NEX-5 has external dimensions of 111 x 59 x 38 mm (4.37 x 2.32 x 1.5″) and weighs 287 g (0.63 lb / 10.12 oz) (including batteries).
Below you can see the front view size comparison of Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5. Sony NEX-5 is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 16mm narrower, 35mm shorter and 10mm thinner than Sony A7S.
![Sony A7S vs Sony NEX-5 Camera Size Comparison - Front View]()
Comparison image of Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5 Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View
Here is the back view size comparison of Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5.
![Sony A7S vs Sony NEX-5 Camera Size Comparison - Back View]()
Comparison image of Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5 Size and Weight - Back View
Now lets look at the top view comparison of Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5.
![Sony A7S vs Sony NEX-5 Camera Size Comparison - Top View]()
Top View Comparison image of Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5 Size
Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Sony NEX-5 is significantly lighter (202g ) than the Sony A7S 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 Sony NEX-5 has a smaller APS-C sensor, Sony NEX-5's lenses for a similar focal length and aperture will generally be lighter and smaller than the Sony A7S lenses.
Weight Comparison
Mirrorless Cameras
Thickness Comparison
Mirrorless Cameras
Weather Sealing
With its weather sealed body, we believe that A7S has a big advantage over NEX-5 which doesn't provide any kind of environmental sealing.
LCD Screen Size and Features
Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5's LCD screens has the same diagonal size of 3.
Both cameras feature
Tilting screens where you can change the angle of the screen to make it easier to shoot from waist or over the head levels.
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, Sony NEX-5 has a 14.0MP APS-C (23.4 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz processor.
Below you can see the A7S and NEX-5 sensor size comparison.
![Sony A7S vs Sony NEX-5 Sensor Size Comparison]()
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5 Cameras
As seen above, Sony A7S has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Sony NEX-5. 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 Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5 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, A7S has scored 87, 18 points higher than NEX-5.
| Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
|
Sony A7S |
87 |
23.9 bits |
13.2 Evs |
3702 ISO |
|
Sony NEX-5 |
69 |
22.2 bits |
12.2 Evs |
796 ISO |
Number of available lenses is a big decision factor while choosing your interchangeable lens camera. Both Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5 have 122 native lenses available but be careful that since Sony A7S has a full frame sensor, only 77 of these lenses can cover the full frame sensor of A7S.
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 30 lenses with Image stabilization for Sony E mount.
| Lens Type |
# of Sony A7S Lenses |
# of Sony NEX-5 Lenses |
| Standard Zoom |
11 (8 Full Frame) |
11 |
| Standard Prime |
18 (9 Full Frame) |
18 |
| Wideangle Zoom |
7 (6 Full Frame) |
7 |
| Wideangle Prime |
39 (23 Full Frame) |
39 |
| Telephoto Zoom |
9 (7 Full Frame) |
9 |
| Telephoto Prime |
18 (14 Full Frame) |
18 |
| SuperZoom |
8 (1 Full Frame) |
8 |
| Wideangle Fisheye Prime |
2 (0 Full Frame) |
2 |
| Macro Prime |
8 (7 Full Frame) |
8 |
| Perspective Control Prime |
2 (2 Full Frame) |
2 |
| Telephoto Mirror Prime |
n/a |
n/a |
| TOTAL |
122 (77 Full Frame) |
122 |
Here are some of the most popular Sony E Mount Lenses on Camera Decision:
Popular Sony E Mount Lenses for A7S and NEX-5
Now let's compare some sample lenses from each mount with typical Focal ranges for Sony A7S and Sony NEX-5 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 Sony NEX-5 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
Sony NEX-5 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 (23.4 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Average Resolution Sensor: 14.0MP
Average Ergonomics&Handling
No Image Stabilization
No Built-in Viewfinder
Read the details
Sony A7S for Street Photography
Sony NEX-5 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 (23.4 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Live-view
Tilting LCD Screen
Medium sized Body
No Image Stabilization
No Built-in Viewfinder
Read the details
Sony A7S for Sports Photography
Sony NEX-5 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
Fast Continuous Shooting: 7.0fps
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/4000s
25 Focus Points
Average Ergonomics&Handling
No Image Stabilization
No Built-in Viewfinder
Environmental Sealings
Read the details
Sony A7S for Daily Photography
Sony NEX-5 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
Sony A7S for Landscape Photography
Sony NEX-5 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 (23.4 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Live-view
Average Resolution Sensor: 14.0MP
No Environmental Sealings
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 Sony NEX-5, 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 Sony NEX-5 scores compare:
Sony A7S
Ranked
#38 out of 85 in SLR-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#70 out of 1218 in all Cameras
Sony NEX-5
Ranked
#107 out of 126 in Rangefinder-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#443 out of 1218 in all Cameras
Sony A7S is the overall winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Sony NEX-5 in all criteria except one: Portability. But the size difference between these cameras are negligible in real world so it is not a big disadvantage for Sony A7S.
| General |
Sony Alpha A7S |
Sony Alpha NEX-5 |
| Brand |
Sony |
Sony |
| Announced |
2014-04-06 |
2010-06-07 |
| Body Type |
SLR-style mirrorless |
Rangefinder-style mirrorless |
Sensor |
|
|
| Type |
CMOS |
CMOS |
| Size |
Full frame |
APS-C |
| Dimensions |
35.8 x 23.9 mm |
23.4 x 15.6 mm |
| Area |
855.62mm2 |
365.04mm2 |
| Megapixels |
12 megapixels |
14 megapixels |
| Max Resolution |
4240 x 2832 |
4592 x 3056 |
| Max Native Light sensitivity |
409,600 ISO |
12,800 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 |
25 |
Lens |
|
|
| Manual Focus |
|
|
| Lens Mount |
Sony E |
Sony E |
| Number of Available Lenses |
122 |
122 |
Screen |
|
|
| Type |
Tilting |
Tilting |
| Size |
3 |
3" |
| Resolution |
1,230k dots |
920k dots |
| Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
| Viewfinder |
Electronic |
None |
| Viewfinder Resolution |
2,359k dots |
no electronic viewfinder |
| Viewfinder Coverage |
100% |
n/a |
| Viewfinder Magnification |
0.71x |
n/a |
Photography Features |
|
|
| Max Mechanical Shutter |
1/8000s |
1/4000s |
| Shutter Priority |
|
|
| Aperture Priority |
|
|
| Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
| Custom White Balance |
|
|
| Image Stabilization |
No |
No |
| Built-in Flash |
|
|
| Flash Range |
no built-in flash |
12.00 m |
| Max Flash Sync |
no built-in flash |
1/160s |
| External Flash |
|
|
| Continuous Shooting |
5.0 fps |
7.0 fps |
| Multi-Segment |
|
|
| Average |
|
|
| Spot |
|
|
| Partial |
|
|
| AF-Area |
|
|
| Center Weighted |
|
|
| AE Bracketing |
|
|
| WB Bracketing |
|
|
Video Features |
|
|
| Max Video Resolution |
3840 x 2160 |
1920 x 1080 |
| Video Formats |
MPEG-4, AVCHD, XAVC |
AVCHD |
| Microphone Port |
|
|
| Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
| Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
None |
| HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
| Environmental Sealing |
|
|
| Weight |
489g |
287g |
| Dimensions |
127 x 94 x 48mm |
111 x 59 x 38mm |
| Battery Life |
360 shots |
330 shots |
Other Features |
|
|
| Timelapse Recording |
With Downloadable App |
|
| GPS |
None |
None |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
| DxO Overall Score |
87 |
69 |
| DxO Color Depth |
23.9 |
22.2 |
| DxO Dynamic Range |
13.2 |
12.2 |
| DxO Low Light ISO |
3702 |
796 |
|
Report a correction |
Report a correction |