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 A57 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 A57 has external dimensions of 132 x 98 x 81 mm (5.2 x 3.86 x 3.19″) and weighs 618 g (1.36 lb / 21.80 oz) (including batteries).
Below you can see the front view size comparison of Sony A7S and Sony A57. Sony A7S is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 5mm narrower, 4mm shorter and 33mm thinner than Sony A57.
Comparison image of Sony A7S and Sony A57 Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View
Now lets look at the top view comparison of Sony A7S and Sony A57.
Top View Comparison image of Sony A7S and Sony A57 Size
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 (129g ) than the Sony A57 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 A57 has a smaller APS-C sensor, Sony A57'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 A57 which doesn't provide any kind of environmental sealing.
LCD Screen Size and Features
Sony A7S and Sony A57's LCD screens has the same diagonal size of 3.
Sony A7S features a
Tilting only screen which is mostly only good for shooting from waist or over the head levels. On the other hand, Sony A57 sports a
Fully Articulated screen which is more flexible and useful especially for taking Selfie shots and video.
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 A57 has a 16.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Below you can see the A7S and A57 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Sony A7S and Sony A57 Cameras
As seen above, Sony A7S has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Sony A57. 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 A57 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, 12 points higher than A57.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony A7S |
87 |
23.9 bits |
13.2 Evs |
3702 ISO |
Sony A57 |
75 |
23.4 bits |
13.0 Evs |
785 ISO |
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 A57 has an advantage over Sony A7S There are 143 lenses for Sony A57's Sony/Minolta Alpha 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. Sony A57 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, Sony A7S doesn't have this feature so you have to buy a lens with optical stabilization feature. Currently there are 31 lenses for Sony E mount with Optical Image Stabilization features.
Lens Type |
# of Sony A7S Lenses |
# of Sony A57 Lenses |
Standard Zoom |
12 (9 Full Frame) |
20 |
Standard Prime |
18 (9 Full Frame) |
9 |
Wideangle Zoom |
7 (6 Full Frame) |
11 |
Wideangle Prime |
42 (26 Full Frame) |
18 |
Telephoto Zoom |
9 (7 Full Frame) |
26 |
Telephoto Prime |
18 (14 Full Frame) |
12 |
SuperZoom |
8 (1 Full Frame) |
19 |
Wideangle Fisheye Prime |
2 (0 Full Frame) |
4 |
Macro Prime |
8 (7 Full Frame) |
12 |
Perspective Control Prime |
2 (2 Full Frame) |
10 |
Telephoto Mirror Prime |
n/a |
2 |
TOTAL |
128 (81 Full Frame) |
143 |
Now let's compare some sample lenses from each mount with typical Focal ranges for Sony A7S and Sony A57 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 A57 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 A57 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 (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Average Resolution Sensor: 16.0MP
Read the details
Sony A7S for Street Photography
Sony A57 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 (23.5 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
Sony A7S for Sports Photography
Sony A57 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
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Fast Continuous Shooting: 12.0fps
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/4000s
3 Cross Type Focus sensors
15 Focus Points
Good Battery Life: 550 shots
Environmental Sealings
Read the details
Sony A7S for Daily Photography
Sony A57 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 (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Large Body
618g
Body Thickness 81mm
Read the details
Sony A7S for Landscape Photography
Sony A57 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 (23.5 x 15.6 mm) sensor
Live-view
Average Resolution Sensor: 16.0MP
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 A57, 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 A57 scores compare:
Sony A7S
Ranked
#39 out of 86 in SLR-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#71 out of 1220 in all Cameras
Sony A57
Ranked
#10 out of 78 in Compact SLR cameras
Ranked
#150 out of 1220 in all Cameras
Sony A7S scores higher than the Sony A57 thanks to its better general imaging quality, compact size and higher value for the money. On the other hand, Sony A57 has some extra features which may become a game changer if you have some specific requirements.
We recommend you to read our detailed Pro's and Con's section and see if any Pro of Sony A57 is a must-have for you. If not, choose the Sony A7S.
General |
Sony Alpha A7S |
Sony SLT-A57 |
Brand |
Sony |
Sony |
Announced |
2014-04-06 |
2012-09-13 |
Body Type |
SLR-style mirrorless |
Compact SLR |
Sensor |
|
|
Type |
CMOS |
CMOS |
Size |
Full frame |
APS-C |
Dimensions |
35.8 x 23.9 mm |
23.5 x 15.6 mm |
Area |
855.62mm2 |
366.60mm2 |
Megapixels |
12 megapixels |
16 megapixels |
Max Resolution |
4240 x 2832 |
4912 x 3264 |
Max Native Light sensitivity |
409,600 ISO |
16,000 ISO |
Max Boosted Light Sensitivity |
- |
25600 ISO |
Min Native Light sensitivity |
100 ISO |
100 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 |
15 |
Lens |
|
|
Manual Focus |
|
|
Lens Mount |
Sony E |
Sony/Minolta Alpha |
Number of Available Lenses |
128 |
143 |
Screen |
|
|
Type |
Tilting |
Fully Articulated |
Size |
3 |
3" |
Resolution |
1,230k dots |
921k dots |
Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
Viewfinder |
Electronic |
Electronic |
Viewfinder Resolution |
2,359k dots |
1,440k dots |
Viewfinder Coverage |
100% |
100% |
Viewfinder Magnification |
0.71x |
0.7x |
Photography Features |
|
|
Max Mechanical Shutter |
1/8000s |
1/4000s |
Shutter Priority |
|
|
Aperture Priority |
|
|
Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
Custom White Balance |
|
|
Image Stabilization |
No |
Sensor-shift |
Built-in Flash |
|
|
Flash Range |
no built-in flash |
10.00 m (@ ISO 100) |
Max Flash Sync |
n/a |
1/160s |
External Flash |
|
|
Continuous Shooting |
5.0 fps |
12.0 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 |
MPEG-4, AVCHD, H.264 |
Microphone Port |
|
|
Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
Eye-Fi Connected |
HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
Environmental Sealing |
|
|
Weight |
489g |
618g |
Dimensions |
127 x 94 x 48mm |
132 x 98 x 81mm |
Battery Life |
360 shots |
550 shots |
Other Features |
|
|
Timelapse Recording |
With Downloadable App |
|
GPS |
None |
None |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
DxO Overall Score |
87 |
75 |
DxO Color Depth |
23.9 |
23.4 |
DxO Dynamic Range |
13.2 |
13.0 |
DxO Low Light ISO |
3702 |
785 |
|
Report a correction |
Report a correction |