MINE'S BIGGER THAN YOURS

  The rapid march of digital camera technology continues apace.  It is hard to stay up with the latest developments.

  I have found some websites that can be of great help when shopping for a new camera.  These websites together enables one to:

• Compare the physical size of cameras graphically

• Compare the physical size of their image sensors graphically

• See extensive comparative test images side-by-side

• Compare test results of selected cameras side-by-side

PHYSICAL SIZE

  The site camera size.com enables one to see scaled images of two cameras side-by-side.  Here's an example of their comparison:

  The neat thing about this comparison site is that you can get a variety of views of the cameras - front, side, back, or overlaid.  You can also have a AA battery in the comparison image for size comparison.  Here's one of the views of the cameras from overhead with the AA battery included:

  The site has an extensive database of cameras that can be compared.  A few don't have all views available but most do.  A very useful site for quickly comparing camera sizes.

SENSOR SIZE

  The site cameraimagesensor.com is a companion to the preceding site.  You can get an idea of the comparative sensor sizes, either side-by-side (as below) or overlaid.

  With the large variety of sensor sizes available today ("micro 4/3rds", "APS-C", etc), this site can be quite useful in understanding the various sizes.

COMPARATIVE IMAGING RESULTS

  The site imaging-resource.com provides in-depth reviews of cameras along with extensive test images taken under identical conditions.  One can compare camera results in a variety of subject and light conditions that are the same test-to-test.  The comparo below is just one of many test images available for each camera.

  
  The test images can be enlarged to see precise detail in the images.

QUANTITATIVE PERFORMANCE COMPARISON

  Finally, dxomark.com provides quantitative sensor results for several sensor parameters along with a consolidated overall score.  This particular site has a ton of data on both camera and lens performance.  An example of their fundamental comparisons is shown below.

SUMMARY

  Taken together the preceding websites provide a wealth of information for evaluating and comparing cameras.  With most of us doing our purchases on the internet rather than in "brick and mortar" stores makes it harder to get a good feel for how different cameras compare.  The preceding sites can make the selection process easier.