Sony Alpha 7CR vs Pentax Optio RS1500

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Sony Alpha 7CR and the Pentax Optio RS1500, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Sony Alpha 7CR was introduced in August 2023 and Pentax Optio RS1500 was introduced in March 2011. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Sony Alpha 7CR over Pentax Optio RS1500.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Pentax Optio RS1500 over Sony Alpha 7CR.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Sony Alpha 7CR has a 3.0" Fully Articulated screen with 1,037k dots resolution and Pentax Optio RS1500 has a 2.70" Fixed screen with 230k dot resolution. Fully articulated screen makes Sony Alpha 7CR selfie and vlogger friendly and generally very useful for video shooting. Sony Alpha 7CR also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Electronic (OLED) Viewfinder on Sony Alpha 7CR

Sony Alpha 7CR has a built-in 0.39" Electronic (OLED) viewfinder with 2,359k dots resolution. It has a 100% coverage and 0.7x magnification. There is no built-in or optional viewfinder available on Pentax Optio RS1500.

Sony Alpha 7CR features a 60.2 megapixel Full Frame BSI-CMOS sensor with dimensions of 35.7 x 23.8 mm and a total area of 849.7 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 32,000 and expands to 50 - 102,800 in boosted mode. Pentax Optio RS1500 features a 14 megapixel 1/2.3-inch CCD sensor with dimensions of 6.17 x 4.55 mm and a total area of 20.7 mm². Its native ISO range is 80 - 6,400.

Sony Alpha 7CR has BSI-CMOS sensor, short for Backside Illuminated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor sensor. In traditional CMOS sensors, the wiring and circuitry are located on the front side of the sensor, which can block some of the incoming light. BSI technology flips this design by placing the photosensitive elements (pixels) on the backside of the sensor, allowing more light to reach the pixels. This significantly enhances light sensitivity and improves low-light performance. BSI-CMOS sensors are particularly effective in low-light conditions, as they can capture more light, resulting in brighter and less noisy images. This makes them well-suited for indoor and night photography. BSI-CMOS sensors deliver a higher SNR and reduced cross-talk.

Sony Alpha 7CR is equipped with Bionz XR processor and can take pictures up to 9504 x 6336 resolution. Pentax Optio RS1500 can take pictures up to 4288 x 3216 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 4288 x 3216, 4224 x 2376, 3216 x 3216, 3072 x 2304, 3072 x 1728, 2592 x 1944, 2592 x 1464, 2048 x 1536, 1920 x 1080, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480 with 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 aspect ratios.

In-Body Image Stabilization on Sony Alpha 7CR

Sony Alpha 7CR has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS) with 7 stops of compensation. This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when camera is paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi on Sony Alpha 7CR

Sony Alpha 7CR has a built-in Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi 5, MIMO 2x2, 802.11ac/b/g/n, 2.4/5 GHz) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

Bluetooth on Sony Alpha 7CR

Sony Alpha 7CR has a built-in Bluetooth (version 4.2) which lets you to connect the camera to a smartphone or a dedicated remote control device. This allows you to remotely trigger the camera, adjust settings and controls remotely through a paired mobile app. While Wi-Fi is generally faster for transferring larger files, Bluetooth can be used for small, selective transfers, it can provide real-time information about your camera's battery status, memory card capacity, and other key settings directly on your paired smartphone or smartwatch.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in Bluetooth.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB inputs for data transfer. Sony Alpha 7CR has a Micro HDMI and Pentax Optio RS1500 has a Type D Micro HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Sony Alpha 7CR comes with NP-FZ100 battery pack with battery life of 520 shots and Pentax Optio RS1500 comes with D-LI92 battery pack with battery life of 260 shots.

External Storage Slots

Sony Alpha 7CR has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) card slot. Pentax Optio RS1500 has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC card slot.

Shutter

Sony Alpha 7CR has Mechanical Focal Plane shutter and Electronic shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/8000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/4000 sec with mechanical shutter on Sony Alpha 7CR, and up to 1/1500 sec on Pentax Optio RS1500. Sony Alpha 7CR can shoot continuously up to 8.0 fps. Pentax Optio RS1500 can shoot continuously up to 0.7 fps.

Focusing

Sony Alpha 7CR has Fast Hybrid AF (Phase-detection / Contrast-detection) system with 693 focusing points and Pentax Optio RS1500 has 9 focusing points. Sony Alpha 7CR has detection range from -4 to +20 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Sony Alpha 7CR ranges from -3 to +20 EV and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range on Sony Alpha 7CR and ±2 range on Pentax Optio RS1500. You can also do exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Sony Alpha 7CR and exposure bracketing on Pentax Optio RS1500.

Flash

Pentax Optio RS1500 has a built-in flash with maximum range of 3.90 m. Sony Alpha 7CR has no built-in flash but an external flash may be connected via Shoe Mount. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/160 sec on Sony Alpha 7CR.

Sony Alpha 7CR body has dimensions of 124 x 71 x 63 mm (4.88 x 2.8 x 2.48") and Pentax Optio RS1500 body has dimensions of 114 x 58 x 28 mm (4.49 x 2.28 x 1.1"). Sony Alpha 7CR weighs 515 g (1.14 lb / 18.17 oz) and Pentax Optio RS1500 weighs 157 g (0.35 lb / 5.54 oz).

Sony Alpha 7CR

Pentax Optio RS1500

124 mm

71 mm

114 mm

58 mm

71 mm

58 mm

63 mm

28 mm