Sony Alpha 57 Specs, Sensor Size & Crop Factor

Q: What is the crop factor of the Sony Alpha 57?

The Sony Alpha 57 has a crop factor of 1.53× relative to 35 mm full frame (diagonal 28.2 mm vs 43.3 mm).

1.53×

Crop factor

23.5×15.6 mm

Sensor size

367 mm²

Area · 42% of full frame

16.1 MP

Resolution

4.77 µm

Pixel pitch

f/7.1

Diffraction-limited aperture

2012

Release year

Specifications#

Brand: Sony
Model: Alpha 57
Also known as: SLT-A57, Sony SLT-A57
Camera type: DSLR
Released: 2012-01-01
Lens mount: Sony / Minolta A-mount
Sensor size: 23.5 × 15.6 mm (APS-C)
Crop factor: 1.53×
Resolution: 16.1 MP (4,925 × 3,269 px)
Continuous shooting: 12 fps
Weight: 618 g (21.8 oz)
Sensor: 23.5 mm × 15.6 mm, 16.1 effective megapixels CMOS
Storage: Memory Stick PRO Duo™, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™, SD memory card, SDHC memory card, SDXC memory card
Viewfinder: 0.46" SVGA Xtra Fine EVF (2174 dpi) (Electronic viewfinder) (1,440,000 pixels), Diopter Adjustment: -4.0 to +3.0 m-1, Field of View: 100%, 1.04x magnification
Metering: Advanced 1200-zone evaluative metering
Shutter: electronically controlled, vertical-traverse, focal-plane Shutter
Flash: Built-in flash, Range: approx. 3' - 15' (1 m - 5 m); Auto, Fill-flash, Slow Sync., Rear Sync., Hi-speed sync., Red-eye reduction (on/off selectable for Autoflash and fill-flash mode), Wireless
Battery: InfoLITHIUM® NP-FM500H (7.2 V)
Lens: interchangeable, Sony A-mount
Drive: up to 12 Frames Per Second

Specifications merged from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Lensfun and openMVG. Spot an error? Tell us.

Sensor size compared#

The Sony Alpha 57 sensor (highlighted) drawn to scale against common formats. Its area is 42% of a full-frame sensor, which collects about 1.2 stops less total light at the same exposure.

Focal length equivalents & field of view#

Multiply any focal length by 1.53 to get the full-frame field of view. Angles are for a rectilinear lens focused at infinity.

Lens on this camera	Full-frame equivalent	Horizontal	Vertical	Diagonal
8 mm	12 mm	111.5°	88.5°	120.9°
10 mm	15 mm	99.2°	75.9°	109.3°
12 mm	18 mm	88.8°	66.0°	99.2°
14 mm	21 mm	80.0°	58.2°	90.4°
16 mm	25 mm	72.6°	52.0°	82.8°
18 mm	28 mm	66.3°	46.9°	76.2°
20 mm	31 mm	60.9°	42.6°	70.4°
24 mm	37 mm	52.2°	36.0°	60.9°
28 mm	43 mm	45.5°	31.1°	53.5°
35 mm	54 mm	37.1°	25.1°	43.9°
40 mm	61 mm	32.7°	22.1°	38.8°
50 mm	77 mm	26.4°	17.7°	31.5°
56 mm	86 mm	23.7°	15.9°	28.3°
70 mm	107 mm	19.1°	12.7°	22.8°
85 mm	130 mm	15.7°	10.5°	18.8°
100 mm	153 mm	13.4°	8.9°	16.1°
135 mm	207 mm	9.9°	6.6°	11.9°
200 mm	307 mm	6.7°	4.5°	8.1°
300 mm	460 mm	4.5°	3.0°	5.4°
400 mm	614 mm	3.4°	2.2°	4.0°
600 mm	920 mm	2.2°	1.5°	2.7°
800 mm	1227 mm	1.7°	1.1°	2.0°

Depth of field table#

Total depth of field at each subject distance, using a circle of confusion of 19.6 µm (the 0.030 mm full-frame standard scaled by the crop factor). Detailed tables: 24 mm f/1.8, 24 mm f/2.8, 35 mm f/1.8, 35 mm f/2.8, 50 mm f/1.8, 50 mm f/2.8.

Focal	Aperture	50.0 cm	1.00 m	2.00 m	3.00 m	5.00 m	10.0 m	Hyperfocal
14 mm	f/1.8	8.8 cm	36.6 cm	1.63 m	4.52 m	45.2 m	∞	5.58 m
14 mm	f/2.8	13.8 cm	59.6 cm	3.21 m	16.5 m	∞	∞	3.59 m
14 mm	f/4	20.2 cm	93.1 cm	8.53 m	∞	∞	∞	2.52 m
14 mm	f/8	45.7 cm	4.14 m	∞	∞	∞	∞	1.27 m
28 mm	f/1.8	2.1 cm	8.7 cm	35.7 cm	81.5 cm	2.35 m	11.2 m	22.3 m
28 mm	f/2.8	3.3 cm	13.6 cm	56.2 cm	1.30 m	3.95 m	27.1 m	14.3 m
28 mm	f/4	4.7 cm	19.6 cm	81.9 cm	1.95 m	6.58 m	2.0 km	10.0 m
28 mm	f/8	9.5 cm	40.3 cm	1.86 m	5.49 m	643 m	∞	5.04 m
48 mm	f/1.8	0.7 cm	2.9 cm	11.9 cm	27.1 cm	76.1 cm	3.11 m	65.5 m
48 mm	f/2.8	1.1 cm	4.5 cm	18.6 cm	42.3 cm	1.19 m	5.01 m	42.1 m
48 mm	f/4	1.5 cm	6.5 cm	26.6 cm	60.8 cm	1.73 m	7.63 m	29.5 m
48 mm	f/8	3.1 cm	13.0 cm	54.0 cm	1.25 m	3.79 m	24.9 m	14.8 m
78 mm	f/1.8	0.2 cm	1.1 cm	4.4 cm	10.1 cm	28.5 cm	1.15 m	173 m
78 mm	f/2.8	0.4 cm	1.7 cm	6.9 cm	15.8 cm	44.4 cm	1.80 m	111 m
78 mm	f/4	0.5 cm	2.4 cm	9.9 cm	22.6 cm	63.5 cm	2.59 m	77.8 m
78 mm	f/8	1.1 cm	4.7 cm	19.8 cm	45.3 cm	1.29 m	5.46 m	39.0 m

Equivalent aperture#

Exposure is identical at the same f-number on any format; equivalence only describes depth of field and total light.

Aperture on this camera	Full-frame equivalent (depth of field)	Hyperfocal at 28 mm
f/1.2	f/1.8	33.4 m
f/1.4	f/2.1	28.7 m
f/1.8	f/2.8	22.3 m
f/2	f/3.1	20.1 m
f/2.8	f/4.3	14.3 m
f/4	f/6.1	10.0 m
f/5.6	f/8.6	7.19 m
f/8	f/12.3	5.04 m

Diffraction & pixel pitch#

With 4.77 µm pixels, diffraction starts to soften pixel-level detail around f/7.1. For maximum sharpness keep landscapes between f/3.9 and f/7; stopping down further trades detail for depth of field.

Aperture	Airy disk diameter	Spread over	At 100% view
f/2.8	3.8 µm	0.8 px	sharp
f/4	5.4 µm	1.1 px	sharp
f/5.6	7.5 µm	1.6 px	sharp
f/8	10.7 µm	2.2 px	slight softening
f/11	14.8 µm	3.1 px	visibly soft
f/16	21.5 µm	4.5 px	visibly soft
f/22	29.5 µm	6.2 px	visibly soft

Maximum print sizes#

At 16.1 MP the Sony Alpha 57 produces 4,925 × 3,269 pixel images. See the 16 megapixel guide or the print size calculator.

Resolution	Typical use	Inches	Centimetres
300 DPI	Photo-lab quality	16.4 × 10.9 in	42 × 28 cm
240 DPI	Fine-art inkjet	20.5 × 13.6 in	52 × 35 cm
200 DPI	Wall print	24.6 × 16.3 in	63 × 42 cm
150 DPI	Poster, viewed from 1 m+	32.8 × 21.8 in	83 × 55 cm

Night-sky exposure limits#

Longest exposure before stars trail. The NPF rule accounts for pixel pitch and is stricter than the classic 500 rule — use it for pin-sharp stars on high-resolution sensors.

Focal length	500 rule	NPF f/1.8	NPF f/2.8	NPF f/4
9 mm (14 mm eq.)	36.2 s	22.9 s	26.8 s	31.5 s
13 mm (20 mm eq.)	25.1 s	15.9 s	18.5 s	21.8 s
16 mm (25 mm eq.)	20.4 s	12.9 s	15.1 s	17.7 s
23 mm (35 mm eq.)	14.2 s	9.0 s	10.5 s	12.3 s
33 mm (51 mm eq.)	9.9 s	6.2 s	7.3 s	8.6 s

Open the NPF / 500 rule calculator →

Handheld shutter speed guide#

The reciprocal rule uses the equivalent focal length. High-resolution sensors may need one stop faster than this for pixel-sharp results.

Focal length	No stabilisation (1/equiv. focal)	With 3-stop IS	With 5-stop IBIS
16 mm	1/25 s	0.3 s	1.3 s
33 mm	1/50 s	1/6 s	0.6 s
65 mm	1/100 s	1/13 s	0.3 s
130 mm	1/200 s	1/25 s	1/6 s

Lenses for the Sony Alpha 57#

Native Sony / Minolta A-mount lenses in our database (129 total). Also adaptable: T-mount (T2), M42 screw mount, Deckel (DKL), Tamron Adaptall, M39 / LTM (Leica thread).

Samyang 8mm f/3.5 Fish-Eye CS 8 mm
Samyang 10mm f/2.8 ED AS NCS CS 10 mm
Laowa 12mm f/2.8 Zero-D 12 mm
Samyang 14mm f/2.8 AE ED AS IF UMC 14 mm
Laowa 15mm F/4 Wide Angle Macro 15 mm
Samyang 16mm f/2.0 ED AS UMC CS 16 mm
Samyang 20mm f/1.8 ED AS UMC 20 mm
Samyang 24mm f/1.4 ED AS IF UMC 24 mm
Samyang T-S 24mm f/3.5 ED AS UMC 24 mm
Laowa 60mm f/2.8 2X Ultra-Macro 60 mm
Samyang 85mm f/1.4 IF UMC Aspherical 85 mm
Samyang 135mm f/2 ED UMC 135 mm
Sigma 4.5mm f/2.8 EX DC HSM circular fisheye 4.5 mm
Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 DC HSM 8–16 mm
Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5 EX DC HSM 10–20 mm
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC 10–20 mm
Sigma 10mm f/2.8 EX DC Fisheye HSM 10 mm
Tamron SP AF 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical (IF) 10–24 mm
Tamron SP AF 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 Di-II LD Aspherical (IF) 11–18 mm
Tokina AF 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X Pro DX 11–16 mm
Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX II (11-16mm f/2.8) 11–16 mm
Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 II DG HSM 12–24 mm
Sigma 14mm f/2.8 EX 14 mm
Sigma 14mm f/2.8 EX Aspherical HSM 14 mm
Sigma 14mm f/3.5 EX 14 mm
Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX DG Aspherical 15–30 mm
Sigma 15mm f/2.8 EX DG Diagonal Fisheye 15 mm
Tamron SP 15-30mm f/2.8 Di VC USD 15–30 mm
Sony AF DT 16-105mm f/3.5-5.6 16–105 mm
Sony DT 16-50mm f/2.8 SSM 16–50 mm
Sony Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm f/2.8 ZA SSM II 16–35 mm
Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro B016 16–300 mm
Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX DG Aspherical HSM 17–35 mm
Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 EX DG 17–35 mm
Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM 17–50 mm
Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM | Contemporary 013 17–70 mm

Similar cameras#

Other APS-C cameras from around the same time.

Frequently asked questions#

What is the crop factor of the Sony Alpha 57?

The Sony Alpha 57 has a crop factor of 1.53× relative to 35 mm full frame (diagonal 28.2 mm vs 43.3 mm).

What size is the Sony Alpha 57 sensor?

23.5 × 15.6 mm (APS-C), an area of 367 mm² — 42% of full frame.

Is the Sony Alpha 57 full frame?

No — its sensor is APS-C, which is 2.4× smaller in area than full frame.

How many megapixels does the Sony Alpha 57 have?

16.1 megapixels (4,925 × 3,269 pixels), enough for a 16 × 11 inch print at 300 DPI.

What lens mount does the Sony Alpha 57 use?

The Sony Alpha 57 uses the Sony / Minolta A-mount (flange distance 44.50 mm).

How long can I expose the night sky with the Sony Alpha 57?

With a 13 mm lens (20 mm equivalent) the 500 rule gives 25 s and the stricter NPF rule at f/2.8 gives 19 s.

Sources & licences#

Last updated October 03, 2026 · How we calculate · Sources