I tend to agree Aaron but the sensor size of the XR500 and the NX5U is the same, about 1/3". The lens and how the sensor is used in conjunction with the lens is of course the main difference and could be some of the difference. The noise difference is very evident to me as all my projects are theatre in low light or high contrast. In this environment the XR500 has a lot less noise even against the EX3, which is why I use as an unattended camera with auto exposure on AE shift -4 !!! . Even when the stage goes to black and it gains up it still has less noise than the NX5U which is on full manual exposure. In good light when the NX5U can keep gain down to 0 or +3 then the image depth of the 3 chip shows in picture quality. When it gets darker and needs 6 or 9db of gain the XR500 is superior by some way. To be fair the NX5U is still better than my FX1 !!!!

Ron Evans