Nikon D100 vs Olympus E-PL1s

Its time to take a deeper look at the Nikon D100 and Olympus E-PL1s, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by competitors Nikon and Olympus. There exists a noticeable gap between the sensor resolutions of the D100 (6MP) and E-PL1s (12MP) and the D100 (APS-C) and E-PL1s (Four Thirds) provide totally different sensor size.

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The D100 was brought out 9 years before the E-PL1s and that is quite a sizable difference as far as technology is concerned. The two cameras feature different body design with the Nikon D100 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Olympus E-PL1s being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before delving straight to a detailed comparison, here is a simple introduction of how the D100 scores against the E-PL1s in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Nikon D100 & Olympus PEN E-PL1s. The entire galleries are available at Nikon D100 Gallery & Olympus E-PL1s Gallery.

If you're planning to lug around your camera often, you'll need to think about its weight and dimensions. The Nikon D100 comes with exterior dimensions of 144mm x 116mm x 81mm (5.7" x 4.6" x 3.2") accompanied by a weight of 780 grams (1.72 lbs) whilst the Olympus E-PL1s has dimensions of 115mm x 72mm x 42mm (4.5" x 2.8" x 1.7") and a weight of 334 grams (0.74 lbs).

Compare the Nikon D100 and Olympus E-PL1s in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you choose at that time. Underneath is a front view measurement comparison of the D100 compared to the E-PL1s.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the D100 and E-PL1s is 58 and 86 respectively.

Typically, it is very tough to visualise the gap between sensor measurements purely by reading through specs. The visual below will help provide you a greater sense of the sensor dimensions in the D100 and E-PL1s.

As you can plainly see, the two cameras come with different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The D100 because of its bigger sensor will make shooting shallow DOF easier and the Olympus E-PL1s will resolve extra detail having its extra 6 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also allow you to crop shots a good deal more aggressively. The older D100 is going to be behind when it comes to sensor tech.