Nikon D300 vs Olympus E-500

Its time to take a more detailed look at the Nikon D300 and Olympus E-500, both Advanced DSLR cameras by companies Nikon and Olympus. There exists a crucial gap among the image resolutions of the D300 (12MP) and E-500 (8MP) and the D300 (APS-C) and E-500 (Four Thirds) posses totally different sensor measurements.

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The D300 was launched 2 years later than the E-500 and that is a fairly serious gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Both cameras feature the same body design (Mid-size SLR).

Before we go right into a in depth comparison, here is a short overview of how the D300 scores vs the E-500 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Nikon D300 and Olympus E-500. The complete galleries are provided at Nikon D300 Gallery and Olympus E-500 Gallery.

For anybody who is aiming to lug around your camera, you will have to take into account its weight and volume. The Nikon D300 comes with outer dimensions of 147mm x 114mm x 74mm (5.8" x 4.5" x 2.9") having a weight of 925 grams (2.04 lbs) whilst the Olympus E-500 has sizing of 130mm x 95mm x 66mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.6") with a weight of 479 grams (1.06 lbs).

Contrast the Nikon D300 and Olympus E-500 in the all new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary based on the lens you are working with at that moment. Here is a front view overall size comparison of the D300 against the E-500.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability score of the D300 and E-500 is 55 and 70 respectively.

Quite often, its difficult to visualise the gap in sensor measurements just by seeing a spec sheet. The graphic here will provide you a more clear sense of the sensor sizes in the D300 and E-500.

Clearly, both of these cameras come with different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The D300 due to its bigger sensor will make shooting shallower DOF simpler and the Nikon D300 will show extra detail utilizing its extra 4MP. Higher resolution can also make it easier to crop photographs a good deal more aggressively. The fresher D300 is going to have an edge in sensor technology.