Olympus E-1 vs Olympus TG-870

Let's look closer at the Olympus E-1 versus Olympus TG-870, one is a Pro DSLR and the latter is a Ultracompact and they are both offered by Olympus. There exists a big gap among the image resolutions of the E-1 (5MP) and TG-870 (16MP) and the E-1 (Four Thirds) and TG-870 (1/2.3") offer different sensor sizes.

Photography Glossary

The E-1 was announced 13 years earlier than the TG-870 which is a fairly big gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of the cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-1 being a Large SLR camera and the Olympus TG-870 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before getting into a full comparison, here is a simple view of how the E-1 matches up against the TG-870 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-1 and Olympus Stylus Tough TG-870. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-1 Gallery and Olympus TG-870 Gallery.

When you are going to carry around your camera regularly, you have to consider its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-1 features physical dimensions of 141mm x 104mm x 81mm (5.6" x 4.1" x 3.2") accompanied by a weight of 735 grams (1.62 lbs) whilst the Olympus TG-870 has dimensions of 113mm x 64mm x 28mm (4.4" x 2.5" x 1.1") with a weight of 221 grams (0.49 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-1 versus Olympus TG-870 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary based on the lens you use at the time. Following is a front view measurement comparison of the E-1 against the TG-870.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-1 and TG-870 is 59 and 91 respectively.

Normally, it is very hard to imagine the difference in sensor sizes purely by going through specs. The picture here might provide you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-1 and TG-870.

As you can plainly see, both the cameras have different megapixels and different sensor sizes. The E-1 with its bigger sensor is going to make achieving shallow depth of field simpler and the Olympus TG-870 will show greater detail with its extra 11 Megapixels. Higher resolution will make it easier to crop photographs a bit more aggressively. The more aged E-1 will be behind in sensor technology.