Olympus E-1 vs Panasonic FP5

Its time to look a bit more in depth at the Olympus E-1 vs Panasonic FP5, one being a Pro DSLR and the latter is a Ultracompact by brands Olympus and Panasonic. There is a crucial difference among the image resolutions of the E-1 (5MP) and FP5 (14MP) and the E-1 (Four Thirds) and FP5 (1/2.3") enjoy different sensor sizing.

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The E-1 was introduced 8 years prior to the FP5 and that is a fairly serious gap as far as camera tech is concerned. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-1 being a Large SLR camera and the Panasonic FP5 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before getting in to a thorough comparison, below is a short summary of how the E-1 grades against the FP5 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-1 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP5. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-1 Gallery and Panasonic FP5 Gallery.

For anyone who is planning to lug around your camera often, you'll need to take into account its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-1 offers outside dimensions of 141mm x 104mm x 81mm (5.6" x 4.1" x 3.2") having a weight of 735 grams (1.62 lbs) whilst the Panasonic FP5 has measurements of 101mm x 59mm x 18mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 0.7") along with a weight of 141 grams (0.31 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-1 vs Panasonic FP5 in the all new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you are utilizing at the time. Below is the front view dimensions comparison of the E-1 and the FP5.

Considering size and weight, the portability grade of the E-1 and FP5 is 59 and 95 respectively.

Often, its hard to imagine the contrast in sensor measurements just by viewing technical specs. The graphic here will offer you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the E-1 and FP5.

As you can tell, the two cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-1 having a bigger sensor is going to make achieving shallow depth of field simpler and the Panasonic FP5 will render greater detail using its extra 9 Megapixels. Higher resolution will let you crop shots much more aggressively. The older E-1 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.