Olympus E-3 vs Samsung NX500

Its time to look more in depth at the Olympus E-3 versus Samsung NX500, former being a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by companies Olympus and Samsung. There exists a sizable gap among the sensor resolutions of the E-3 (10MP) and NX500 (28MP) and the E-3 (Four Thirds) and NX500 (APS-C) posses totally different sensor dimensions.

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The E-3 was manufactured 8 years earlier than the NX500 and that is a fairly significant difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-3 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Samsung NX500 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before getting right into a full comparison, here is a simple summary of how the E-3 scores against the NX500 with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-3 & Samsung NX500. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus E-3 Gallery & Samsung NX500 Gallery.

In case you're planning to lug around your camera frequently, you'll need to factor in its weight and size. The Olympus E-3 provides exterior measurements of 142mm x 116mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.6" x 3.0") along with a weight of 890 grams (1.96 lbs) and the Samsung NX500 has specifications of 120mm x 64mm x 43mm (4.7" x 2.5" x 1.7") and a weight of 287 grams (0.63 lbs).

Compare the Olympus E-3 versus Samsung NX500 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you choose during that time. Underneath is a front view dimension comparison of the E-3 versus the NX500.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-3 and NX500 is 56 and 87 respectively.

Quite often, it's tough to visualise the gap in sensor measurements simply by researching specs. The graphic underneath may offer you a clearer sense of the sensor measurements in the E-3 and NX500.

As you can plainly see, both of these cameras have different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-3 due to its smaller sensor will make achieving shallow depth of field trickier and the Samsung NX500 will render more detail due to its extra 18 Megapixels. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop images a bit more aggressively. The older E-3 will be behind with regard to sensor tech.