Olympus E-3 vs Sony W510

Its time to take a more detailed look at the Olympus E-3 and Sony W510, former is a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Ultracompact by brands Olympus and Sony. The resolution of the E-3 (10MP) and the W510 (12MP) is fairly close but the E-3 (Four Thirds) and W510 (1/2.3") possess different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The E-3 was brought out 3 years prior to the W510 which is a fairly sizable difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-3 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony W510 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before going through a thorough comparison, below is a short synopsis of how the E-3 matches up against the W510 with respect to portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

Below is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-3 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W510. The entire galleries are available at Olympus E-3 Gallery & Sony W510 Gallery.

For those who are aiming to carry around your camera regularly, you are going to need to factor its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-3 provides outer measurements of 142mm x 116mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.6" x 3.0") and a weight of 890 grams (1.96 lbs) and the Sony W510 has measurements of 96mm x 54mm x 20mm (3.8" x 2.1" x 0.8") with a weight of 119 grams (0.26 lbs).

Compare the Olympus E-3 and Sony W510 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you are working with during that time. The following is the front view scale comparison of the E-3 and the W510.

Considering size and weight, the portability rating of the E-3 and W510 is 56 and 96 respectively.

Oftentimes, it's difficult to picture the difference in sensor sizes purely by looking through a spec sheet. The picture here should give you a greater sense of the sensor sizing in the E-3 and W510.

As you can see, the two cameras posses different megapixel count and different sensor sizes. The E-3 because of its larger sensor is going to make achieving shallow depth of field less difficult and the Sony W510 will render more detail having its extra 2MP. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop pics somewhat more aggressively. The more aged E-3 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.