Olympus E-3 vs Sony W800

Let's look much closer at the Olympus E-3 versus Sony W800, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Sony. There exists a large gap between the resolutions of the E-3 (10MP) and W800 (20MP) and the E-3 (Four Thirds) and W800 (1/2.3") come with different sensor sizing.

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The E-3 was manufactured 7 years prior to the W800 and that is quite a serious difference as far as technology is concerned. Both of the cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-3 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony W800 being a Compact camera.

Before diving through a detailed comparison, below is a quick overview of how the E-3 grades against the W800 with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Here is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-3 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W800. The entire galleries are available at Olympus E-3 Gallery & Sony W800 Gallery.

For those who are looking to carry your camera often, you have to consider its weight and volume. The Olympus E-3 features external dimensions of 142mm x 116mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.6" x 3.0") having a weight of 890 grams (1.96 lbs) while the Sony W800 has sizing of 97mm x 55mm x 21mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.8") and a weight of 125 grams (0.28 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-3 versus Sony W800 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will differ depending on the lens you select during that time. Below is the front view proportions comparison of the E-3 compared to the W800.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-3 and W800 is 56 and 96 respectively.

Typically, it is very hard to picture the difference between sensor sizing simply by reading through technical specs. The photograph here will help offer you a greater sense of the sensor sizes in the E-3 and W800.

As you have seen, each of the cameras enjoy different megapixel count and different sensor sizing. The E-3 due to its bigger sensor is going to make achieving shallow DOF easier and the Sony W800 will give you more detail due to its extra 10 Megapixels. Higher resolution will allow you to crop photographs far more aggressively. The older E-3 is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor innovation.