Olympus E-3 vs Sony WX500

Lets look much closer at the Olympus E-3 versus Sony WX500, one being a Advanced DSLR and the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by companies Olympus and Sony. There is a sizeable difference between the sensor resolutions of the E-3 (10MP) and WX500 (18MP) and the E-3 (Four Thirds) and WX500 (1/2.3") come with totally different sensor size.

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The E-3 was launched 8 years before the WX500 and that is quite a large gap as far as tech is concerned. The two cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-3 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony WX500 being a Compact camera.

Before delving straight into a full comparison, below is a quick overview of how the E-3 scores vs the WX500 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Here is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-3 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX500. The complete galleries are provided at Olympus E-3 Gallery and Sony WX500 Gallery.

For those who are looking to lug around your camera often, you're going to have to factor in its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-3 features external dimensions of 142mm x 116mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.6" x 3.0") with a weight of 890 grams (1.96 lbs) whilst the Sony WX500 has proportions of 102mm x 58mm x 36mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.4") along with a weight of 236 grams (0.52 lbs).

Examine the Olympus E-3 versus Sony WX500 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary depending on the lens you have chosen at the time. Here is the front view measurements comparison of the E-3 compared to the WX500.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability grade of the E-3 and WX500 is 56 and 91 respectively.

Often, it is tough to visualise the gap between sensor measurements just by reading specs. The visual underneath may give you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-3 and WX500.

As you can plainly see, each of these cameras offer different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-3 because of its larger sensor will make shooting shallower depth of field easier and the Sony WX500 will offer more detail utilizing its extra 8 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop photos a little more aggressively. The older E-3 is going to be behind in sensor innovation.