Olympus E-30 vs Sony NEX-3N

On this page, we will be comparing the Olympus E-30 vs Sony NEX-3N, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by brands Olympus and Sony. There exists a noticeable gap between the sensor resolutions of the E-30 (12MP) and NEX-3N (16MP) and the E-30 (Four Thirds) and NEX-3N (APS-C) offer totally different sensor measurements.

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The E-30 was introduced 4 years before the NEX-3N and that is quite a sizable difference as far as technology is concerned. Each of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-30 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony NEX-3N being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before going into a complete comparison, here is a simple summary of how the E-30 grades versus the NEX-3N in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus E-30 & Sony Alpha NEX-3N. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-30 Gallery & Sony NEX-3N Gallery.

For anyone who is planning to lug around your camera frequently, you'll have to consider its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-30 enjoys outside dimensions of 142mm x 108mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.3" x 3.0") accompanied by a weight of 695 grams (1.53 lbs) and the Sony NEX-3N has proportions of 110mm x 62mm x 35mm (4.3" x 2.4" x 1.4") having a weight of 269 grams (0.59 lbs).

Look at the Olympus E-30 vs Sony NEX-3N in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will differ depending on the lens you are using at the time. Here is a front view overall size comparison of the E-30 vs the NEX-3N.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-30 and NEX-3N is 60 and 89 respectively.

Normally, it is very hard to visualise the gap between sensor measurements only by checking specifications. The photograph underneath may give you a much better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-30 and NEX-3N.

Plainly, both of these cameras have different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-30 using its tinier sensor will make getting shallow depth of field more challenging and the Sony NEX-3N will give greater detail using its extra 4MP. Higher resolution will also allow you to crop photographs a bit more aggressively. The older E-30 is going to be behind in sensor technology.