Olympus E-30 vs Sony NEX-5

Below is a complete analysis of the Olympus E-30 versus Sony NEX-5, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by companies Olympus and Sony. The image resolution of the E-30 (12MP) and the NEX-5 (14MP) is pretty similar but the E-30 (Four Thirds) and NEX-5 (APS-C) come with different sensor sizes.

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The E-30 was announced 14 months before the NEX-5 which makes the cameras a generation apart from each other. Both the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-30 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony NEX-5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before getting in to a in depth comparison, below is a short highlight of how the E-30 grades versus the NEX-5 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-30 & Sony Alpha NEX-5. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-30 Gallery & Sony NEX-5 Gallery.

For those who are intending to lug around your camera, you need to consider its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-30 comes with outer dimensions of 142mm x 108mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.3" x 3.0") along with a weight of 695 grams (1.53 lbs) while the Sony NEX-5 has proportions of 111mm x 59mm x 38mm (4.4" x 2.3" x 1.5") accompanied by a weight of 287 grams (0.63 lbs).

Look at the Olympus E-30 versus Sony NEX-5 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you choose during that time. Underneath is the front view dimension comparison of the E-30 versus the NEX-5.

Considering size and weight, the portability score of the E-30 and NEX-5 is 60 and 89 respectively.

Generally, it is hard to visualize the contrast between sensor measurements purely by going over specifications. The visual below will help give you a much better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-30 and NEX-5.

To sum up, the 2 cameras posses different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-30 having a tinier sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field harder and the Sony NEX-5 will deliver more detail with its extra 2MP. Higher resolution will also let you crop photographs somewhat more aggressively. The older E-30 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor technology.