Olympus E-30 vs Sony RX100 III

Here is a detailed analysis of the Olympus E-30 and Sony RX100 III, former being a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Large Sensor Compact by brands Olympus and Sony. There exists a substantial gap among the resolutions of the E-30 (12MP) and RX100 III (20MP) and the E-30 (Four Thirds) and RX100 III (1") boast different sensor size.

Photography Glossary

The E-30 was revealed 6 years earlier than the RX100 III and that is a fairly big difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of the cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-30 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony RX100 III being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before getting straight to a complete comparison, here is a concise summation of how the E-30 scores against the RX100 III for portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Here is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-30 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 III. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-30 Gallery & Sony RX100 III Gallery.

In case you're looking to carry your camera often, you should factor in its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-30 offers outside measurements of 142mm x 108mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.3" x 3.0") with a weight of 695 grams (1.53 lbs) whilst the Sony RX100 III has measurements of 102mm x 58mm x 41mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.6") having a weight of 290 grams (0.64 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-30 and Sony RX100 III in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you use at the time. Underneath is a front view size comparison of the E-30 against the RX100 III.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-30 and RX100 III is 60 and 89 respectively.

Quite often, it can be hard to imagine the gap in sensor sizing simply by viewing a spec sheet. The visual below might offer you a stronger sense of the sensor sizing in the E-30 and RX100 III.

As you can see, both of these cameras provide different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-30 having a larger sensor is going to make shooting shallow depth of field simpler and the Sony RX100 III will render greater detail because of its extra 8MP. Greater resolution will also enable you to crop images more aggressively. The older E-30 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.