Olympus E-30 vs Sony W690

Its time to look closer at the Olympus E-30 and Sony W690, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by brands Olympus and Sony. There exists a large gap among the sensor resolutions of the E-30 (12MP) and W690 (16MP) and the E-30 (Four Thirds) and W690 (1/2.3") possess different sensor size.

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The E-30 was announced 3 years earlier than the W690 and that is a fairly serious difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of these cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-30 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony W690 being a Compact camera.

Before going through a thorough comparison, below is a quick introduction of how the E-30 grades vs the W690 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Here is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-30 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W690. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-30 Gallery & Sony W690 Gallery.

For those who are intending to lug around your camera regularly, you have to take into account its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-30 has exterior dimensions of 142mm x 108mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.3" x 3.0") and a weight of 695 grams (1.53 lbs) while the Sony W690 has proportions of 94mm x 56mm x 22mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") and a weight of 142 grams (0.31 lbs).

Compare the Olympus E-30 and Sony W690 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an ILC will vary depending on the lens you have chosen at that moment. The following is the front view measurements comparison of the E-30 compared to the W690.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-30 and W690 is 60 and 95 respectively.

Sometimes, it is difficult to picture the difference in sensor measurements only by looking through technical specs. The graphic here might give you a more clear sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-30 and W690.

As you can tell, both cameras offer different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-30 having a bigger sensor is going to make getting shallower depth of field simpler and the Sony W690 will provide you with extra detail with its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will allow you to crop photographs a little more aggressively. The older E-30 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.