Olympus E-30 vs Sony WX10

Its time to look more closely at the Olympus E-30 and Sony WX10, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by rivals Olympus and Sony. There exists a noticeable gap between the image resolutions of the E-30 (12MP) and WX10 (16MP) and the E-30 (Four Thirds) and WX10 (1/2.3") offer different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The E-30 was announced 21 months earlier than the WX10 which makes them a generation apart from one another. Both of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-30 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony WX10 being a Compact camera.

Before going into a step-by-step comparison, here is a simple synopsis of how the E-30 grades vs the WX10 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-30 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX10. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-30 Gallery & Sony WX10 Gallery.

If you are intending to carry your camera frequently, you'll need to consider its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-30 offers outer measurements of 142mm x 108mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.3" x 3.0") and a weight of 695 grams (1.53 lbs) and the Sony WX10 has measurements of 95mm x 54mm x 23mm (3.7" x 2.1" x 0.9") with a weight of 161 grams (0.35 lbs).

Compare the Olympus E-30 and Sony WX10 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will change based on the lens you are employing at that moment. The following is a front view scale comparison of the E-30 and the WX10.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-30 and WX10 is 60 and 95 respectively.

Sometimes, its difficult to visualize the contrast between sensor sizing simply by checking specifications. The graphic below should give you a more clear sense of the sensor measurements in the E-30 and WX10.

Plainly, the two cameras have different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-30 using its bigger sensor is going to make achieving bokeh less difficult and the Sony WX10 will give you more detail with its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also allow you to crop pictures a bit more aggressively. The older E-30 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor technology.