Olympus E-300 vs Olympus TG-870

Below is a detailed assessment of the Olympus E-300 and Olympus TG-870, one being a Advanced DSLR and the other is a Ultracompact and both are manufactured by Olympus. There exists a significant gap between the resolutions of the E-300 (8MP) and TG-870 (16MP) and the E-300 (Four Thirds) and TG-870 (1/2.3") feature different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The E-300 was announced 12 years before the TG-870 and that is quite a sizable gap as far as technology is concerned. The two cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-300 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Olympus TG-870 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before diving through a detailed comparison, below is a concise overview of how the E-300 grades against the TG-870 for portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-300 and Olympus Stylus Tough TG-870. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-300 Gallery and Olympus TG-870 Gallery.

If you are going to lug around your camera, you're going to have to factor in its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-300 provides external dimensions of 147mm x 85mm x 64mm (5.8" x 3.3" x 2.5") with a weight of 624 grams (1.38 lbs) and the Olympus TG-870 has measurements of 113mm x 64mm x 28mm (4.4" x 2.5" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 221 grams (0.49 lbs).

Compare the Olympus E-300 and Olympus TG-870 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ dependant on the lens you choose at the time. The following is the front view dimension comparison of the E-300 vs the TG-870.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-300 and TG-870 is 67 and 91 respectively.

Normally, its tough to imagine the difference between sensor measurements merely by looking at a spec sheet. The visual below will provide you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-300 and TG-870.

As you can see, both of these cameras posses different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-300 using its larger sensor is going to make shooting shallow depth of field easier and the Olympus TG-870 will resolve more detail with its extra 8 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also enable you to crop photos somewhat more aggressively. The older E-300 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.