Olympus E-300 vs Samsung NX5

Its time to look a bit more closely at the Olympus E-300 vs Samsung NX5, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by competitors Olympus and Samsung. There exists a large gap between the image resolutions of the E-300 (8MP) and NX5 (15MP) and the E-300 (Four Thirds) and NX5 (APS-C) come with different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The E-300 was brought out 6 years prior to the NX5 and that is quite a serious difference as far as technology is concerned. Both of these cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-300 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Samsung NX5 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera.

Before going in to a in depth comparison, below is a short overview of how the E-300 scores against the NX5 in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-300 & Samsung NX5. The entire galleries are available at Olympus E-300 Gallery & Samsung NX5 Gallery.

For anybody who is planning to carry your camera, you'll need to take into account its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-300 comes with outside measurements of 147mm x 85mm x 64mm (5.8" x 3.3" x 2.5") accompanied by a weight of 624 grams (1.38 lbs) while the Samsung NX5 has proportions of 123mm x 87mm x 40mm (4.8" x 3.4" x 1.6") having a weight of 499 grams (1.10 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-300 vs Samsung NX5 in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you are utilising at that time. Underneath is the front view physical size comparison of the E-300 vs the NX5.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-300 and NX5 is 67 and 80 respectively.

Typically, it is very hard to visualize the gap between sensor sizing just by reading through a spec sheet. The graphic underneath may provide you a stronger sense of the sensor sizing in the E-300 and NX5.

As you can see, each of these cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-300 because of its tinier sensor is going to make achieving shallower depth of field more difficult and the Samsung NX5 will give you more detail having its extra 7 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also make it easier to crop photographs a little more aggressively. The older E-300 is going to be behind with regard to sensor tech.