Olympus E-300 vs Sony HX80

Lets take a deeper look at the Olympus E-300 versus Sony HX80, one being a Advanced DSLR and the latter is a Small Sensor Superzoom by competitors Olympus and Sony. There exists a sizeable gap among the sensor resolutions of the E-300 (8MP) and HX80 (18MP) and the E-300 (Four Thirds) and HX80 (1/2.3") use different sensor sizes.

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The E-300 was released 12 years earlier than the HX80 and that is a fairly large gap as far as camera technology is concerned. The two cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-300 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony HX80 being a Compact camera.

Before diving straight into a full comparison, below is a brief summation of how the E-300 matches up versus the HX80 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus E-300 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX80. The complete galleries are viewable at Olympus E-300 Gallery and Sony HX80 Gallery.

When you are looking to lug around your camera often, you need to think about its weight and volume. The Olympus E-300 has outer dimensions of 147mm x 85mm x 64mm (5.8" x 3.3" x 2.5") with a weight of 624 grams (1.38 lbs) whilst the Sony HX80 has sizing of 102mm x 58mm x 36mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.4") with a weight of 245 grams (0.54 lbs).

Examine the Olympus E-300 versus Sony HX80 in the latest Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary depending on the lens you have chosen at the time. Below is the front view overall size comparison of the E-300 and the HX80.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-300 and HX80 is 67 and 91 respectively.

Quite often, it can be hard to imagine the gap in sensor measurements purely by going through a spec sheet. The visual below will help give you a clearer sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-300 and HX80.

As you can see, each of these cameras enjoy different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-300 due to its bigger sensor is going to make achieving shallower DOF less difficult and the Sony HX80 will provide more detail as a result of its extra 10MP. Higher resolution will also enable you to crop photographs far more aggressively. The older E-300 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.