Olympus E-330 vs Sigma DP2 Merrill

Let's look more closely at the Olympus E-330 vs Sigma DP2 Merrill, one being a Advanced DSLR and the latter is a Large Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Sigma. There exists a sizeable gap between the resolutions of the E-330 (7MP) and DP2 Merrill (15MP) and the E-330 (Four Thirds) and DP2 Merrill (APS-C) provide different sensor measurements.

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The E-330 was brought out 6 years prior to the DP2 Merrill and that is quite a large gap as far as technology is concerned. Both the cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-330 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sigma DP2 Merrill being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before delving right into a complete comparison, here is a concise introduction of how the E-330 scores versus the DP2 Merrill in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-330 and Sigma DP2 Merrill. The entire galleries are available at Olympus E-330 Gallery and Sigma DP2 Merrill Gallery.

If you're aiming to lug around your camera regularly, you will have to take into account its weight and volume. The Olympus E-330 comes with outer measurements of 140mm x 87mm x 72mm (5.5" x 3.4" x 2.8") along with a weight of 616 grams (1.36 lbs) while the Sigma DP2 Merrill has sizing of 122mm x 67mm x 59mm (4.8" x 2.6" x 2.3") and a weight of 330 grams (0.73 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-330 vs Sigma DP2 Merrill in the latest Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you are using at the time. Following is a front view overall size comparison of the E-330 compared to the DP2 Merrill.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-330 and DP2 Merrill is 65 and 83 respectively.

More often than not, it's difficult to imagine the gap between sensor measurements merely by reading a spec sheet. The photograph here may provide you a far better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-330 and DP2 Merrill.

As you can see, the two cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-330 due to its tinier sensor is going to make getting shallower DOF more difficult and the Sigma DP2 Merrill will offer greater detail having its extra 8 Megapixels. Higher resolution will let you crop pictures a bit more aggressively. The older E-330 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor tech.