Olympus E-400 vs Panasonic FZ70

Lets look a little more closely at the Olympus E-400 vs Panasonic FZ70, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by competitors Olympus and Panasonic. There is a large difference between the sensor resolutions of the E-400 (10MP) and FZ70 (16MP) and the E-400 (Four Thirds) and FZ70 (1/2.3") offer totally different sensor sizing.

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The E-400 was manufactured 7 years prior to the FZ70 and that is quite a serious difference as far as tech is concerned. Each of these cameras feature different body design with the Olympus E-400 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic FZ70 being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before we go right into a more detailed comparison, here is a short overview of how the E-400 scores vs the FZ70 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-400 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ70. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus E-400 Gallery & Panasonic FZ70 Gallery.

If you're going to carry your camera often, you will want to think about its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-400 provides outside dimensions of 130mm x 91mm x 53mm (5.1" x 3.6" x 2.1") having a weight of 435 grams (0.96 lbs) while the Panasonic FZ70 has dimensions of 130mm x 97mm x 118mm (5.1" x 3.8" x 4.6") with a weight of 606 grams (1.34 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-400 vs Panasonic FZ70 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you select at the time. Below is a front view sizing comparison of the E-400 vs the FZ70.

Looking at size and weight, the portability grade of the E-400 and FZ70 is 77 and 63 respectively.

Often, its tough to envision the difference between sensor sizing only by checking a spec sheet. The visual below should provide you a better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-400 and FZ70.

As you can see, each of the cameras come with different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-400 because of its larger sensor will make shooting shallow DOF easier and the Panasonic FZ70 will give you more detail due to its extra 6MP. Greater resolution can also allow you to crop pics a good deal more aggressively. The older E-400 is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor innovation.