Olympus E-400 vs Panasonic ZS30

Let's take a deeper look at the Olympus E-400 versus Panasonic ZS30, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by manufacturers Olympus and Panasonic. There is a noticeable difference among the image resolutions of the E-400 (10MP) and ZS30 (18MP) and the E-400 (Four Thirds) and ZS30 (1/2.3") feature different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The E-400 was released 7 years before the ZS30 and that is a fairly sizable difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Both of the cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-400 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic ZS30 being a Compact camera.

Before delving through a comprehensive comparison, below is a brief summation of how the E-400 scores vs the ZS30 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-400 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS30. The complete galleries are provided at Olympus E-400 Gallery & Panasonic ZS30 Gallery.

For those who are planning to carry your camera often, you are going to need to think about its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-400 enjoys outer dimensions of 130mm x 91mm x 53mm (5.1" x 3.6" x 2.1") along with a weight of 435 grams (0.96 lbs) while the Panasonic ZS30 has dimensions of 105mm x 59mm x 28mm (4.1" x 2.3" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 198 grams (0.44 lbs).

Analyze the Olympus E-400 versus Panasonic ZS30 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you choose at that time. Here is the front view over all size comparison of the E-400 and the ZS30.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability rating of the E-400 and ZS30 is 77 and 92 respectively.

Often, it can be tough to picture the gap in sensor sizing only by researching specifications. The graphic here should provide you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-400 and ZS30.

Plainly, both cameras enjoy different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-400 due to its larger sensor is going to make achieving shallower depth of field simpler and the Panasonic ZS30 will result in greater detail as a result of its extra 8 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also let you crop photos far more aggressively. The older E-400 will be behind in sensor innovation.