Olympus E-400 vs Sony NEX-5

Here is a complete review of the Olympus E-400 versus Sony NEX-5, one being a Entry-Level DSLR and the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by companies Olympus and Sony. There exists a big gap among the image resolutions of the E-400 (10MP) and NEX-5 (14MP) and the E-400 (Four Thirds) and NEX-5 (APS-C) posses different sensor size.

Photography Glossary

The E-400 was unveiled 4 years before the NEX-5 and that is a fairly big gap as far as camera technology is concerned. The two cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-400 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony NEX-5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before going right into a full comparison, here is a brief highlight of how the E-400 matches up against the NEX-5 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Below is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus E-400 and Sony Alpha NEX-5. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-400 Gallery and Sony NEX-5 Gallery.

If you're going to carry your camera often, you have to consider its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-400 provides outer measurements of 130mm x 91mm x 53mm (5.1" x 3.6" x 2.1") with a weight of 435 grams (0.96 lbs) and the Sony NEX-5 has proportions of 111mm x 59mm x 38mm (4.4" x 2.3" x 1.5") and a weight of 287 grams (0.63 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-400 versus Sony NEX-5 in the latest Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you select at the time. Here is a front view scale comparison of the E-400 versus the NEX-5.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-400 and NEX-5 is 77 and 89 respectively.

More often than not, it is very hard to picture the difference in sensor sizing purely by looking through specs. The photograph below will provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizing in the E-400 and NEX-5.

All in all, each of these cameras have different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-400 using its smaller sensor is going to make shooting shallow depth of field more challenging and the Sony NEX-5 will render greater detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will make it easier to crop photographs a bit more aggressively. The older E-400 will be behind in sensor tech.