Olympus E-400 vs Sony HX300

Its time to look a bit more closely at the Olympus E-400 and Sony HX300, one being a Entry-Level DSLR and the latter is a Small Sensor Superzoom by competitors Olympus and Sony. There exists a huge gap between the resolutions of the E-400 (10MP) and HX300 (20MP) and the E-400 (Four Thirds) and HX300 (1/2.3") feature different sensor sizes.

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The E-400 was announced 7 years before the HX300 and that is quite a significant gap as far as technology is concerned. The two cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-400 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony HX300 being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before diving straight into a in depth comparison, below is a short view of how the E-400 scores against the HX300 with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Here is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-400 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-400 Gallery and Sony HX300 Gallery.

For those who are intending to carry your camera frequently, you need to factor its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-400 has external dimensions of 130mm x 91mm x 53mm (5.1" x 3.6" x 2.1") accompanied by a weight of 435 grams (0.96 lbs) while the Sony HX300 has measurements of 130mm x 103mm x 93mm (5.1" x 4.1" x 3.7") along with a weight of 623 grams (1.37 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-400 and Sony HX300 in the all new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ based on the lens you use during that time. The following is the front view sizing comparison of the E-400 against the HX300.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-400 and HX300 is 77 and 63 respectively.

Normally, it can be hard to visualize the contrast between sensor sizing just by looking at a spec sheet. The graphic here will help offer you a much better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-400 and HX300.

Clearly, each of these cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-400 with its bigger sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field simpler and the Sony HX300 will resolve extra detail with its extra 10MP. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop pictures a little more aggressively. The older E-400 is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor tech.