Olympus E-420 vs Olympus FE-4000

Let's take a closer look at the Olympus E-420 and Olympus FE-4000, former is a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Compact and both are produced by Olympus. The sensor resolution of the E-420 (10MP) and the FE-4000 (12MP) is very similar but the E-420 (Four Thirds) and FE-4000 (1/2.3") possess different sensor size.

Photography Glossary

The E-420 was revealed 13 months before the FE-4000 making the cameras a generation away from each other. Each of the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-420 being a Compact SLR camera and the Olympus FE-4000 being a Compact camera.

Before we go straight into a thorough comparison, below is a short highlight of how the E-420 scores vs the FE-4000 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-420 & Olympus FE-4000. The full galleries are viewable at Olympus E-420 Gallery & Olympus FE-4000 Gallery.

If you're going to carry around your camera frequently, you will want to consider its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-420 has external dimensions of 130mm x 91mm x 53mm (5.1" x 3.6" x 2.1") along with a weight of 426 grams (0.94 lbs) while the Olympus FE-4000 has measurements of 95mm x 57mm x 22mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") having a weight of 136 grams (0.30 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-420 and Olympus FE-4000 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you choose during that time. Following is the front view dimension comparison of the E-420 versus the FE-4000.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability rating of the E-420 and FE-4000 is 77 and 95 respectively.

Generally, it's tough to picture the difference between sensor sizes only by reading a spec sheet. The pic here should give you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the E-420 and FE-4000.

As you can see, both of these cameras posses different megapixel count and different sensor sizes. The E-420 having a larger sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF simpler and the Olympus FE-4000 will offer you more detail because of its extra 2MP. Greater resolution will help you crop pics somewhat more aggressively. The more aged E-420 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.