Olympus E-420 vs Sony HX80

Below, we will be contrasting the Olympus E-420 and Sony HX80, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Superzoom by rivals Olympus and Sony. There exists a substantial gap among the image resolutions of the E-420 (10MP) and HX80 (18MP) and the E-420 (Four Thirds) and HX80 (1/2.3") possess different sensor size.

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The E-420 was announced 8 years prior to the HX80 and that is a fairly big difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Both cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-420 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony HX80 being a Compact camera.

Before diving in to a in-depth comparison, below is a simple highlight of how the E-420 grades vs the HX80 with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus E-420 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX80. The whole galleries are available at Olympus E-420 Gallery & Sony HX80 Gallery.

If you're looking to lug around your camera often, you will want to take into account its weight and size. The Olympus E-420 has outside measurements 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 Sony HX80 has specifications of 102mm x 58mm x 36mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.4") and a weight of 245 grams (0.54 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-420 and Sony HX80 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you use at that time. Here is the front view measurement comparison of the E-420 compared to the HX80.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-420 and HX80 is 77 and 91 respectively.

More often than not, it is tough to visualize the contrast in sensor measurements merely by going through a spec sheet. The photograph below should provide you a clearer sense of the sensor measurements in the E-420 and HX80.

Clearly, both cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-420 having a bigger sensor is going to make getting shallow DOF simpler and the Sony HX80 will produce greater detail with its extra 8MP. Higher resolution will make it easier to crop pictures somewhat more aggressively. The older E-420 will be behind when it comes to sensor technology.