Olympus E-420 vs Sony W830

Below is a thorough overview of the Olympus E-420 vs Sony W830, one being a Entry-Level DSLR and the latter is a Ultracompact by rivals Olympus and Sony. There is a huge difference between the resolutions of the E-420 (10MP) and W830 (20MP) and the E-420 (Four Thirds) and W830 (1/2.3") use totally different sensor measurements.

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The E-420 was introduced 6 years before the W830 and that is quite a significant gap as far as tech is concerned. Both of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-420 being a Compact SLR camera and the Sony W830 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before delving in to a thorough comparison, below is a quick summation of how the E-420 scores against the W830 for portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Here is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-420 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W830. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-420 Gallery and Sony W830 Gallery.

In case you're planning to lug around your camera regularly, you'll need to factor in its weight and size. The Olympus E-420 offers exterior measurements of 130mm x 91mm x 53mm (5.1" x 3.6" x 2.1") having a weight of 426 grams (0.94 lbs) whilst the Sony W830 has specifications of 93mm x 52mm x 23mm (3.7" x 2.0" x 0.9") along with a weight of 122 grams (0.27 lbs).

See the Olympus E-420 vs Sony W830 in the latest Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you use at that moment. Here is the front view measurements comparison of the E-420 compared to the W830.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability grade of the E-420 and W830 is 77 and 96 respectively.

Often, it's difficult to visualise the contrast between sensor measurements simply by checking specifications. The visual below should offer you a much better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-420 and W830.

Plainly, both the cameras posses different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-420 using its bigger sensor will make achieving shallow depth of field less difficult and the Sony W830 will resolve more detail using its extra 10MP. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop pictures somewhat more aggressively. The older E-420 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.