Olympus E-450 vs Panasonic FP5

Let's look much closer at the Olympus E-450 and Panasonic FP5, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the latter is a Ultracompact by rivals Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a substantial gap among the resolutions of the E-450 (10MP) and FP5 (14MP) and the E-450 (Four Thirds) and FP5 (1/2.3") enjoy different sensor measurements.

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The E-450 was launched 21 months prior to the FP5 which makes the cameras a generation apart from one another. Both of the cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-450 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic FP5 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before delving in to a step-by-step comparison, below is a brief summation of how the E-450 scores vs the FP5 with respect to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-450 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-FP5. The complete galleries are provided at Olympus E-450 Gallery & Panasonic FP5 Gallery.

For those who are looking to lug around your camera regularly, you'll need to think about its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-450 features outside dimensions of 130mm x 91mm x 53mm (5.1" x 3.6" x 2.1") accompanied by a weight of 426 grams (0.94 lbs) whilst the Panasonic FP5 has dimensions of 101mm x 59mm x 18mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 0.7") and a weight of 141 grams (0.31 lbs).

See the Olympus E-450 and Panasonic FP5 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will vary based on the lens you are utilizing at that time. Underneath is the front view dimension comparison of the E-450 and the FP5.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-450 and FP5 is 77 and 95 respectively.

Quite often, it can be hard to visualize the difference in sensor measurements just by viewing a spec sheet. The graphic below should offer you a more clear sense of the sensor sizes in the E-450 and FP5.

As you can see, both of the cameras enjoy different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-450 because of its bigger sensor is going to make getting bokeh simpler and the Panasonic FP5 will result in greater detail utilizing its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also allow you to crop shots far more aggressively. The older E-450 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor tech.