Olympus E-450 vs Panasonic ZS30

Here is a extensive assessment of the Olympus E-450 and Panasonic ZS30, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by companies Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a substantial gap among the sensor resolutions of the E-450 (10MP) and ZS30 (18MP) and the E-450 (Four Thirds) and ZS30 (1/2.3") offer different sensor size.

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The E-450 was unveiled 4 years earlier than the ZS30 and that is a fairly big difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Both cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-450 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic ZS30 being a Compact camera.

Before diving into a thorough comparison, here is a quick introduction of how the E-450 scores versus the ZS30 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

The following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-450 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS30. The full galleries are viewable at Olympus E-450 Gallery & Panasonic ZS30 Gallery.

For those who are planning to carry your camera often, you will have to take into account its weight and volume. The Olympus E-450 enjoys outer 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) and the Panasonic ZS30 has sizing of 105mm x 59mm x 28mm (4.1" x 2.3" x 1.1") with a weight of 198 grams (0.44 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-450 and Panasonic ZS30 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you are working with at the time. The following is a front view size comparison of the E-450 and the ZS30.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-450 and ZS30 is 77 and 92 respectively.

Typically, it's hard to picture the gap in sensor sizing just by viewing technical specs. The visual below will help provide you a better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-450 and ZS30.

As you have seen, both of the cameras have different megapixels and different sensor sizing. The E-450 with its larger sensor is going to make achieving shallow DOF easier and the Panasonic ZS30 will render extra detail having an extra 8 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also help you crop pics a bit more aggressively. The older E-450 will be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.