Olympus E-5 vs Olympus VR-340

Below is a detailed comparison of the Olympus E-5 vs Olympus VR-340, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact and they are both produced by Olympus. There exists a sizable gap among the resolutions of the E-5 (12MP) and VR-340 (16MP) and the E-5 (Four Thirds) and VR-340 (1/2.3") come with different sensor measurements.

Pentax 17 Pre-Orders Outperform Expectations by a Landslide

The E-5 was released 11 months earlier than the VR-340 so they are both of a similar age. Both of the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-5 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Olympus VR-340 being a Compact camera.

Before we go in to a in depth comparison, below is a short introduction of how the E-5 scores vs the VR-340 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-5 & Olympus VR-340. The complete galleries are available at Olympus E-5 Gallery & Olympus VR-340 Gallery.

For anybody who is looking to lug around your camera regularly, you'll have to consider its weight and size. The Olympus E-5 enjoys external dimensions of 143mm x 117mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.6" x 3.0") and a weight of 800 grams (1.76 lbs) whilst the Olympus VR-340 has specifications of 96mm x 57mm x 19mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.7") with a weight of 125 grams (0.28 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-5 vs Olympus VR-340 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will vary depending on the lens you are utilizing at that time. The following is the front view size comparison of the E-5 versus the VR-340.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-5 and VR-340 is 58 and 96 respectively.

More often than not, its hard to visualize the difference in sensor measurements just by researching specifications. The graphic here will help offer you a much better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-5 and VR-340.

To sum up, the 2 cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-5 due to its bigger sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF less difficult and the Olympus VR-340 will provide you with more detail as a result of its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will make it easier to crop shots somewhat more aggressively. The older E-5 will be disadvantaged in sensor technology.