Olympus E-5 vs Panasonic XS1

Its time to look closer at the Olympus E-5 and Panasonic XS1, one is a Advanced DSLR and the other is a Small Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a significant gap between the image resolutions of the E-5 (12MP) and XS1 (16MP) and the E-5 (Four Thirds) and XS1 (1/2.3") possess different sensor sizing.

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The E-5 was released 23 months before the XS1 making the cameras a generation away from one another. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-5 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Panasonic XS1 being a Compact camera.

Before diving straight into a detailed comparison, below is a concise overview of how the E-5 matches up versus the XS1 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-5 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-XS1. The complete galleries are available at Olympus E-5 Gallery and Panasonic XS1 Gallery.

If you're looking to carry around your camera frequently, you will want to factor in its weight and size. The Olympus E-5 comes with outer dimensions of 143mm x 117mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.6" x 3.0") along with a weight of 800 grams (1.76 lbs) while the Panasonic XS1 has specifications of 94mm x 54mm x 14mm (3.7" x 2.1" x 0.6") with a weight of 103 grams (0.23 lbs).

Examine the Olympus E-5 and Panasonic XS1 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change depending on the lens you select at that moment. The following is the front view proportions comparison of the E-5 compared to the XS1.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-5 and XS1 is 58 and 97 respectively.

Quite often, it is very tough to visualize the gap between sensor sizes just by reading through a spec sheet. The picture below may provide you a much better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-5 and XS1.

Clearly, both of these cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor sizes. The E-5 because of its larger sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF easier and the Panasonic XS1 will resolve extra detail as a result of its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also make it easier to crop pics somewhat more aggressively. The more aged E-5 is going to be behind with regard to sensor tech.