Olympus E-500 vs Olympus VR-330

Below is a extended overview of the Olympus E-500 and Olympus VR-330, one being a Advanced DSLR and the latter is a Small Sensor Superzoom and they are both offered by Olympus. There is a big difference among the resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and VR-330 (14MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and VR-330 (1/2.3") have totally different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The E-500 was announced 6 years prior to the VR-330 and that is a fairly big gap as far as camera tech is concerned. Both cameras feature different body design with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Olympus VR-330 being a Compact camera.

Before we go right into a step-by-step comparison, here is a short summation of how the E-500 scores versus the VR-330 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-500 and Olympus VR-330. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-500 Gallery and Olympus VR-330 Gallery.

When you are going to lug around your camera, you have to factor its weight and volume. The Olympus E-500 features physical measurements of 130mm x 95mm x 66mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.6") having a weight of 479 grams (1.06 lbs) and the Olympus VR-330 has sizing of 101mm x 58mm x 29mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.1") with a weight of 158 grams (0.35 lbs).

Look at the Olympus E-500 and Olympus VR-330 in the latest Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you choose during that time. Following is a front view overall size comparison of the E-500 against the VR-330.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability grade of the E-500 and VR-330 is 70 and 94 respectively.

In many cases, its hard to envision the difference in sensor measurements only by checking out a spec sheet. The visual below may provide you a better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-500 and VR-330.

As you can see, each of these cameras come with different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-500 with its bigger sensor will make achieving shallower DOF simpler and the Olympus VR-330 will provide extra detail with its extra 6MP. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop photographs a good deal more aggressively. The older E-500 will be disadvantaged with regard to sensor technology.