Olympus E-500 vs Panasonic FH22

Its time to look much closer at the Olympus E-500 and Panasonic FH22, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by companies Olympus and Panasonic. There is a sizable difference between the image resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and FH22 (14MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and FH22 (1/2.3") boast different sensor dimensions.

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The E-500 was announced 5 years prior to the FH22 and that is quite a significant difference as far as tech is concerned. Both of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Panasonic FH22 being a Compact camera.

Before we go into a complete comparison, here is a short synopsis of how the E-500 matches up against the FH22 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-500 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH22. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-500 Gallery & Panasonic FH22 Gallery.

For anyone who is planning to lug around your camera frequently, you need to think about its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-500 offers outside measurements of 130mm x 95mm x 66mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.6") along with a weight of 479 grams (1.06 lbs) while the Panasonic FH22 has dimensions of 100mm x 57mm x 27mm (3.9" x 2.2" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 170 grams (0.37 lbs).

See the Olympus E-500 and Panasonic FH22 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you have attached at the time. The following is a front view dimensions comparison of the E-500 versus the FH22.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability rating of the E-500 and FH22 is 70 and 94 respectively.

Oftentimes, it can be hard to imagine the contrast between sensor measurements purely by going over specs. The photograph below should give you a greater sense of the sensor sizing in the E-500 and FH22.

As you can plainly see, the two cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-500 with its bigger sensor is going to make getting bokeh easier and the Panasonic FH22 will offer greater detail with its extra 6 Megapixels. Higher resolution will allow you to crop pictures a bit more aggressively. The older E-500 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.