Olympus E-500 vs Panasonic SZ3

The following is a thorough overview of the Olympus E-500 and Panasonic SZ3, former is a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by brands Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a large gap among the resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and SZ3 (16MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and SZ3 (1/2.3") enjoy totally different sensor sizes.

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The E-500 was revealed 8 years before the SZ3 which is a fairly serious difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Panasonic SZ3 being a Compact camera.

Before getting straight into a in depth comparison, below is a brief summary of how the E-500 scores versus the SZ3 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Here is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus E-500 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ3. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-500 Gallery & Panasonic SZ3 Gallery.

When you are intending to travel with your camera regularly, you will want to think about its weight and size. The Olympus E-500 enjoys external measurements of 130mm x 95mm x 66mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.6") and a weight of 479 grams (1.06 lbs) while the Panasonic SZ3 has specifications of 95mm x 56mm x 22mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") along with a weight of 126 grams (0.28 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-500 and Panasonic SZ3 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you have attached at the time. Below is the front view overall size comparison of the E-500 and the SZ3.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-500 and SZ3 is 70 and 96 respectively.

More often than not, it's hard to visualise the difference in sensor dimensions only by looking through specifications. The pic underneath may provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizing in the E-500 and SZ3.

To sum up, both of the cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor dimensions. The E-500 using its bigger sensor will make achieving shallower depth of field simpler and the Panasonic SZ3 will render greater detail because of its extra 8 Megapixels. Higher resolution will help you crop pictures somewhat more aggressively. The more aged E-500 will be behind when it comes to sensor tech.