Olympus E-500 vs Sony A500

The following is a complete review of the Olympus E-500 and Sony A500, former is a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by brands Olympus and Sony. There exists a substantial gap among the sensor resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and A500 (12MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and A500 (APS-C) offer different sensor size.

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The E-500 was manufactured 4 years earlier than the A500 which is a fairly big difference as far as camera technology is concerned. The two cameras feature different body design with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony A500 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before getting right into a in-depth comparison, here is a quick synopsis of how the E-500 grades against the A500 with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

The following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-500 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A500. The entire galleries are viewable at Olympus E-500 Gallery & Sony A500 Gallery.

If you're intending to travel with your camera frequently, you'll need to take into account its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-500 features outer dimensions 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 Sony A500 has dimensions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") with a weight of 630 grams (1.39 lbs).

See the Olympus E-500 and Sony A500 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you select during that time. Following is a front view overall size comparison of the E-500 and the A500.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-500 and A500 is 70 and 63 respectively.

Normally, its tough to picture the difference in sensor dimensions just by researching a spec sheet. The image here may provide you a clearer sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-500 and A500.

As you can see, each of these cameras come with different megapixels and different sensor dimensions. The E-500 due to its smaller sensor is going to make achieving shallow DOF tougher and the Sony A500 will render more detail due to its extra 4MP. Greater resolution will also let you crop images a good deal more aggressively. The more aged E-500 will be behind when it comes to sensor tech.