Olympus E-500 vs Sony RX10 II

On this page, we are evaluating the Olympus E-500 and Sony RX10 II, former being a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Large Sensor Superzoom by manufacturers Olympus and Sony. There exists a considerable gap between the image resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and RX10 II (20MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and RX10 II (1") offer totally different sensor measurements.

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The E-500 was launched 10 years before the RX10 II and that is quite a large difference as far as technology is concerned. Each of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony RX10 II being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before going straight to a detailed comparison, here is a quick highlight of how the E-500 scores vs the RX10 II with respect to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-500 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 II. The complete galleries are available at Olympus E-500 Gallery & Sony RX10 II Gallery.

For anyone who is going to lug around your camera frequently, you will have to factor in its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-500 features physical dimensions 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 Sony RX10 II has proportions of 129mm x 88mm x 102mm (5.1" x 3.5" x 4.0") accompanied by a weight of 813 grams (1.79 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-500 and Sony RX10 II in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you are utilizing at that time. Underneath is a front view measurement comparison of the E-500 compared to the RX10 II.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-500 and RX10 II is 70 and 58 respectively.

Normally, its difficult to see the contrast between sensor measurements merely by looking at technical specs. The visual below might provide you a greater sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-500 and RX10 II.

As you have seen, both of these cameras provide different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-500 because of its larger sensor will make achieving shallower DOF less difficult and the Sony RX10 II will give more detail utilizing its extra 12MP. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop pics more aggressively. The older E-500 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.