Olympus E-500 vs Sony S2000

Its time to take a closer look at the Olympus E-500 vs Sony S2000, one being a Advanced DSLR and the other is a Small Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Sony. The sensor resolution of the E-500 (8MP) and the S2000 (10MP) is fairly well matched but the E-500 (Four Thirds) and S2000 (1/2.3") enjoy totally different sensor sizing.

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The E-500 was brought out 5 years earlier than the S2000 and that is quite a big gap as far as tech is concerned. Both cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony S2000 being a Compact camera.

Before getting through a full comparison, below is a simple highlight of how the E-500 scores vs the S2000 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-500 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-S2000. The entire galleries are available at Olympus E-500 Gallery and Sony S2000 Gallery.

If you're aiming to lug around your camera frequently, you are going to need to factor in its weight and volume. The Olympus E-500 enjoys outer dimensions of 130mm x 95mm x 66mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.6") and a weight of 479 grams (1.06 lbs) and the Sony S2000 has sizing of 98mm x 61mm x 27mm (3.9" x 2.4" x 1.1") along with a weight of 167 grams (0.37 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-500 vs Sony S2000 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary dependant on the lens you have at that time. Here is the front view measurements comparison of the E-500 versus the S2000.

Looking at size and weight, the portability grade of the E-500 and S2000 is 70 and 93 respectively.

In many cases, it is very difficult to see the difference between sensor measurements simply by checking a spec sheet. The graphic below might provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-500 and S2000.

Clearly, each of these cameras offer different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-500 due to its larger sensor will make shooting shallower DOF easier and the Sony S2000 will give you more detail having its extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop pics a little more aggressively. The older E-500 is going to be behind in sensor technology.