Olympus E-500 vs Sony W290

In this write-up, we will be looking at the Olympus E-500 versus Sony W290, former being a Advanced DSLR while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by rivals Olympus and Sony. There is a large difference between the image resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and W290 (12MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and W290 (1/2.3") possess totally different sensor size.

Photography Glossary

The E-500 was unveiled 4 years before the W290 and that is quite a serious difference as far as tech is concerned. Each of the cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony W290 being a Compact camera.

Before going in to a more detailed comparison, below is a simple overview of how the E-500 matches up versus the W290 for portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-500 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290. The full galleries are viewable at Olympus E-500 Gallery & Sony W290 Gallery.

For anyone who is going to lug around your camera regularly, you should take into account its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-500 features physical 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 W290 has dimensions of 98mm x 57mm x 23mm (3.9" x 2.2" x 0.9") accompanied by a weight of 167 grams (0.37 lbs).

See the Olympus E-500 versus Sony W290 in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you use at that moment. The following is the front view dimension comparison of the E-500 and the W290.

Considering size and weight, the portability rating of the E-500 and W290 is 70 and 94 respectively.

Usually, it is very hard to envision the difference between sensor measurements purely by reviewing specifications. The graphic below will help offer you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-500 and W290.

To sum up, both of these cameras enjoy different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-500 using its bigger sensor will make getting shallower depth of field simpler and the Sony W290 will offer you more detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will enable you to crop photographs far more aggressively. The older E-500 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.