Olympus E-500 vs Sony WX80

On this page, we are looking at the Olympus E-500 vs Sony WX80, one being a Advanced DSLR and the other is a Small Sensor Compact by brands Olympus and Sony. There exists a huge gap between the resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and WX80 (16MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and WX80 (1/2.3") boast totally different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The E-500 was announced 8 years prior to the WX80 and that is quite a significant gap as far as technology is concerned. Both of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Sony WX80 being a Compact camera.

Before diving straight to a in-depth comparison, here is a simple introduction of how the E-500 matches up versus the WX80 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-500 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX80. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-500 Gallery and Sony WX80 Gallery.

If you are aiming to lug around your camera regularly, you're going to have to factor its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-500 offers external measurements 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 WX80 has measurements of 92mm x 52mm x 22mm (3.6" x 2.0" x 0.9") along with a weight of 124 grams (0.27 lbs).

Look at the Olympus E-500 vs Sony WX80 in the latest Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ dependant on the lens you have at the time. Underneath is a front view over all size comparison of the E-500 versus the WX80.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-500 and WX80 is 70 and 96 respectively.

Sometimes, its hard to envision the contrast between sensor measurements just by checking a spec sheet. The photograph underneath will help provide you a much better sense of the sensor sizing in the E-500 and WX80.

Clearly, the 2 cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-500 with its larger sensor will make getting shallower DOF simpler and the Sony WX80 will give more detail with its extra 8 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also make it easier to crop photos a bit more aggressively. The older E-500 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.