Olympus E-510 vs Panasonic FH10

Here is a in-depth assessment of the Olympus E-510 vs Panasonic FH10, former being a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Compact by companies Olympus and Panasonic. There is a noticeable difference between the resolutions of the E-510 (10MP) and FH10 (16MP) and the E-510 (Four Thirds) and FH10 (1/2.3") boast totally different sensor sizing.

Photography Glossary

The E-510 was unveiled 6 years before the FH10 and that is quite a sizable difference as far as tech is concerned. Both the cameras feature different body design with the Olympus E-510 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Panasonic FH10 being a Compact camera.

Before delving right into a step-by-step comparison, here is a brief view of how the E-510 scores vs the FH10 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

The following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-510 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH10. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-510 Gallery & Panasonic FH10 Gallery.

If you're looking to carry your camera frequently, you need to take into account its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-510 provides outside measurements of 136mm x 92mm x 68mm (5.4" x 3.6" x 2.7") with a weight of 490 grams (1.08 lbs) and the Panasonic FH10 has proportions of 94mm x 54mm x 18mm (3.7" x 2.1" x 0.7") and a weight of 103 grams (0.23 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-510 vs Panasonic FH10 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you use at that time. Here is a front view dimensions comparison of the E-510 vs the FH10.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability grade of the E-510 and FH10 is 69 and 97 respectively.

Often, its difficult to envision the gap between sensor sizing merely by looking at technical specs. The photograph here will help offer you a much better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-510 and FH10.

As you have seen, both of these cameras come with different megapixel count and different sensor sizing. The E-510 using its larger sensor will make achieving shallow DOF less difficult and the Panasonic FH10 will resolve greater detail having an extra 6MP. Greater resolution can also make it easier to crop pics a good deal more aggressively. The older E-510 is going to be behind when it comes to sensor technology.