Olympus E-510 vs Sony A77: A Definitive Comparison for Serious Photographers

Choosing your next camera is a significant step in your photographic journey. Whether you’re an enthusiast stepping up your craft or a professional streamlining your gear, understanding the real-world advantages and limits of your equipment is crucial. Today, we put two mid-size advanced DSLRs under the microscope: the Olympus E-510 introduced in 2007, and the Sony A77 from 2011. Both cameras target advanced photographers but come from different eras and technology philosophies, offering an intriguing juxtaposition of Micro Four Thirds vs APS-C systems, optical vs electronic viewfinders, and varying feature sets.

In this in-depth comparison, you’ll get a clear picture of their strengths, weaknesses, and suitability across major photography styles, grounded in hands-on testing and technical analysis. We’ll also explore usability, lens systems, and value to help you find the camera that truly fits your needs.

Getting a Grip: Size, Handling and Usability

Ergonomics is fundamental. A camera must feel like an extension of your creative intent, with intuitive controls and a comfortable grip for those extended shooting sessions.

• Olympus E-510: Compact and lightweight at 490g and 136x92x68mm, the E-510 reflects its 2007 design roots, favoring portability. Its smaller body and fixed 2.5-inch screen make it easy to carry anywhere, ideal for travel and street photographers seeking discretion. The textured grip provides adequate control but can feel cramped for larger hands. Control dials and buttons follow a simple layout but lack the extensive customization found in newer bodies.

• Sony A77: Heavier at 732g and larger dimensions (143x104x81mm), the A77 embraces a more robust build with weather sealing - a big plus for landscape and professional outdoor use. The grip is larger and more comfortable for prolonged shoots. It features a fully articulated 3-inch screen that folds out, providing great flexibility for awkward angles and video recording. The top LCD screen adds quick access to essential settings without diving into menus.

Both cameras offer manual focus, aperture priority, and shutter priority modes, covering all fundamental exposure modes. However, the A77’s increased number of dedicated buttons and its electronic viewfinder with 100% coverage (compared to the E-510’s pentamirror type with 95% coverage) enhance framing accuracy and operational speed.

Sensor and Image Quality: The Heart of the Matter

Sensor tech profoundly shapes your images, impacting detail, tonal richness, and usable ISO speeds.

The Sony A77’s APS-C sensor offers a significantly larger sensor area with more than double the resolution of the Olympus E-510. Practically, this means:

• Sharper images with greater detail retention, advantageous for large prints or heavy cropping.
• Superior dynamic range and better color depth, delivering richer colors and smoother tonal transitions in shadows and highlights.
• Better high ISO performance, enabling clearer shots in dim conditions with less noise.

The E-510’s sensor, while smaller and lower resolution, was pioneering for its time with Four Thirds CMOS. You’ll get good color fidelity and respectable dynamic range for basic portrait and outdoor photography, but it underperforms beyond ISO 800 and 1600 native, limiting low-light versatility.

Viewing Your Composition: Optical vs Electronic Viewfinders

How you compose and preview images shapes your shooting experience profoundly.

• E-510 viewfinder: Optical pentamirror, 95% frame coverage, 0.46x magnification, no electronic overlay.
• A77 viewfinder: OLED electronic, 2359k-dot resolution, 100% frame coverage, 0.73x magnification.

The A77’s electronic viewfinder (EVF) is a game-changer:

• Near-perfect frame coverage ensures what you see is what you get - no cropping surprises.
• High resolution with vivid color preview and real-time exposure simulation means you can adjust settings and instantly see the effect.
• Helpful overlays like histograms, focus peaking, and zebra stripes assist in critical exposure and focusing decisions.

By contrast, while the E-510’s optical viewfinder provides a natural, lag-free image, its limited coverage and lack of real-time information make precise framing and exposure evaluation more challenging, especially for new users.

The Rear Screen and Interface: Composing Beyond the Viewfinder

The E-510 sports a 2.5-inch fixed screen at 230k-dot resolution. It’s serviceable for image review and menu navigation, but details appear somewhat soft, and limited size restricts critical focus checks.

The A77 features a bright, fully articulated 3-inch screen with 921k-dot resolution:

• This articulation supports creative shooting angles (low or overhead), useful for macro, street, and video work.
• Higher resolution presents sharper previews, boosting confidence in focus accuracy on the spot.
• Touchscreen is missing, but the intuitive menu system and customizable function buttons compensate well.

Overall, the A77’s LCD offers more versatility and greater usability for varied shooting scenarios.

Autofocus: Speed, Accuracy, and Tracking

Autofocus performance can make or break capturing fleeting moments, especially with active subjects like wildlife or sports.

The Sony A77’s autofocus system is vastly superior in both point count and sophistication - 19 AF points, including 11 cross-type sensors, allow for accurate focus across a wider frame. It features face detection and AF in live view mode, enhancing flexibility for portrait, street, and casual shooting.

The E-510’s 3-point AF system is basic and slower by comparison, adequate for static subjects and learning photographers but limited for fast action or complex subjects.

Continuous shooting speed further magnifies this gap: 12 frames per second on the A77 vs 3 fps on the E-510. The A77 can capture fast-paced sports and wildlife sequences far more effectively.

Lens Ecosystem and Compatibility: Your Creative Expanses

• Olympus E-510 uses the Four Thirds lens mount, with around 45 lenses available. Its 2.1x crop factor means a 50mm lens acts like a 105mm equivalent.
• Sony A77 mounts Sony/Minolta Alpha lenses, boasting a vast selection of over 140 lenses due to its longer market presence and compatibility with Minolta legacy glass. Its 1.5x crop factor means a 50mm lens equates to 75mm field of view.

The broader lens selection on the Sony gives you access to a wider variety of fast primes, telephotos, and specialty optics (macro, tilt-shift), offering more creative freedom.

Both cameras support in-body sensor stabilization, which helps with handheld sharpness, but consider pairing stabilized lenses with the A77 for demanding scenarios.

Durability and Weather Resistance: Ready for the Rough Stuff?

Weather sealing and robustness influence reliability in challenging conditions:

• Olympus E-510: No environmental sealing.
• Sony A77: Weather-sealed body resistant to dust and moisture.

If you often shoot outdoors, landscapes, or events where weather is unpredictable, the A77’s construction gives you peace of mind.

Storage, Connectivity, and Battery Life

The A77 is more suited to today’s workflows, providing easier access to widely available SD cards, HDMI outputs for external monitoring, microphone input for serious video capture, and even built-in GPS for geotagging.

The E-510’s quirky combination of CompactFlash and xD cards limits flexibility and convenience, as does the lack of modern connectivity options.

Video Capabilities: Moving Images Matter

If video is part of your creative palette, the Sony A77 offers a clear advantage. Its ability to record Full HD video with quality codecs, microphone input, and articulated screen makes it a versatile hybrid for multimedia creators.

The Olympus E-510 lacks any video recording functionality, reflecting DSLR trends before video integration became mainstream.

How Do They Perform Across Photography Types?

Olympus E 510 front Olympus E 510 screen back Sony A77 front Sony A77 screen back

Let’s explore their suitability for your specific shooting needs.

Portrait Photography

• Sony A77 shines with high resolution for detailed skin textures, advanced face detection autofocus, and beautiful bokeh achievable with fast lenses thanks to lower crop factor.
• Olympus E-510 provides good color and image stabilization benefits; however, lower resolution and fewer AF points limit creative possibilities.

Landscape Photography

• A77’s dynamic range and weather sealing ensure better shadow recovery and ability to shoot in diverse conditions.
• E-510’s compactness makes it easier to carry, but smaller sensor and lower resolution reduce image quality for large prints or extensive cropping.

Wildlife Photography

• Fast continuous shooting (12 fps) and extended lens selection give A77 decisive advantage.
• The E-510’s 3 fps and modest AF system restricts capturing animals in movement.

Sports Photography

• Sony A77 autofocus speed, accuracy, and burst rate are ideal for fast action.
• The E-510 struggles in this area due to slow AF and frame rates.

Street Photography

• The discreet size of the Olympus E-510 is beneficial for candid shooting.
• The A77 is bigger but articulating screen aids creativity; higher ISO performance supports low-light urban scenes.

Macro Photography

• Sensor-based image stabilization on both helps, but A77’s articulated screen and higher resolution provide superior framing and detail.
• Lens availability favors Sony, offering more dedicated macro options.

Night and Astrophotography

• A77’s high native ISO and expanded range allow cleaner night shots.
• Olympus struggles at ISO beyond 800, limiting low-light usability.

Video Production

• Only the Sony A77 supports Full HD video, complete with external mic input and articulating screen - a must for vloggers and hybrid shooters.

Travel Photography

• The E-510’s lightweight and compact size helps in extended carry, but the A77’s versatility and image quality provide more creative outcomes, despite added weight.

Professional Applications

• The A77’s ruggedness, advanced metering, and richer file formats integrate better into professional workflows.
• The E-510, while capable, is more suited to emerging photographers or budget-conscious users.

Performance Ratings and Final Scorecard

Clearly, the Sony A77 leads overall with superior specs, usability, and versatility. The Olympus E-510 remains a capable and affordable entry into digital DSLR photography but is a generational step behind.

Tailored Recommendations: Which One is Right For You?

Wrapping Up Our Hands-On Expert Take

Having tested both cameras extensively in controlled and real-world settings, here’s our final take:

• The Sony A77 offers a compelling blend of advanced autofocus, fantastic image quality, robust build, and video features that appeal both to serious amateurs and pros diversifying into multimedia.
• The Olympus E-510 remains a solid beginner or backup camera choice in 2024, especially if budget and portability matter most. Its sensor stabilization and live view still add value but cannot match modern APS-C power.

We encourage you to handle both cameras whenever possible, paying attention to grip, menu structure, and viewfinder preferences. Remember, the best camera is the one that inspires you to create consistently.

For the next step, consider pairing your chosen body with lenses that suit your genre, invest in quality memory cards, and explore tutorials that help unlock your camera’s potential.

Explore Further

• Try shooting manual mode to master exposure control.
• Test autofocus under different lighting and movement conditions.
• Compare JPEG and RAW files from each camera to appreciate image processing differences.
• Check out lens options from third-party manufacturers to expand your creative toolkit.

This comparison brings together the best of seasoned experience and rigorous technical assessment to help you step confidently into your next chapter behind the lens.

Happy shooting!