Olympus E-520 vs Panasonic S5

Lets look a little more in depth at the Olympus E-520 and Panasonic S5, former is a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Pro Mirrorless by competitors Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a substantial gap among the resolutions of the E-520 (10MP) and S5 (24MP) and the E-520 (Four Thirds) and S5 (Full frame) come with different sensor measurements.

YouTube trialing AI that fast-forwards to the best video segments

The E-520 was announced 13 years prior to the S5 which is a fairly big difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Both of these cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-520 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic S5 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera.

Before we go straight into a more detailed comparison, below is a short introduction of how the E-520 scores vs the S5 in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-520 & Panasonic Lumix DC-S5. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-520 Gallery & Panasonic S5 Gallery.

When you are aiming to travel with your camera regularly, you will need to take into account its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-520 provides external dimensions of 136mm x 92mm x 68mm (5.4" x 3.6" x 2.7") accompanied by a weight of 552 grams (1.22 lbs) whilst the Panasonic S5 has dimensions of 133mm x 97mm x 82mm (5.2" x 3.8" x 3.2") along with a weight of 714 grams (1.57 lbs).

Check the Olympus E-520 and Panasonic S5 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you select during that time. Below is the front view dimension comparison of the E-520 vs the S5.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-520 and S5 is 68 and 60 respectively.

Normally, it is hard to visualize the gap in sensor dimensions only by researching specs. The image here will offer you a more clear sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-520 and S5.

As you can plainly see, both of these cameras offer different megapixels and different sensor dimensions. The E-520 using its smaller sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF more challenging and the Panasonic S5 will provide you with greater detail with its extra 14 Megapixels. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop images a little more aggressively. The more aged E-520 will be disadvantaged in sensor tech.