Olympus E-520 vs Panasonic ZS200

Here is a in-depth comparison of the Olympus E-520 and Panasonic ZS200, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Large Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Panasonic. There is a noticeable difference among the image resolutions of the E-520 (10MP) and ZS200 (20MP) and the E-520 (Four Thirds) and ZS200 (1") come with totally different sensor dimensions.

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The E-520 was released 10 years earlier than the ZS200 and that is a fairly sizable difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Both cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-520 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic ZS200 being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before going through a step-by-step comparison, below is a simple summary of how the E-520 scores versus the ZS200 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Here is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-520 & Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS200. The complete galleries are available at Olympus E-520 Gallery & Panasonic ZS200 Gallery.

If you're aiming to carry your camera, you have to factor its weight and size. The Olympus E-520 has got physical 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) while the Panasonic ZS200 has specifications of 111mm x 66mm x 45mm (4.4" x 2.6" x 1.8") having a weight of 340 grams (0.75 lbs).

Examine the Olympus E-520 and Panasonic ZS200 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you have at the time. Following is the front view dimension comparison of the E-520 against the ZS200.

Looking at size and weight, the portability score of the E-520 and ZS200 is 68 and 86 respectively.

Often, its difficult to visualise the gap in sensor sizing just by looking through specifications. The photograph underneath should offer you a much better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-520 and ZS200.

To sum up, each of the cameras have got different megapixels and different sensor sizing. The E-520 featuring a larger sensor will make getting shallower depth of field easier and the Panasonic ZS200 will render greater detail as a result of its extra 10MP. Greater resolution will also enable you to crop images much more aggressively. The older E-520 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor innovation.