Olympus E-520 vs Panasonic ZS80

Let's look a bit more in depth at the Olympus E-520 versus Panasonic ZS80, one being a Entry-Level DSLR and the latter is a Small Sensor Superzoom by companies Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a crucial gap among the image resolutions of the E-520 (10MP) and ZS80 (20MP) and the E-520 (Four Thirds) and ZS80 (1/2.3") use different sensor size.

Photography Glossary

The E-520 was announced 10 years before the ZS80 and that is a fairly serious gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Both cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-520 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic ZS80 being a Compact camera.

Before delving through a comprehensive comparison, below is a quick view of how the E-520 scores versus the ZS80 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Below is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus E-520 and Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS80. The whole galleries are available at Olympus E-520 Gallery and Panasonic ZS80 Gallery.

For anyone who is looking to carry your camera frequently, you need to take into account its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-520 has got outside dimensions of 136mm x 92mm x 68mm (5.4" x 3.6" x 2.7") having a weight of 552 grams (1.22 lbs) and the Panasonic ZS80 has measurements of 112mm x 69mm x 42mm (4.4" x 2.7" x 1.7") having a weight of 327 grams (0.72 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-520 versus Panasonic ZS80 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you are using at the time. Following is the front view overall size comparison of the E-520 and the ZS80.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-520 and ZS80 is 68 and 86 respectively.

More often than not, it's hard to picture the gap in sensor sizing just by checking out a spec sheet. The photograph here may offer you a better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-520 and ZS80.

As you can see, both of those cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor sizing. The E-520 having a bigger sensor is going to make shooting shallower DOF simpler and the Panasonic ZS80 will show greater detail with its extra 10MP. Higher resolution will also make it easier to crop shots somewhat more aggressively. The older E-520 will be behind when it comes to sensor innovation.