Olympus E-520 vs Panasonic ZS25

Lets look closer at the Olympus E-520 vs Panasonic ZS25, one being a Entry-Level DSLR and the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by manufacturers Olympus and Panasonic. There is a big difference among the resolutions of the E-520 (10MP) and ZS25 (16MP) and the E-520 (Four Thirds) and ZS25 (1/2.3") posses totally different sensor size.

Photography Glossary

The E-520 was introduced 5 years prior to the ZS25 and that is a fairly big gap as far as camera tech is concerned. Both of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-520 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic ZS25 being a Compact camera.

Before delving right into a detailed comparison, here is a concise overview of how the E-520 matches up versus the ZS25 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-520 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS25. The whole galleries are available at Olympus E-520 Gallery and Panasonic ZS25 Gallery.

For anybody who is looking to lug around your camera frequently, you'll need to take into account its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-520 features outside dimensions of 136mm x 92mm x 68mm (5.4" x 3.6" x 2.7") and a weight of 552 grams (1.22 lbs) whilst the Panasonic ZS25 has dimensions of 105mm x 59mm x 28mm (4.1" x 2.3" x 1.1") along with a weight of 193 grams (0.43 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-520 vs Panasonic ZS25 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change based on the lens you select at that moment. Below is a front view dimension comparison of the E-520 against the ZS25.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability rating of the E-520 and ZS25 is 68 and 93 respectively.

Oftentimes, its difficult to envision the difference in sensor measurements purely by researching specifications. The photograph below may offer you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-520 and ZS25.

To sum up, each of the cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-520 with its larger sensor will make getting shallower depth of field less difficult and the Panasonic ZS25 will result in more detail using its extra 6 Megapixels. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop photos a bit more aggressively. The older E-520 will be disadvantaged with regard to sensor tech.