Olympus E-520 vs Panasonic ZS35

Let's look a little more closely at the Olympus E-520 versus Panasonic ZS35, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by manufacturers Olympus and Panasonic. There is a substantial difference between the resolutions of the E-520 (10MP) and ZS35 (16MP) and the E-520 (Four Thirds) and ZS35 (1/2.3") come with different sensor sizes.

Photography Glossary

The E-520 was revealed 6 years prior to the ZS35 and that is quite a big difference as far as tech is concerned. Both of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-520 being a Compact SLR camera and the Panasonic ZS35 being a Compact camera.

Before getting straight into a in depth comparison, below is a concise summation of how the E-520 grades against the ZS35 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-520 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS35. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-520 Gallery & Panasonic ZS35 Gallery.

For those who are planning to lug around your camera often, you will want to consider its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-520 features physical measurements of 136mm x 92mm x 68mm (5.4" x 3.6" x 2.7") along with a weight of 552 grams (1.22 lbs) while the Panasonic ZS35 has proportions of 107mm x 62mm x 32mm (4.2" x 2.4" x 1.3") accompanied by a weight of 305 grams (0.67 lbs).

Look at the Olympus E-520 versus Panasonic ZS35 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will change based on the lens you are working with at that moment. Following is the front view measurement comparison of the E-520 compared to the ZS35.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability rating of the E-520 and ZS35 is 68 and 89 respectively.

In many cases, it is tough to visualize the contrast between sensor measurements simply by looking at technical specs. The graphic underneath will help give you a far better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-520 and ZS35.

As you can tell, both of the cameras have got different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-520 using its larger sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF simpler and the Panasonic ZS35 will give greater detail because of its extra 6MP. Greater resolution can also make it easier to crop photos much more aggressively. The older E-520 is going to be behind with regard to sensor technology.