Olympus FE-4030 vs Panasonic S5

Let's take a deeper look at the Olympus FE-4030 and Panasonic S5, one being a Small Sensor Compact and the other is a Pro Mirrorless by manufacturers Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a huge gap among the sensor resolutions of the FE-4030 (14MP) and S5 (24MP) and the FE-4030 (1/2.3") and S5 (Full frame) posses totally different sensor sizes.

Photography Glossary

The FE-4030 was released 11 years prior to the S5 and that is a fairly significant gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Both of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus FE-4030 being a Compact camera and the Panasonic S5 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera.

Before getting into a complete comparison, here is a simple overview of how the FE-4030 scores versus the S5 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Here is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus FE-4030 and Panasonic Lumix DC-S5. The complete galleries are available at Olympus FE-4030 Gallery and Panasonic S5 Gallery.

If you are intending to lug around your camera frequently, you'll need to think about its weight and measurements. The Olympus FE-4030 offers exterior dimensions of 93mm x 56mm x 22mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") with a weight of 146 grams (0.32 lbs) while the Panasonic S5 has proportions of 133mm x 97mm x 82mm (5.2" x 3.8" x 3.2") along with a weight of 714 grams (1.57 lbs).

See the Olympus FE-4030 and Panasonic S5 in the latest Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary dependant on the lens you are working with at that time. Below is a front view dimensions comparison of the FE-4030 versus the S5.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the FE-4030 and S5 is 95 and 60 respectively.

Typically, it is very tough to envision the gap in sensor measurements merely by looking through a spec sheet. The photograph below will help provide you a greater sense of the sensor sizes in the FE-4030 and S5.

As you can see, the 2 cameras provide different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The FE-4030 due to its smaller sensor will make shooting shallow DOF more challenging and the Panasonic S5 will render extra detail as a result of its extra 10 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop pics more aggressively. The older FE-4030 will be disadvantaged in sensor tech.