Olympus FE-4030 vs Sony A100

Lets look closer at the Olympus FE-4030 vs Sony A100, one being a Small Sensor Compact and the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by competitors Olympus and Sony. There is a huge difference among the sensor resolutions of the FE-4030 (14MP) and A100 (10MP) and the FE-4030 (1/2.3") and A100 (APS-C) provide totally different sensor sizing.

Photography Glossary

The FE-4030 was launched 3 years later than the A100 and that is a fairly significant gap as far as camera tech is concerned. Both of the cameras have different body design with the Olympus FE-4030 being a Compact camera and the Sony A100 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before going right into a comprehensive comparison, here is a simple introduction of how the FE-4030 grades versus the A100 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus FE-4030 and Sony Alpha DSLR-A100. The complete galleries are available at Olympus FE-4030 Gallery and Sony A100 Gallery.

For those who are going to lug around your camera often, you should factor its weight and measurements. The Olympus FE-4030 has physical dimensions of 93mm x 56mm x 22mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") accompanied by a weight of 146 grams (0.32 lbs) whilst the Sony A100 has proportions of 133mm x 95mm x 71mm (5.2" x 3.7" x 2.8") along with a weight of 638 grams (1.41 lbs).

Compare the Olympus FE-4030 vs Sony A100 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary based on the lens you select at the time. Here is a front view scale comparison of the FE-4030 compared to the A100.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability rating of the FE-4030 and A100 is 95 and 64 respectively.

In many cases, its difficult to visualise the contrast in sensor measurements merely by looking through a spec sheet. The photograph underneath might offer you a more clear sense of the sensor sizes in the FE-4030 and A100.

As you can see, both of those cameras provide different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The FE-4030 because of its smaller sensor will make getting shallow depth of field more difficult and the Olympus FE-4030 will provide you with greater detail utilizing its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also make it easier to crop pictures more aggressively. The more modern FE-4030 is going to have a benefit with regard to sensor technology.