Olympus FE-4030 vs Sony HX300

Its time to look closer at the Olympus FE-4030 and Sony HX300, one being a Small Sensor Compact and the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by companies Olympus and Sony. There is a huge difference between the image resolutions of the FE-4030 (14MP) and HX300 (20MP) but they use the same exact sensor measurements (1/2.3").

Photography Glossary

The FE-4030 was introduced 4 years before the HX300 and that is quite a significant gap as far as tech is concerned. Both the cameras offer different body type with the Olympus FE-4030 being a Compact camera and the Sony HX300 being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before diving in to a more detailed comparison, below is a simple summary of how the FE-4030 grades against the HX300 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus FE-4030 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX300. The whole galleries are available at Olympus FE-4030 Gallery and Sony HX300 Gallery.

For those who are going to lug around your camera often, you will have to factor in its weight and volume. The Olympus FE-4030 provides outer dimensions of 93mm x 56mm x 22mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") and a weight of 146 grams (0.32 lbs) whilst the Sony HX300 has sizing of 130mm x 103mm x 93mm (5.1" x 4.1" x 3.7") having a weight of 623 grams (1.37 lbs).

Examine the Olympus FE-4030 and Sony HX300 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary dependant on the lens you have attached at that moment. Following is the front view proportions comparison of the FE-4030 compared to the HX300.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability score of the FE-4030 and HX300 is 95 and 63 respectively.

Oftentimes, it is very hard to visualise the gap between sensor measurements just by going over specs. The graphic here will help provide you a more clear sense of the sensor dimensions in the FE-4030 and HX300.

All in all, both of those cameras offer the same exact sensor sizing but not the same resolution. You should expect to see the Sony HX300 to deliver greater detail using its extra 6 Megapixels. Greater resolution will let you crop pics a little more aggressively. The older FE-4030 is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor innovation.