Olympus FE-47 vs Sony Alpha DSLR-A550: A Deep Dive for Every Photographer’s Needs

Choosing the right camera today is more than just ticking boxes on a specification sheet. It’s about understanding how a tool serves your creative vision, fits your workflow, and empowers you to make stunning images across a variety of photography styles. We’ve spent extensive time examining both the Olympus FE-47, a simple compact from 2010, and the Sony Alpha DSLR-A550, an entry-level DSLR from late 2009. These cameras represent very different segments, technologies, and user experiences.

In this comprehensive comparison, let’s unpack what each camera truly offers and help you see which might serve your photographic ambitions best.

Seeing and Feeling: Size, Build, and Ergonomics

Ergonomics are crucial, influencing comfort during long shoots and speed of handling in dynamic moments.

Olympus FE-47:

• Ultra-compact and pocketable form factor
• Dimensions: 98 x 61 x 27 mm
• Lightweight at just 204 grams, powered by convenient AA batteries
• Minimalist control layout, designed for simplicity over customization

Sony A550:

• Classic DSLR body shape with robust grip
• Dimensions: 137 x 104 x 84 mm
• Weighs 632 grams - substantial but balanced for lens swaps and extended handling
• Richer control panel with more buttons and dials for quick access to settings

You can immediately see how the FE-47’s tiny footprint caters to casual shooting and travel where portability is king, while the A550 demands a proper grip but rewards you with tactile controls suited for more serious use.

Beyond size, the build quality of the Sony offers a solid, reassuring heft useful for professional environments - even if neither has weather sealing or rugged protection. The Olympus feels more disposable in that aspect.

Design and Interface: Practical Control vs Simplicity

Evaluating camera controls and interface design is key to understanding user experience, especially for varied photography disciplines.

• Olympus FE-47 provides limited manual control, no aperture or shutter priority modes, and lacks manual exposure altogether. Its fixed lens and lack of viewfinder further reinforce its beginner-friendly design, relying on its fixed 5x zoom and simple autofocus.
• Sony A550 excels with a traditional DSLR control layout - dedicated dials for shutter speed, aperture priority, full manual, exposure compensation, and more. It has an optical pentamirror viewfinder offering ~95% frame coverage and 0.53x magnification, improving composition accuracy.

The FE-47’s 2.7-inch fixed screen carries barely 230k dots resolution, while the Sony’s 3-inch LCD tilts and boasts 922k dots, a huge usability and framing advantage.

Sensor Technology & Image Quality: The Heart of the Camera

Here we get to the ground truth: image quality. Sensor size, design, and processing make the most significant differences between these two cameras.

The Sony A550 features a much larger APS-C sensor, about 13 times larger in sensor area compared to the FE-47’s small 1/2.3-inch sensor. This difference alone explains why the A550 produces images with notably better detail, greater dynamic range, and significantly improved low-light performance. The FE-47’s sensor is common in budget compacts; it struggles beyond ISO 400 with noise and limited dynamic range.

The Sony’s Bionz processor and CMOS architecture enable higher ISO options up to 12,800, which are usable to a degree with noise-reduction tools. The Olympus maxes out at ISO 1600, but you’ll rarely want to push it that far due to noise.

If you value print quality, large prints, or cropping flexibility - or you plan to shoot RAW for postprocessing control - the Sony wins decisively on image quality metrics.

Autofocus & Performance: Speed and Precision in Practice

AF systems shape your success with moving subjects, low light, and tricky compositions.

• Olympus FE-47 autofocus opts for multi-area contrast-detection only. No tracking, face, or eye detection is offered. AF is slow and hunts in low light or on low contrast objects.
• Sony A550 boasts 9 cross-type phase-detection AF points plus contrast AF in live view, with face detection as well. AF tracking continuous is available to track subjects during burst shooting.

Sony offers 7 frames per second burst speed, suitable for sports and wildlife action, compared to Olympus’s lack of continuous shooting mode.

In real-world testing, the Sony’s AF system locks faster and more reliably, especially in challenging lighting or with moving targets.

Viewing and Composing Your Shots

Composition is an art unsupported without a good viewfinder or screen.

• The Olympus relies solely on its LCD with no viewfinder; fixed 2.7” screen with only 230k dots means limited detail and not ideal in bright sunlight.
• The Sony provides an optical pentamirror viewfinder that offers a clear, lag-free image covering 95% of the frame, excellent for precise composition.
• In addition, Sony’s 3” tilting LCD is sharper and better suited for creative angles.

If you’re serious about precise framing or enjoy shooting outdoors in bright conditions, the Sony is a clear favorite.

Lens and System Ecosystem

Your camera is only as versatile as the glass and accessories you can mount on it.

• The Olympus FE-47 has a fixed 36-180mm equivalent zoom lens, aperture f/3.5-5.6, with no option to change or attach new lenses.
• The Sony A550 uses Sony/Minolta Alpha mount lenses, with over 140 in the ecosystem, covering everything from wide-angle primes to telephoto zooms, specialty macros, and more.

The Sony’s interchangeable lens system gives you incredible flexibility, letting you tailor gear to your discipline - portraits, landscapes, wildlife, or macro. The Olympus is a fixed-lens convenience shooter, limiting creative scope.

Battery and Storage: Longevity and Convenience

• Olympus FE-47 runs on two AA batteries, easy to replace worldwide but with unlisted official battery life. Its SD/SDHC card slot supports common removable media.
• Sony A550 uses a proprietary NP-FM500H rechargeable battery rated for 480 shots per charge and supports SD/SDHC memory cards as well as Sony’s Memory Stick formats.

While AA batteries are replaceable anywhere, the Sony’s battery life and rechargeable pack offer better real-world endurance for extended sessions.

Special Features and Connectivity

• Video on the Olympus is limited to 640x480 VGA at 30 fps - suitable only for very casual home video.
• The Sony A550 lacks video recording capability altogether, focusing purely on stills.
• Neither camera offers wireless connectivity, GPS, touchscreens, or modern external mic/headphone ports.

Given their vintage design era, neither camera is geared towards video-centric creators or remote control shooting.

How These Cameras Perform Across Photography Genres

Let’s connect the dots for you, evaluating the Olympus FE-47 and Sony A550’s suitability for major photography types you might pursue.

Olympus FE 47 front Olympus FE 47 screen back Sony A550 front Sony A550 screen back

Real-World Experience: What We Learned from Testing

From hands-on shooting and technical tests:

• The Olympus FE-47 is ideal if you want a truly pocketable, no-fuss camera primarily for snapshots and simple documentation. It delivers decent images for print sizes up to 8x10 inches in good light.
• The Sony A550 remains highly capable despite its age, producing far superior image quality thanks to its APS-C sensor and RAW workflow. Its control set and lens flexibility make it a worthy beginner DSLR for those serious about learning photography fundamentals.

Summarizing Strengths and Weaknesses

Breaking It Down: Genre-Specific Scores and Recommendations

Such granular analysis reveals that the Sony dominates categories reliant on image quality and control - portraits, sports, wildlife likely benefit most. The Olympus shines for street and travel in its portability and ease, but limits creative ambitions.

Final Verdict: Who Should Buy Which?

If you’re just starting out or want a pocket-sized camera to capture holiday memories without fuss, Olympus FE-47 will serve you fine. It’s straightforward and light, though you won’t get advanced features or top image quality.

But if you want to grow into photography, crave creative control, work across many subjects, or need better low light and action performance - the Sony Alpha DSLR-A550 is a tremendous value in the used market. It’s a camera that teaches you the craft and can produce images you'd be proud to show or print professionally.

Getting Hands-On and Next Steps

I encourage you to visit a camera store or trusted secondhand dealer to try the Sony A550 in-hand, feel its controls, and test responsiveness. For travel or casual snapshots, pick up the FE-47 to see how it fits your pocket and shooting style.

For Sony buyers, check out essential accessories like a sturdy tripod, extra batteries, and lenses that suit your photography goals - sharp primes for portraits, zooms for wildlife, or macros for close detail work.

Remember, the right camera is the one that inspires you to create - once you’ve found that, mastering your craft becomes an exciting journey.

We hope this detailed comparison has demystified key differences and helped you clarify which camera aligns with your photography needs. Ready to dive in? Your next great shot awaits.