Olympus FE-47 vs Sony A580

Its time to look a bit more closely at the Olympus FE-47 vs Sony A580, former is a Small Sensor Compact while the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by rivals Olympus and Sony. The resolution of the FE-47 (14MP) and the A580 (16MP) is pretty well matched but the FE-47 (1/2.3") and A580 (APS-C) enjoy totally different sensor sizes.

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The FE-47 was brought out 16 months before the A580 which makes the cameras a generation away from each other. Each of the cameras offer different body type with the Olympus FE-47 being a Compact camera and the Sony A580 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before delving in to a in-depth comparison, below is a quick summation of how the FE-47 matches up versus the A580 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

Following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus FE-47 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A580. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus FE-47 Gallery & Sony A580 Gallery.

In case you're intending to carry around your camera often, you will want to take into account its weight and measurements. The Olympus FE-47 has got external measurements of 98mm x 61mm x 27mm (3.9" x 2.4" x 1.1") with a weight of 204 grams (0.45 lbs) and the Sony A580 has proportions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") with a weight of 599 grams (1.32 lbs).

Look at the Olympus FE-47 vs Sony A580 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you select at the time. Here is the front view sizing comparison of the FE-47 versus the A580.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability grade of the FE-47 and A580 is 93 and 64 respectively.

In many cases, its difficult to visualise the difference between sensor sizes merely by looking at a spec sheet. The picture below should give you a more clear sense of the sensor measurements in the FE-47 and A580.

Clearly, both of these cameras enjoy different resolutions and different sensor sizes. The FE-47 due to its tinier sensor will make getting shallower depth of field tougher and the Sony A580 will give you more detail having its extra 2 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also make it easier to crop shots far more aggressively. The more aged FE-47 is going to be behind with regard to sensor technology.