Olympus FE-5020 vs Sony NEX-5R

Its time to take a closer look at the Olympus FE-5020 and Sony NEX-5R, former being a Small Sensor Compact while the other is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by rivals Olympus and Sony. There is a sizable difference between the image resolutions of the FE-5020 (12MP) and NEX-5R (16MP) and the FE-5020 (1/2.3") and NEX-5R (APS-C) have totally different sensor size.

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The FE-5020 was manufactured 4 years prior to the NEX-5R and that is quite a significant difference as far as tech is concerned. Both the cameras feature different body design with the Olympus FE-5020 being a Compact camera and the Sony NEX-5R being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before going straight to a in depth comparison, here is a simple view of how the FE-5020 scores against the NEX-5R with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus FE-5020 & Sony Alpha NEX-5R. The entire galleries are available at Olympus FE-5020 Gallery & Sony NEX-5R Gallery.

For anybody who is intending to carry your camera often, you will want to think about its weight and proportions. The Olympus FE-5020 provides physical dimensions of 93mm x 56mm x 25mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 1.0") and a weight of 137 grams (0.30 lbs) and the Sony NEX-5R has measurements of 111mm x 59mm x 39mm (4.4" x 2.3" x 1.5") and a weight of 276 grams (0.61 lbs).

Look at the Olympus FE-5020 and Sony NEX-5R in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will vary based on the lens you have chosen at that moment. Below is a front view over all size comparison of the FE-5020 against the NEX-5R.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability grade of the FE-5020 and NEX-5R is 95 and 89 respectively.

In many cases, its hard to visualise the contrast between sensor sizing just by reviewing specs. The visual here should provide you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the FE-5020 and NEX-5R.

All in all, both of those cameras come with different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The FE-5020 featuring a tinier sensor will make shooting shallow DOF more difficult and the Sony NEX-5R will offer you extra detail due to its extra 4MP. Greater resolution will enable you to crop images a good deal more aggressively. The older FE-5020 is going to be behind in sensor technology.