Olympus E-M1 II vs Sony A290

Its time to look a little more closely at the Olympus E-M1 II versus Sony A290, former being a Pro Mirrorless while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by manufacturers Olympus and Sony. There is a large difference between the sensor resolutions of the E-M1 II (20MP) and A290 (14MP) and the E-M1 II (Four Thirds) and A290 (APS-C) provide totally different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The E-M1 II was revealed 6 years later than the A290 and that is quite a serious difference as far as tech is concerned. Each of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-M1 II being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Sony A290 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before we go straight to a thorough comparison, here is a brief overview of how the E-M1 II matches up versus the A290 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Below is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II & Sony Alpha DSLR-A290. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-M1 II Gallery & Sony A290 Gallery.

When you are looking to lug around your camera, you are going to need to consider its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-M1 II features physical measurements of 134mm x 91mm x 67mm (5.3" x 3.6" x 2.6") accompanied by a weight of 574 grams (1.27 lbs) while the Sony A290 has measurements of 128mm x 97mm x 86mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 3.4") accompanied by a weight of 549 grams (1.21 lbs).

See the Olympus E-M1 II versus Sony A290 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you are employing at that moment. Here is a front view sizing comparison of the E-M1 II vs the A290.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability rating of the E-M1 II and A290 is 68 and 66 respectively.

Generally, it's tough to visualise the contrast between sensor measurements purely by looking at specifications. The photograph below will help give you a better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-M1 II and A290.

To sum up, both of the cameras provide different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-M1 II with its tinier sensor will make shooting shallow depth of field more difficult and the Olympus E-M1 II will give extra detail because of its extra 6 Megapixels. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop images more aggressively. The fresher E-M1 II is going to have a benefit with regard to sensor innovation.