Olympus E-M1 vs Panasonic FZ47

Below is a thorough comparison of the Olympus E-M1 vs Panasonic FZ47, former being a Pro Mirrorless while the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by companies Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a substantial gap among the sensor resolutions of the E-M1 (16MP) and FZ47 (12MP) and the E-M1 (Four Thirds) and FZ47 (1/2.3") have totally different sensor dimensions.

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The E-M1 was announced 2 years later than the FZ47 and that is a fairly big difference as far as camera technology is concerned. The two cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-M1 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic FZ47 being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before getting right into a full comparison, here is a quick summation of how the E-M1 grades against the FZ47 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus OM-D E-M1 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ47. The whole galleries are available at Olympus E-M1 Gallery & Panasonic FZ47 Gallery.

When you are looking to lug around your camera frequently, you will need to factor in its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-M1 has external measurements of 130mm x 94mm x 63mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.5") having a weight of 497 grams (1.10 lbs) and the Panasonic FZ47 has proportions of 120mm x 80mm x 92mm (4.7" x 3.1" x 3.6") and a weight of 498 grams (1.10 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-M1 vs Panasonic FZ47 in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will vary depending on the lens you have chosen at the time. Here is a front view overall size comparison of the E-M1 vs the FZ47.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-M1 and FZ47 is 71 and 68 respectively.

Quite often, its tough to visualise the difference in sensor measurements merely by researching specs. The photograph below might give you a much better sense of the sensor sizing in the E-M1 and FZ47.

As you can plainly see, each of these cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-M1 with its larger sensor will make getting shallow DOF less difficult and the Olympus E-M1 will result in extra detail with its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also let you crop images a bit more aggressively. The newer E-M1 is going to have an edge with regard to sensor tech.