Olympus E-M10 vs Sony W290

Lets look a little more in depth at the Olympus E-M10 vs Sony W290, former is a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Small Sensor Compact by manufacturers Olympus and Sony. There is a sizable difference among the sensor resolutions of the E-M10 (16MP) and W290 (12MP) and the E-M10 (Four Thirds) and W290 (1/2.3") enjoy different sensor sizes.

Photography Glossary

The E-M10 was unveiled 5 years after the W290 which is a fairly significant difference as far as camera tech is concerned. The two cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-M10 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Sony W290 being a Compact camera.

Before getting straight into a complete comparison, below is a quick synopsis of how the E-M10 scores vs the W290 with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

Here is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus OM-D E-M10 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W290. The full galleries are viewable at Olympus E-M10 Gallery & Sony W290 Gallery.

For anyone who is going to carry around your camera often, you will want to think about its weight and size. The Olympus E-M10 has got outer measurements of 119mm x 82mm x 46mm (4.7" x 3.2" x 1.8") with a weight of 396 grams (0.87 lbs) while the Sony W290 has specifications of 98mm x 57mm x 23mm (3.9" x 2.2" x 0.9") accompanied by a weight of 167 grams (0.37 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-M10 vs Sony W290 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you are working with during that time. Following is the front view sizing comparison of the E-M10 against the W290.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability score of the E-M10 and W290 is 82 and 94 respectively.

Generally, it is very hard to visualize the contrast in sensor sizes purely by checking out specs. The picture below should give you a clearer sense of the sensor measurements in the E-M10 and W290.

All in all, both the cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor sizes. The E-M10 having a larger sensor is going to make achieving shallow depth of field less difficult and the Olympus E-M10 will produce greater detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution will let you crop photos much more aggressively. The more recent E-M10 should have a benefit with regard to sensor technology.