Olympus E-M5 II vs Panasonic ZS40

Below is a thorough analysis of the Olympus E-M5 II and Panasonic ZS40, former being a Advanced Mirrorless while the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by brands Olympus and Panasonic. The image resolution of the E-M5 II (16MP) and the ZS40 (18MP) is fairly similar but the E-M5 II (Four Thirds) and ZS40 (1/2.3") possess totally different sensor sizing.

Photography Glossary

The E-M5 II was revealed 14 months later than the ZS40 making the cameras a generation apart from one another. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-M5 II being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic ZS40 being a Compact camera.

Before diving in to a more detailed comparison, below is a short summation of how the E-M5 II matches up vs the ZS40 with respect to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus OM-D E-M5 II & Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS40. The full galleries are viewable at Olympus E-M5 II Gallery & Panasonic ZS40 Gallery.

For those who are planning to lug around your camera regularly, you're going to have to factor its weight and size. The Olympus E-M5 II offers outside dimensions of 124mm x 85mm x 45mm (4.9" x 3.3" x 1.8") with a weight of 469 grams (1.03 lbs) and the Panasonic ZS40 has specifications of 111mm x 64mm x 34mm (4.4" x 2.5" x 1.3") accompanied by a weight of 240 grams (0.53 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-M5 II and Panasonic ZS40 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you are employing at that time. Underneath is the front view scale comparison of the E-M5 II against the ZS40.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-M5 II and ZS40 is 80 and 90 respectively.

Typically, its difficult to see the contrast between sensor measurements only by reading a spec sheet. The visual here will give you a stronger sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-M5 II and ZS40.

As you can see, both the cameras have got different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-M5 II with its larger sensor will make getting shallower depth of field less difficult and the Panasonic ZS40 will offer more detail because of its extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also make it easier to crop images much more aggressively. The more recent E-M5 II is going to have an edge with regard to sensor tech.