Olympus E-M5 III vs Olympus XZ-2 iHS

Its time to look closer at the Olympus E-M5 III versus Olympus XZ-2 iHS, former being a Advanced Mirrorless while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact and both are produced by Olympus. There is a substantial difference between the resolutions of the E-M5 III (20MP) and XZ-2 iHS (12MP) and the E-M5 III (Four Thirds) and XZ-2 iHS (1/1.7") offer different sensor size.

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The E-M5 III was unveiled 6 years later than the XZ-2 iHS and that is quite a big difference as far as tech is concerned. The two cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-M5 III being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Olympus XZ-2 iHS being a Compact camera.

Before going right into a detailed comparison, here is a short summary of how the E-M5 III scores versus the XZ-2 iHS in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus OM-D E-M5 III & Olympus XZ-2 iHS. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-M5 III Gallery & Olympus XZ-2 iHS Gallery.

When you are planning to lug around your camera frequently, you will have to consider its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-M5 III comes with outside measurements of 125mm x 85mm x 50mm (4.9" x 3.3" x 2.0") along with a weight of 414 grams (0.91 lbs) while the Olympus XZ-2 iHS has proportions of 113mm x 65mm x 48mm (4.4" x 2.6" x 1.9") and a weight of 346 grams (0.76 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-M5 III versus Olympus XZ-2 iHS in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you use at the time. Following is a front view dimensions comparison of the E-M5 III and the XZ-2 iHS.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability rating of the E-M5 III and XZ-2 iHS is 80 and 85 respectively.

Generally, it can be hard to imagine the difference between sensor measurements purely by going over specifications. The graphic underneath may provide you a more clear sense of the sensor measurements in the E-M5 III and XZ-2 iHS.

Plainly, each of these cameras have different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-M5 III with its bigger sensor is going to make achieving shallow DOF simpler and the Olympus E-M5 III will offer you more detail having an extra 8 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also allow you to crop pictures a bit more aggressively. The fresher E-M5 III provides an edge with regard to sensor tech.