Olympus E-M5 vs Sony A700

Below is a comprehensive analysis of the Olympus E-M5 vs Sony A700, one being a Advanced Mirrorless and the other is a Advanced DSLR by rivals Olympus and Sony. There is a crucial difference between the sensor resolutions of the E-M5 (16MP) and A700 (12MP) and the E-M5 (Four Thirds) and A700 (APS-C) boast different sensor dimensions.

Apple Innovates by Creating Next-Level Optical Stabilization for iPhone

The E-M5 was announced 4 years later than the A700 and that is quite a serious gap as far as tech is concerned. Both cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-M5 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera and the Sony A700 being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before going right into a in depth comparison, here is a simple highlight of how the E-M5 grades versus the A700 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Sony Alpha DSLR-A700. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-M5 Gallery and Sony A700 Gallery.

If you're going to lug around your camera regularly, you will need to think about its weight and volume. The Olympus E-M5 has got outer dimensions of 122mm x 89mm x 43mm (4.8" x 3.5" x 1.7") along with a weight of 425 grams (0.94 lbs) and the Sony A700 has sizing of 142mm x 105mm x 80mm (5.6" x 4.1" x 3.1") along with a weight of 768 grams (1.69 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-M5 vs Sony A700 in the all new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary dependant on the lens you are employing at the time. Here is a front view overall size comparison of the E-M5 against the A700.

Considering size and weight, the portability grade of the E-M5 and A700 is 81 and 58 respectively.

Often, it is tough to imagine the difference between sensor measurements only by going over technical specs. The visual below will offer you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-M5 and A700.

As you can tell, the two cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-M5 using its tinier sensor is going to make achieving shallow depth of field more challenging and the Olympus E-M5 will offer more detail with its extra 4MP. Greater resolution will also make it easier to crop images a bit more aggressively. The fresher E-M5 provides an edge in sensor innovation.