Olympus E-P1 vs Olympus TG-860

Its time to look a little more closely at the Olympus E-P1 and Olympus TG-860, one being a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the other is a Waterproof and they are both designed by Olympus. There exists a huge gap between the sensor resolutions of the E-P1 (12MP) and TG-860 (16MP) and the E-P1 (Four Thirds) and TG-860 (1/2.3") offer totally different sensor sizing.

Photography Glossary

The E-P1 was announced 6 years earlier than the TG-860 and that is quite a significant gap as far as technology is concerned. Both of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-P1 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Olympus TG-860 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before going into a thorough comparison, here is a short overview of how the E-P1 scores vs the TG-860 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Here is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-P1 and Olympus Stylus Tough TG-860. The whole galleries are available at Olympus E-P1 Gallery and Olympus TG-860 Gallery.

When you are intending to lug around your camera, you should take into account its weight and size. The Olympus E-P1 features physical dimensions of 121mm x 70mm x 36mm (4.8" x 2.8" x 1.4") accompanied by a weight of 355 grams (0.78 lbs) while the Olympus TG-860 has specifications of 110mm x 64mm x 28mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 224 grams (0.49 lbs).

Analyze the Olympus E-P1 and Olympus TG-860 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary dependant on the lens you are working with at that time. Here is a front view proportions comparison of the E-P1 against the TG-860.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-P1 and TG-860 is 86 and 91 respectively.

Quite often, it is hard to envision the difference between sensor measurements purely by checking technical specs. The visual underneath should provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-P1 and TG-860.

As you have seen, each of the cameras provide different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-P1 using its larger sensor will make achieving shallow depth of field simpler and the Olympus TG-860 will resolve extra detail with its extra 4MP. Greater resolution can also make it easier to crop pics more aggressively. The older E-P1 is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor innovation.