Olympus E-P5 vs Panasonic ZS100

Its time to look closer at the Olympus E-P5 and Panasonic ZS100, former is a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the latter is a Large Sensor Compact by companies Olympus and Panasonic. The image resolution of the E-P5 (16MP) and the ZS100 (20MP) is relatively comparable but the E-P5 (Four Thirds) and ZS100 (1") use different sensor sizing.

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The E-P5 was unveiled 3 years before the ZS100 which is a fairly large difference as far as camera tech is concerned. The two cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-P5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic ZS100 being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before going straight into a more detailed comparison, below is a quick overview of how the E-P5 scores versus the ZS100 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Following is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus PEN E-P5 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS100. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-P5 Gallery & Panasonic ZS100 Gallery.

For those who are looking to travel with your camera frequently, you will want to think about its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-P5 offers outer measurements of 122mm x 69mm x 37mm (4.8" x 2.7" x 1.5") accompanied by a weight of 420 grams (0.93 lbs) while the Panasonic ZS100 has proportions of 111mm x 65mm x 44mm (4.4" x 2.6" x 1.7") and a weight of 312 grams (0.69 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-P5 and Panasonic ZS100 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you are employing at that time. Below is the front view measurement comparison of the E-P5 against the ZS100.

Looking at size and weight, the portability score of the E-P5 and ZS100 is 85 and 87 respectively.

Often, it is hard to visualize the contrast in sensor dimensions just by seeing specs. The image underneath should provide you a much better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-P5 and ZS100.

As you can plainly see, the 2 cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The E-P5 using its bigger sensor is going to make achieving shallow DOF simpler and the Panasonic ZS100 will produce greater detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop pictures much more aggressively. The more aged E-P5 will be behind when it comes to sensor technology.