Olympus E-P5 vs Sony A560

Its time to take a deeper look at the Olympus E-P5 and Sony A560, former is a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by competitors Olympus and Sony. The sensor resolution of the E-P5 (16MP) and the A560 (14MP) is pretty similar but the E-P5 (Four Thirds) and A560 (APS-C) posses totally different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The E-P5 was revealed 3 years after the A560 which is quite a serious difference as far as technology is concerned. Each of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-P5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony A560 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before going straight to a more detailed comparison, here is a concise synopsis of how the E-P5 matches up against the A560 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus PEN E-P5 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A560. The full galleries are viewable at Olympus E-P5 Gallery & Sony A560 Gallery.

If you are going to travel with your camera, you will want to take into account its weight and size. The Olympus E-P5 provides external dimensions 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 Sony A560 has specifications of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") with a weight of 599 grams (1.32 lbs).

See the Olympus E-P5 and Sony A560 in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an ILC will vary based on the lens you are working with at the time. Following is a front view over all size comparison of the E-P5 against the A560.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-P5 and A560 is 85 and 64 respectively.

Quite often, it's hard to envision the gap between sensor dimensions simply by reading specifications. The pic here should provide you a clearer sense of the sensor sizes in the E-P5 and A560.

To sum up, the two cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor dimensions. The E-P5 with its tinier sensor will make getting shallow DOF more difficult and the Olympus E-P5 will deliver more detail because of its extra 2 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also enable you to crop shots a bit more aggressively. The newer E-P5 is going to have a benefit with regard to sensor technology.