Olympus E-PL1 vs Olympus SH-1

Let's look more closely at the Olympus E-PL1 vs Olympus SH-1, one being a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the latter is a Small Sensor Superzoom and both of them are designed by Olympus. There exists a crucial gap between the resolutions of the E-PL1 (12MP) and SH-1 (16MP) and the E-PL1 (Four Thirds) and SH-1 (1/2.3") provide different sensor sizing.

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The E-PL1 was revealed 4 years prior to the SH-1 and that is quite a serious gap as far as technology is concerned. Each of the cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-PL1 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Olympus SH-1 being a Compact camera.

Before diving straight to a more detailed comparison, here is a simple view of how the E-PL1 scores vs the SH-1 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Here is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus PEN E-PL1 and Olympus Stylus SH-1. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-PL1 Gallery and Olympus SH-1 Gallery.

For anyone who is intending to lug around your camera often, you'll need to consider its weight and volume. The Olympus E-PL1 offers outside dimensions of 115mm x 72mm x 42mm (4.5" x 2.8" x 1.7") along with a weight of 334 grams (0.74 lbs) and the Olympus SH-1 has sizing of 109mm x 63mm x 42mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.7") along with a weight of 271 grams (0.60 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-PL1 vs Olympus SH-1 in the new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you use at that moment. Underneath is a front view overall size comparison of the E-PL1 versus the SH-1.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-PL1 and SH-1 is 86 and 88 respectively.

More often than not, it is very difficult to picture the difference between sensor measurements purely by reading a spec sheet. The photograph here might offer you a clearer sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-PL1 and SH-1.

As you can see, each of the cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-PL1 using its bigger sensor is going to make getting shallower DOF less difficult and the Olympus SH-1 will deliver extra detail because of its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also help you crop photographs a bit more aggressively. The older E-PL1 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.