Olympus E-PL1 vs Sony A100

Lets look a little more in depth at the Olympus E-PL1 and Sony A100, former is a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by competitors Olympus and Sony. The resolution of the E-PL1 (12MP) and the A100 (10MP) is fairly comparable but the E-PL1 (Four Thirds) and A100 (APS-C) provide different sensor dimensions.

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The E-PL1 was announced 3 years after the A100 which is a fairly serious difference as far as camera tech is concerned. The two cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-PL1 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony A100 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before delving straight to a complete comparison, here is a brief view of how the E-PL1 scores vs the A100 for portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-PL1 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A100. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-PL1 Gallery & Sony A100 Gallery.

When you are looking to carry around your camera often, you are going to need to factor in its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-PL1 comes with outer measurements of 115mm x 72mm x 42mm (4.5" x 2.8" x 1.7") along with a weight of 334 grams (0.74 lbs) while the Sony A100 has measurements of 133mm x 95mm x 71mm (5.2" x 3.7" x 2.8") along with a weight of 638 grams (1.41 lbs).

Analyze the Olympus E-PL1 and Sony A100 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you are employing at that moment. The following is a front view over all size comparison of the E-PL1 and the A100.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability grade of the E-PL1 and A100 is 86 and 64 respectively.

Generally, it is very tough to imagine the difference in sensor sizes just by checking out technical specs. The pic below will help offer you a clearer sense of the sensor measurements in the E-PL1 and A100.

As you have seen, each of these cameras have different megapixels and different sensor sizes. The E-PL1 with its smaller sensor is going to make getting shallower depth of field more difficult and the Olympus E-PL1 will provide greater detail with its extra 2MP. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop images a bit more aggressively. The more modern E-PL1 should have an advantage with regard to sensor tech.