Olympus E-PL1 vs Sony RX10 II

Its time to take a closer look at the Olympus E-PL1 and Sony RX10 II, one being a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the other is a Large Sensor Superzoom by companies Olympus and Sony. There is a significant difference between the sensor resolutions of the E-PL1 (12MP) and RX10 II (20MP) and the E-PL1 (Four Thirds) and RX10 II (1") have different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The E-PL1 was released 6 years before the RX10 II and that is quite a sizable gap as far as tech is concerned. Both the cameras feature different body design with the Olympus E-PL1 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony RX10 II being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before getting straight to a comprehensive comparison, here is a simple summary of how the E-PL1 scores vs the RX10 II in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL1 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 II. The complete galleries are viewable at Olympus E-PL1 Gallery and Sony RX10 II Gallery.

When you are intending to lug around your camera frequently, you are going to need to consider its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-PL1 offers external dimensions of 115mm x 72mm x 42mm (4.5" x 2.8" x 1.7") accompanied by a weight of 334 grams (0.74 lbs) whilst the Sony RX10 II has dimensions of 129mm x 88mm x 102mm (5.1" x 3.5" x 4.0") accompanied by a weight of 813 grams (1.79 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-PL1 and Sony RX10 II in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you are utilising during that time. Following is a front view dimension comparison of the E-PL1 compared to the RX10 II.

Looking at size and weight, the portability score of the E-PL1 and RX10 II is 86 and 58 respectively.

Often, it is tough to visualize the contrast between sensor measurements just by checking specs. The photograph here may give you a greater sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-PL1 and RX10 II.

All in all, the 2 cameras come with different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-PL1 because of its larger sensor is going to make getting shallow DOF easier and the Sony RX10 II will give you more detail as a result of its extra 8MP. Greater resolution can also allow you to crop images a good deal more aggressively. The older E-PL1 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.