Olympus E-PL1s vs Olympus VR-340

Let's look a little more in depth at the Olympus E-PL1s versus Olympus VR-340, former is a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Small Sensor Compact and they are both sold by Olympus. There exists a considerable gap among the image resolutions of the E-PL1s (12MP) and VR-340 (16MP) and the E-PL1s (Four Thirds) and VR-340 (1/2.3") posses totally different sensor sizes.

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The E-PL1s was launched 14 months earlier than the VR-340 making them a generation away from one another. Both of these cameras feature different body design with the Olympus E-PL1s being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Olympus VR-340 being a Compact camera.

Before delving straight to a comprehensive comparison, here is a brief view of how the E-PL1s scores against the VR-340 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-PL1s & Olympus VR-340. The complete galleries are viewable at Olympus E-PL1s Gallery & Olympus VR-340 Gallery.

For those who are aiming to travel with your camera often, you will want to factor in its weight and size. The Olympus E-PL1s features external 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) while the Olympus VR-340 has specifications of 96mm x 57mm x 19mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.7") along with a weight of 125 grams (0.28 lbs).

Examine the Olympus E-PL1s versus Olympus VR-340 in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you use at the time. Here is a front view overall size comparison of the E-PL1s and the VR-340.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-PL1s and VR-340 is 86 and 96 respectively.

Quite often, it is hard to see the difference in sensor dimensions merely by researching technical specs. The pic below should give you a much better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PL1s and VR-340.

As you can tell, the 2 cameras feature different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The E-PL1s featuring a larger sensor will make shooting shallow DOF easier and the Olympus VR-340 will result in greater detail utilizing its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also help you crop images way more aggressively. The more aged E-PL1s will be behind in sensor tech.