Olympus E-PL1s vs Panasonic ZS80

The following is a complete assessment of the Olympus E-PL1s and Panasonic ZS80, one is a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by manufacturers Olympus and Panasonic. There is a sizeable difference between the resolutions of the E-PL1s (12MP) and ZS80 (20MP) and the E-PL1s (Four Thirds) and ZS80 (1/2.3") enjoy different sensor sizes.

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The E-PL1s was manufactured 8 years earlier than the ZS80 which is quite a large gap as far as tech is concerned. Both the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL1s being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic ZS80 being a Compact camera.

Before we go through a full comparison, below is a short overview of how the E-PL1s scores vs the ZS80 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Here is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL1s and Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS80. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus E-PL1s Gallery and Panasonic ZS80 Gallery.

When you are aiming to travel with your camera regularly, you will have to think about its weight and volume. The Olympus E-PL1s has physical dimensions of 115mm x 72mm x 42mm (4.5" x 2.8" x 1.7") having a weight of 334 grams (0.74 lbs) whilst the Panasonic ZS80 has sizing of 112mm x 69mm x 42mm (4.4" x 2.7" x 1.7") and a weight of 327 grams (0.72 lbs).

Look at the Olympus E-PL1s and Panasonic ZS80 in the latest Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ based on the lens you use at that time. Below is the front view dimension comparison of the E-PL1s vs the ZS80.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability score of the E-PL1s and ZS80 is 86 and 86 respectively.

Usually, its difficult to picture the difference between sensor dimensions simply by checking specs. The picture below should provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PL1s and ZS80.

As you can plainly see, the 2 cameras posses different megapixel count and different sensor dimensions. The E-PL1s because of its larger sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF less difficult and the Panasonic ZS80 will resolve more detail due to its extra 8MP. Greater resolution will also make it easier to crop pics somewhat more aggressively. The more aged E-PL1s is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor tech.