Olympus E-PL1s vs Panasonic FH27

Its time to look a bit more in depth at the Olympus E-PL1s versus Panasonic FH27, one being a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by brands Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a sizeable gap among the image resolutions of the E-PL1s (12MP) and FH27 (16MP) and the E-PL1s (Four Thirds) and FH27 (1/2.3") feature totally different sensor dimensions.

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The E-PL1s was announced around the same time to the FH27 so they are both of a similar generation. Both of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL1s being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic FH27 being a Compact camera.

Before delving through a comprehensive comparison, below is a simple summary of how the E-PL1s matches up versus the FH27 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Here is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus PEN E-PL1s and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH27. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-PL1s Gallery and Panasonic FH27 Gallery.

In case you're going to carry your camera frequently, you will need to think about its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-PL1s comes with outer measurements 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 Panasonic FH27 has measurements of 99mm x 57mm x 28mm (3.9" x 2.2" x 1.1") with a weight of 152 grams (0.34 lbs).

See the Olympus E-PL1s versus Panasonic FH27 in the new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ based on the lens you are employing at that moment. Below is the front view measurements comparison of the E-PL1s vs the FH27.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-PL1s and FH27 is 86 and 94 respectively.

More often than not, its difficult to see the gap in sensor sizing only by researching a spec sheet. The visual below should provide you a better sense of the sensor sizing in the E-PL1s and FH27.

As you can see, both of those cameras posses different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-PL1s with its bigger sensor will make achieving shallower DOF simpler and the Panasonic FH27 will render more detail with its extra 4MP. Higher resolution can also make it easier to crop shots somewhat more aggressively.