Olympus E-PL1s vs Ricoh GR

Its time to take a more detailed look at the Olympus E-PL1s and Ricoh GR, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Large Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Ricoh. There exists a sizable gap between the resolutions of the E-PL1s (12MP) and GR (16MP) and the E-PL1s (Four Thirds) and GR (APS-C) feature totally different sensor sizes.

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The E-PL1s was unveiled 3 years earlier than the GR and that is quite a significant difference as far as technology is concerned. Each of the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL1s being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Ricoh GR being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before getting in to a complete comparison, below is a quick summary of how the E-PL1s matches up versus the GR for portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-PL1s & Ricoh GR. The full galleries are viewable at Olympus E-PL1s Gallery & Ricoh GR Gallery.

For anyone who is aiming to lug around your camera frequently, you should consider its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-PL1s offers 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 Ricoh GR has dimensions of 117mm x 61mm x 35mm (4.6" x 2.4" x 1.4") with a weight of 245 grams (0.54 lbs).

Compare the Olympus E-PL1s and Ricoh GR in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you have chosen at the time. Here is the front view dimensions comparison of the E-PL1s vs the GR.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-PL1s and GR is 86 and 90 respectively.

Normally, it can be hard to see the difference between sensor measurements merely by reading through technical specs. The photograph underneath will help give you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PL1s and GR.

As you have seen, both the cameras have got different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-PL1s having a tinier sensor will make achieving shallow depth of field harder and the Ricoh GR will give more detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also allow you to crop photos much more aggressively. The older E-PL1s is going to be behind when it comes to sensor technology.