Olympus E-PL1s vs Sony HX50V

Below is a thorough assessment of the Olympus E-PL1s and Sony HX50V, one being a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom by companies Olympus and Sony. There is a crucial difference between the image resolutions of the E-PL1s (12MP) and HX50V (20MP) and the E-PL1s (Four Thirds) and HX50V (1/2.3") boast totally different sensor sizes.

Pentax 17 Pre-Orders Outperform Expectations by a Landslide

The E-PL1s was revealed 3 years earlier than the HX50V and that is quite a serious gap as far as tech is concerned. The two cameras feature different body design with the Olympus E-PL1s being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony HX50V being a Compact camera.

Before diving right into a thorough comparison, here is a quick introduction of how the E-PL1s scores vs the HX50V in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL1s and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX50V. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-PL1s Gallery and Sony HX50V Gallery.

For anybody who is planning to lug around your camera regularly, you will want to take into account its weight and size. The Olympus E-PL1s provides outer 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) whilst the Sony HX50V has specifications of 108mm x 64mm x 38mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.5") along with a weight of 272 grams (0.60 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-PL1s and Sony HX50V in the all new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ depending on the lens you select at that time. Underneath is a front view dimension comparison of the E-PL1s compared to the HX50V.

Looking at size and weight, the portability score of the E-PL1s and HX50V is 86 and 89 respectively.

Generally, it is very hard to visualise the difference between sensor measurements purely by reading through specifications. The visual here will offer you a better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-PL1s and HX50V.

To sum up, both of those cameras feature different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-PL1s with its larger sensor will make shooting shallow depth of field easier and the Sony HX50V will resolve more detail because of its extra 8 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also help you crop images way more aggressively. The older E-PL1s is going to be behind with regard to sensor technology.