Olympus E-PL1s vs Sony RX100

Let's look closer at the Olympus E-PL1s and Sony RX100, one being a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the other is a Large Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Sony. There exists a significant gap among the image resolutions of the E-PL1s (12MP) and RX100 (20MP) and the E-PL1s (Four Thirds) and RX100 (1") come with totally different sensor size.

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The E-PL1s was announced 21 months earlier than the RX100 making the cameras a generation apart from one another. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL1s being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony RX100 being a Large Sensor Compact camera.

Before diving straight into a comprehensive comparison, below is a short view of how the E-PL1s matches up versus the RX100 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

The following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL1s and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100. The whole galleries are available at Olympus E-PL1s Gallery and Sony RX100 Gallery.

If you are looking to carry your camera regularly, you should factor its weight and proportions. The Olympus E-PL1s has got outside dimensions of 115mm x 72mm x 42mm (4.5" x 2.8" x 1.7") with a weight of 334 grams (0.74 lbs) whilst the Sony RX100 has measurements of 102mm x 58mm x 36mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.4") accompanied by a weight of 240 grams (0.53 lbs).

See the Olympus E-PL1s and Sony RX100 in the all new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ based on the lens you have chosen at that moment. Following is the front view physical size comparison of the E-PL1s and the RX100.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-PL1s and RX100 is 86 and 91 respectively.

Sometimes, its hard to visualise the contrast in sensor sizing purely by viewing specs. The graphic underneath will provide you a better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-PL1s and RX100.

All in all, each of the cameras have got different megapixel count and different sensor sizing. The E-PL1s with its larger sensor will make shooting shallow DOF simpler and the Sony RX100 will render extra detail with its extra 8MP. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop images much more aggressively. The older E-PL1s will be behind in sensor tech.