Olympus E-PL3 vs Sony A560

Below is a extensive analysis of the Olympus E-PL3 and Sony A560, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by companies Olympus and Sony. The resolution of the E-PL3 (12MP) and the A560 (14MP) is very comparable but the E-PL3 (Four Thirds) and A560 (APS-C) have different sensor dimensions.

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The E-PL3 was released 14 months later than the A560 making them a generation apart from each other. The two cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-PL3 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony A560 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before diving right into a in-depth comparison, here is a quick introduction of how the E-PL3 grades vs the A560 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL3 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A560. The complete galleries are available at Olympus E-PL3 Gallery & Sony A560 Gallery.

If you are looking to lug around your camera regularly, you have to take into account its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-PL3 has outer dimensions of 110mm x 64mm x 37mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.5") having a weight of 313 grams (0.69 lbs) and the Sony A560 has dimensions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") and a weight of 599 grams (1.32 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-PL3 and Sony A560 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you are using at the time. Following is a front view over all size comparison of the E-PL3 against the A560.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability grade of the E-PL3 and A560 is 88 and 64 respectively.

Oftentimes, it is tough to visualize the contrast in sensor measurements simply by going through a spec sheet. The graphic here may give you a more clear sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PL3 and A560.

As you can see, both cameras have different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-PL3 because of its smaller sensor is going to make getting shallower depth of field trickier and the Sony A560 will provide extra detail as a result of its extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop photos a bit more aggressively. The younger E-PL3 should have an edge when it comes to sensor tech.