Olympus E-PL3 vs Sony RX10 III

Let's look a little more closely at the Olympus E-PL3 and Sony RX10 III, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Large Sensor Superzoom by manufacturers Olympus and Sony. There exists a sizable gap between the sensor resolutions of the E-PL3 (12MP) and RX10 III (20MP) and the E-PL3 (Four Thirds) and RX10 III (1") have totally different sensor dimensions.

Apple Innovates by Creating Next-Level Optical Stabilization for iPhone

The E-PL3 was unveiled 5 years before the RX10 III and that is quite a significant difference as far as technology is concerned. Both the cameras feature different body design with the Olympus E-PL3 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony RX10 III being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before we go into a thorough comparison, here is a short overview of how the E-PL3 scores vs the RX10 III in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL3 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 III. The full galleries are available at Olympus E-PL3 Gallery & Sony RX10 III Gallery.

For those who are intending to carry your camera, you need to take into account its weight and volume. The Olympus E-PL3 has got outside dimensions of 110mm x 64mm x 37mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.5") accompanied by a weight of 313 grams (0.69 lbs) while the Sony RX10 III has sizing of 133mm x 94mm x 127mm (5.2" x 3.7" x 5.0") and a weight of 1051 grams (2.32 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus E-PL3 and Sony RX10 III in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you are employing during that time. Here is a front view physical size comparison of the E-PL3 vs the RX10 III.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-PL3 and RX10 III is 88 and 53 respectively.

Quite often, it is very difficult to envision the gap between sensor sizing only by looking at technical specs. The visual below will offer you a more clear sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PL3 and RX10 III.

As you have seen, both of these cameras come with different megapixels and different sensor sizing. The E-PL3 using its larger sensor will make getting shallower depth of field easier and the Sony RX10 III will resolve more detail having an extra 8MP. Greater resolution will let you crop photos a good deal more aggressively. The older E-PL3 is going to be behind in sensor technology.