Olympus E-PL3 vs Sony TX55

Its time to take a deeper look at the Olympus E-PL3 and Sony TX55, former is a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Ultracompact by competitors Olympus and Sony. There exists a large gap between the sensor resolutions of the E-PL3 (12MP) and TX55 (16MP) and the E-PL3 (Four Thirds) and TX55 (1/2.3") boast totally different sensor sizing.

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The E-PL3 was manufactured 2 months after the TX55 which means that they are of a similar age. Both of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-PL3 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony TX55 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before going into a complete comparison, here is a quick overview of how the E-PL3 matches up versus the TX55 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL3 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX55. The entire galleries are available at Olympus E-PL3 Gallery & Sony TX55 Gallery.

If you're going to carry around your camera often, you have to factor its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-PL3 features exterior measurements of 110mm x 64mm x 37mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.5") with a weight of 313 grams (0.69 lbs) and the Sony TX55 has proportions of 93mm x 54mm x 13mm (3.7" x 2.1" x 0.5") and a weight of 109 grams (0.24 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-PL3 and Sony TX55 in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you are working with at the time. Below is a front view proportions comparison of the E-PL3 versus the TX55.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-PL3 and TX55 is 88 and 97 respectively.

Normally, it can be difficult to envision the contrast between sensor sizes just by looking at a spec sheet. The image here will offer you a far better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-PL3 and TX55.

Clearly, both of these cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor sizes. The E-PL3 because of its larger sensor will make achieving shallow DOF simpler and the Sony TX55 will give extra detail due to its extra 4MP. Greater resolution can also let you crop images a bit more aggressively.