Olympus E-PL3 vs Sony W730

Its time to examine more closely at the Olympus E-PL3 vs Sony W730, one being a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the other is a Small Sensor Compact by brands Olympus and Sony. There exists a huge gap between the image resolutions of the E-PL3 (12MP) and W730 (16MP) and the E-PL3 (Four Thirds) and W730 (1/2.3") come with totally different sensor sizes.

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The E-PL3 was revealed 15 months before the W730 making the cameras a generation apart from one another. Both of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL3 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony W730 being a Compact camera.

Before getting straight into a step-by-step comparison, below is a short introduction of how the E-PL3 matches up vs the W730 in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-PL3 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W730. The full galleries are available at Olympus E-PL3 Gallery and Sony W730 Gallery.

For anybody who is planning to lug around your camera regularly, you will want to think about its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-PL3 features exterior dimensions 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 W730 has dimensions of 93mm x 52mm x 22mm (3.7" x 2.0" x 0.9") and a weight of 122 grams (0.27 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-PL3 vs Sony W730 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change based on the lens you are employing at that time. The following is the front view over all size comparison of the E-PL3 versus the W730.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-PL3 and W730 is 88 and 96 respectively.

Quite often, it can be tough to envision the difference between sensor measurements purely by looking at specifications. The visual underneath might provide you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-PL3 and W730.

To sum up, the two cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-PL3 with its larger sensor will make shooting shallower DOF easier and the Sony W730 will resolve greater detail because of its extra 4MP. Greater resolution can also let you crop photos somewhat more aggressively. The older E-PL3 is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor innovation.