Olympus E-PL3 vs Sony A37

Its time to look more closely at the Olympus E-PL3 and Sony A37, former is a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by brands Olympus and Sony. There exists a considerable gap between the resolutions of the E-PL3 (12MP) and A37 (16MP) and the E-PL3 (Four Thirds) and A37 (APS-C) boast totally different sensor size.

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The E-PL3 was brought out 7 months before the A37 so they are of a similar age. Both the cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-PL3 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony A37 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before getting right into a detailed comparison, here is a concise overview of how the E-PL3 matches up vs the A37 in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-PL3 & Sony SLT-A37. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus E-PL3 Gallery & Sony A37 Gallery.

If you're aiming to travel with your camera often, you'll have to factor its weight and volume. The Olympus E-PL3 has external dimensions of 110mm x 64mm x 37mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.5") with a weight of 313 grams (0.69 lbs) whilst the Sony A37 has sizing of 124mm x 92mm x 85mm (4.9" x 3.6" x 3.3") and a weight of 506 grams (1.12 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-PL3 and Sony A37 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you are utilizing during that time. Following is a front view overall size comparison of the E-PL3 versus the A37.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-PL3 and A37 is 88 and 67 respectively.

More often than not, it is very hard to envision the gap between sensor dimensions purely by looking at technical specs. The pic underneath may give you a better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-PL3 and A37.

As you have seen, the two cameras have different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The E-PL3 due to its tinier sensor will make shooting shallow DOF harder and the Sony A37 will give extra detail having its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also enable you to crop pics a bit more aggressively. The more aged E-PL3 is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor technology.