Olympus E-PL5 vs Panasonic FZ300

Let's look closer at the Olympus E-PL5 and Panasonic FZ300, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the latter is a Small Sensor Superzoom by competitors Olympus and Panasonic. There is a considerable difference among the image resolutions of the E-PL5 (16MP) and FZ300 (12MP) and the E-PL5 (Four Thirds) and FZ300 (1/2.3") use different sensor size.

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The E-PL5 was manufactured 3 years earlier than the FZ300 and that is a fairly large difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Both of the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic FZ300 being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before getting in to a in depth comparison, below is a quick overview of how the E-PL5 scores versus the FZ300 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus PEN E-PL5 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus E-PL5 Gallery & Panasonic FZ300 Gallery.

In case you're planning to lug around your camera regularly, you're going to have to consider its weight and size. The Olympus E-PL5 features outside dimensions of 111mm x 64mm x 38mm (4.4" x 2.5" x 1.5") and a weight of 325 grams (0.72 lbs) and the Panasonic FZ300 has specifications of 132mm x 92mm x 117mm (5.2" x 3.6" x 4.6") having a weight of 691 grams (1.52 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-PL5 and Panasonic FZ300 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you have chosen at that moment. Here is the front view measurement comparison of the E-PL5 and the FZ300.

Looking at size and weight, the portability score of the E-PL5 and FZ300 is 88 and 59 respectively.

Often, it's difficult to visualize the contrast in sensor measurements purely by viewing a spec sheet. The visual underneath might give you a clearer sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-PL5 and FZ300.

As you can see, both of these cameras posses different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-PL5 because of its bigger sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF less difficult and the Olympus E-PL5 will result in extra detail due to its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will help you crop photographs somewhat more aggressively. The older E-PL5 will be behind in sensor technology.