Olympus E-PL9 vs Panasonic F5

Its time to take a deeper look at the Olympus E-PL9 and Panasonic F5, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Panasonic. The resolution of the E-PL9 (16MP) and the F5 (14MP) is pretty close but the E-PL9 (Four Thirds) and F5 (1/2.3") possess different sensor measurements.

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The E-PL9 was brought out 5 years later than the F5 and that is a fairly significant difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Both of these cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-PL9 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic F5 being a Compact camera.

Before diving in to a complete comparison, below is a short introduction of how the E-PL9 grades against the F5 in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Here is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus PEN E-PL9 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-F5. The entire galleries are viewable at Olympus E-PL9 Gallery & Panasonic F5 Gallery.

For those who are going to lug around your camera often, you're going to have to factor in its weight and volume. The Olympus E-PL9 comes with physical dimensions of 117mm x 68mm x 39mm (4.6" x 2.7" x 1.5") along with a weight of 380 grams (0.84 lbs) whilst the Panasonic F5 has sizing of 97mm x 58mm x 22mm (3.8" x 2.3" x 0.9") along with a weight of 121 grams (0.27 lbs).

Analyze the Olympus E-PL9 and Panasonic F5 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will differ depending on the lens you are using during that time. Underneath is the front view overall size comparison of the E-PL9 and the F5.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-PL9 and F5 is 85 and 96 respectively.

Quite often, it's hard to visualize the gap in sensor measurements just by viewing specs. The visual here might offer you a much better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-PL9 and F5.

All in all, both of those cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-PL9 featuring a bigger sensor is going to make getting shallow DOF less difficult and the Olympus E-PL9 will result in extra detail having its extra 2MP. Higher resolution will also let you crop pictures a little more aggressively. The fresher E-PL9 should have an edge with regard to sensor tech.