Olympus E-PL9 vs Panasonic S3

Its time to look a little more closely at the Olympus E-PL9 and Panasonic S3, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Small Sensor Compact by companies Olympus and Panasonic. The resolution of the E-PL9 (16MP) and the S3 (14MP) is very well matched but the E-PL9 (Four Thirds) and S3 (1/2.3") feature different sensor sizing.

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The E-PL9 was unveiled 7 years later than the S3 and that is quite a large difference as far as tech is concerned. Each of the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL9 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Panasonic S3 being a Compact camera.

Before diving straight into a in depth comparison, below is a quick view of how the E-PL9 scores against the S3 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Here is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL9 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-S3. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-PL9 Gallery & Panasonic S3 Gallery.

When you are going to carry your camera frequently, you will want to factor its weight and volume. The Olympus E-PL9 features external measurements of 117mm x 68mm x 39mm (4.6" x 2.7" x 1.5") along with a weight of 380 grams (0.84 lbs) while the Panasonic S3 has sizing of 99mm x 59mm x 21mm (3.9" x 2.3" x 0.8") having a weight of 117 grams (0.26 lbs).

Examine the Olympus E-PL9 and Panasonic S3 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you are employing at that moment. Underneath is the front view measurements comparison of the E-PL9 against the S3.

Using size and weight, the portability rating of the E-PL9 and S3 is 85 and 96 respectively.

Often, its difficult to visualize the gap between sensor sizing merely by looking at specs. The visual underneath will give you a stronger sense of the sensor sizing in the E-PL9 and S3.

As you can plainly see, both of those cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor sizing. The E-PL9 using its larger sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF less difficult and the Olympus E-PL9 will give you more detail having an extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop images somewhat more aggressively. The younger E-PL9 provides a benefit with regard to sensor tech.