Olympus E-PM1 vs Sony W710

Here is a thorough assessment of the Olympus E-PM1 vs Sony W710, one being a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by companies Olympus and Sony. There exists a big gap among the image resolutions of the E-PM1 (12MP) and W710 (16MP) and the E-PM1 (Four Thirds) and W710 (1/2.3") posses totally different sensor dimensions.

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The E-PM1 was revealed 13 months earlier than the W710 which makes them a generation apart from one another. Each of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus E-PM1 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Sony W710 being a Compact camera.

Before going into a more detailed comparison, here is a quick highlight of how the E-PM1 scores against the W710 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

This is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus PEN E-PM1 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W710. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-PM1 Gallery and Sony W710 Gallery.

For those who are looking to carry your camera often, you'll have to consider its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-PM1 enjoys outer dimensions of 110mm x 64mm x 34mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.3") accompanied by a weight of 265 grams (0.58 lbs) while the Sony W710 has proportions of 97mm x 55mm x 20mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.8") with a weight of 114 grams (0.25 lbs).

Look at the Olympus E-PM1 vs Sony W710 in the new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you are employing at that time. Here is a front view size comparison of the E-PM1 against the W710.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-PM1 and W710 is 89 and 96 respectively.

Normally, it's hard to envision the gap in sensor sizing merely by researching a spec sheet. The visual here might provide you a better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PM1 and W710.

Clearly, both of those cameras provide different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The E-PM1 with its bigger sensor will make achieving shallower DOF simpler and the Sony W710 will result in greater detail because of its extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution will also make it easier to crop shots more aggressively. The older E-PM1 will be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.