Olympus SZ-10 vs Panasonic FS42

Lets look much closer at the Olympus SZ-10 and Panasonic FS42, former being a Small Sensor Superzoom while the other is a Ultracompact by rivals Olympus and Panasonic. There is a considerable difference between the image resolutions of the SZ-10 (14MP) and FS42 (10MP) and the SZ-10 (1/2.3") and FS42 (1/2.5") boast different sensor dimensions.

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The SZ-10 was released 23 months later than the FS42 making them a generation apart from each other. Each of the cameras feature different body design with the Olympus SZ-10 being a Compact camera and the Panasonic FS42 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before getting right into a more detailed comparison, here is a short introduction of how the SZ-10 grades against the FS42 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus SZ-10 & Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS42. The complete galleries are available at Olympus SZ-10 Gallery & Panasonic FS42 Gallery.

For anybody who is planning to lug around your camera frequently, you are going to need to take into account its weight and proportions. The Olympus SZ-10 enjoys external dimensions of 106mm x 67mm x 38mm (4.2" x 2.6" x 1.5") with a weight of 215 grams (0.47 lbs) while the Panasonic FS42 has measurements of 98mm x 55mm x 22mm (3.9" x 2.2" x 0.9") along with a weight of 132 grams (0.29 lbs).

Examine the Olympus SZ-10 and Panasonic FS42 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you are utilising during that time. Below is a front view size comparison of the SZ-10 versus the FS42.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability rating of the SZ-10 and FS42 is 90 and 95 respectively.

Usually, its tough to visualize the contrast between sensor measurements only by reading a spec sheet. The visual underneath might give you a much better sense of the sensor dimensions in the SZ-10 and FS42.

As you can see, both cameras come with different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The SZ-10 because of its larger sensor is going to make achieving shallow DOF simpler and the Olympus SZ-10 will offer you extra detail as a result of its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also let you crop images a good deal more aggressively. The more modern SZ-10 should have an edge when it comes to sensor tech.