Olympus SZ-11 vs Sony a5100

Lets look a little more closely at the Olympus SZ-11 and Sony a5100, former is a Small Sensor Superzoom while the other is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by rivals Olympus and Sony. There is a sizable difference between the sensor resolutions of the SZ-11 (14MP) and a5100 (24MP) and the SZ-11 (1/2.3") and a5100 (APS-C) feature different sensor size.

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The SZ-11 was revealed 4 years earlier than the a5100 which is quite a significant difference as far as tech is concerned. Both the cameras offer different body type with the Olympus SZ-11 being a Compact camera and the Sony a5100 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before getting through a more detailed comparison, below is a brief introduction of how the SZ-11 matches up versus the a5100 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Below is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus SZ-11 & Sony Alpha a5100. The full galleries are available at Olympus SZ-11 Gallery & Sony a5100 Gallery.

If you're looking to travel with your camera often, you're going to have to take into account its weight and dimensions. The Olympus SZ-11 offers external dimensions of 106mm x 69mm x 40mm (4.2" x 2.7" x 1.6") accompanied by a weight of 226 grams (0.50 lbs) and the Sony a5100 has dimensions of 110mm x 63mm x 36mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.4") with a weight of 283 grams (0.62 lbs).

Check the Olympus SZ-11 and Sony a5100 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you have chosen at that moment. Below is the front view sizing comparison of the SZ-11 versus the a5100.

Using size and weight, the portability score of the SZ-11 and a5100 is 89 and 89 respectively.

In many cases, it is very hard to picture the contrast between sensor dimensions purely by looking at specs. The pic below should give you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the SZ-11 and a5100.

As you can plainly see, the 2 cameras enjoy different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The SZ-11 having a tinier sensor is going to make shooting shallower DOF trickier and the Sony a5100 will give more detail because of its extra 10MP. Greater resolution will also enable you to crop pics far more aggressively. The more aged SZ-11 is going to be behind when it comes to sensor technology.