Olympus 9000 vs Olympus SP-100

Its time to look much closer at the Olympus 9000 vs Olympus SP-100, former being a Small Sensor Compact while the other is a Small Sensor Superzoom and both are built by Olympus. There exists a large gap between the resolutions of the 9000 (12MP) and SP-100 (16MP) but both cameras posses the same sensor sizing (1/2.3").

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The 9000 was manufactured 5 years prior to the SP-100 and that is quite a serious difference as far as technology is concerned. The two cameras have different body design with the Olympus 9000 being a Compact camera and the Olympus SP-100 being a SLR-like (bridge) camera.

Before delving straight to a thorough comparison, here is a short highlight of how the 9000 scores vs the SP-100 with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus Stylus 9000 & Olympus Stylus SP-100. The entire galleries are viewable at Olympus 9000 Gallery & Olympus SP-100 Gallery.

For those who are planning to carry your camera often, you should take into account its weight and volume. The Olympus 9000 provides external measurements of 96mm x 60mm x 31mm (3.8" x 2.4" x 1.2") along with a weight of 225 grams (0.50 lbs) and the Olympus SP-100 has sizing of 122mm x 91mm x 133mm (4.8" x 3.6" x 5.2") and a weight of 594 grams (1.31 lbs).

Compare the Olympus 9000 vs Olympus SP-100 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you are employing at that time. Below is a front view size comparison of the 9000 vs the SP-100.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the 9000 and SP-100 is 92 and 63 respectively.

Quite often, it is tough to envision the contrast between sensor sizing only by reviewing a spec sheet. The graphic here will give you a clearer sense of the sensor sizing in the 9000 and SP-100.

Clearly, both of those cameras have the same sensor dimensions but not the same resolution. You can expect to see the Olympus SP-100 to offer more detail due to its extra 4MP. Greater resolution can also let you crop pics a bit more aggressively. The older 9000 is going to be disadvantaged with regard to sensor innovation.