Olympus SH-1 vs Sony A300

Below is a in-depth overview of the Olympus SH-1 vs Sony A300, former being a Small Sensor Superzoom while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by manufacturers Olympus and Sony. There exists a noticeable gap between the image resolutions of the SH-1 (16MP) and A300 (10MP) and the SH-1 (1/2.3") and A300 (APS-C) feature totally different sensor size.

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The SH-1 was announced 6 years later than the A300 and that is quite a sizable difference as far as technology is concerned. The two cameras offer different body type with the Olympus SH-1 being a Compact camera and the Sony A300 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before diving straight into a detailed comparison, below is a simple highlight of how the SH-1 scores versus the A300 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus Stylus SH-1 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A300. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus SH-1 Gallery & Sony A300 Gallery.

For those who are intending to lug around your camera regularly, you need to factor its weight and dimensions. The Olympus SH-1 enjoys outside measurements of 109mm x 63mm x 42mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.7") accompanied by a weight of 271 grams (0.60 lbs) whilst the Sony A300 has dimensions of 131mm x 99mm x 75mm (5.2" x 3.9" x 3.0") along with a weight of 632 grams (1.39 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus SH-1 vs Sony A300 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you use at that moment. Following is the front view dimension comparison of the SH-1 compared to the A300.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the SH-1 and A300 is 88 and 64 respectively.

Typically, it's hard to see the contrast between sensor measurements only by reading a spec sheet. The visual below may give you a stronger sense of the sensor measurements in the SH-1 and A300.

As you can see, both of these cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The SH-1 with its tinier sensor will make getting shallow DOF trickier and the Olympus SH-1 will deliver extra detail with its extra 6MP. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop images a little more aggressively. The newer SH-1 is going to have an edge with regard to sensor technology.