Olympus SH-3 vs Sony W550

Lets look a little more closely at the Olympus SH-3 versus Sony W550, former being a Small Sensor Superzoom while the other is a Ultracompact by companies Olympus and Sony. The resolution of the SH-3 (16MP) and the W550 (14MP) is very well matched and they possess the exact same sensor dimensions (1/2.3").

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The SH-3 was introduced 4 years later than the W550 and that is quite a large difference as far as technology is concerned. Both cameras come with different body type with the Olympus SH-3 being a Compact camera and the Sony W550 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before getting in to a in-depth comparison, below is a quick view of how the SH-3 grades against the W550 for portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Below is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus Stylus SH-3 & Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W550. The whole galleries are available at Olympus SH-3 Gallery & Sony W550 Gallery.

In case you're going to carry your camera frequently, you should take into account its weight and volume. The Olympus SH-3 has got outside measurements of 109mm x 63mm x 42mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.7") along with a weight of 271 grams (0.60 lbs) while the Sony W550 has sizing of 94mm x 56mm x 19mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.7") having a weight of 110 grams (0.24 lbs).

Check out the Olympus SH-3 versus Sony W550 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an ILC will differ depending on the lens you are utilising at that moment. Below is the front view scale comparison of the SH-3 and the W550.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the SH-3 and W550 is 88 and 96 respectively.

Quite often, its difficult to imagine the gap between sensor sizing purely by looking at a spec sheet. The graphic underneath should give you a greater sense of the sensor measurements in the SH-3 and W550.

As you can see, the 2 cameras posses the exact same sensor measurements but different megapixels. You can expect to see the Olympus SH-3 to resolve more detail using its extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also make it easier to crop photos somewhat more aggressively. The younger SH-3 should have an advantage in sensor technology.