Olympus Tough-3000 vs Sony HX5

Lets look much closer at the Olympus Tough-3000 and Sony HX5, one being a Waterproof and the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by manufacturers Olympus and Sony. The image resolution of the Tough-3000 (12MP) and the HX5 (10MP) is relatively comparable but the Tough-3000 (1/2.3") and HX5 (1/2.4") come with different sensor measurements.

Pentax 17 Pre-Orders Outperform Expectations by a Landslide

The Tough-3000 was launched 5 months prior to the HX5 and they are both of a similar generation. Each of the cameras offer the identical body type (Compact).

Before getting straight into a comprehensive comparison, below is a simple view of how the Tough-3000 scores vs the HX5 with respect to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus Stylus Tough-3000 and Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5. The complete galleries are provided at Olympus Tough-3000 Gallery and Sony HX5 Gallery.

For anybody who is going to lug around your camera often, you should consider its weight and size. The Olympus Tough-3000 enjoys outer dimensions of 96mm x 65mm x 23mm (3.8" x 2.6" x 0.9") with a weight of 159 grams (0.35 lbs) while the Sony HX5 has specifications of 102mm x 58mm x 29mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.1") having a weight of 200 grams (0.44 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus Tough-3000 and Sony HX5 in the new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ depending on the lens you have at that time. Here is the front view sizing comparison of the Tough-3000 vs the HX5.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the Tough-3000 and HX5 is 94 and 92 respectively.

Typically, it's hard to visualize the difference in sensor measurements simply by checking out specs. The graphic below will help offer you a stronger sense of the sensor dimensions in the Tough-3000 and HX5.

As you can plainly see, both of these cameras enjoy different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The Tough-3000 because of its bigger sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field easier and the Olympus Tough-3000 will provide more detail utilizing its extra 2MP. Higher resolution will allow you to crop photographs far more aggressively.