Olympus 8010 vs Sony NEX-3N

Its time to look a little more closely at the Olympus 8010 versus Sony NEX-3N, former being a Waterproof while the other is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by competitors Olympus and Sony. The image resolution of the 8010 (13MP) and the NEX-3N (16MP) is fairly similar but the 8010 (1/2.3") and NEX-3N (APS-C) come with different sensor size.

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The 8010 was manufactured 4 years earlier than the NEX-3N and that is quite a significant difference as far as tech is concerned. Both of the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus 8010 being a Compact camera and the Sony NEX-3N being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before we go straight into a full comparison, below is a quick summation of how the 8010 scores vs the NEX-3N in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus Stylus Tough 8010 & Sony Alpha NEX-3N. The entire galleries are viewable at Olympus 8010 Gallery & Sony NEX-3N Gallery.

If you're aiming to carry your camera, you're going to have to consider its weight and dimensions. The Olympus 8010 provides exterior dimensions of 98mm x 64mm x 24mm (3.9" x 2.5" x 0.9") having a weight of 245 grams (0.54 lbs) while the Sony NEX-3N has dimensions of 110mm x 62mm x 35mm (4.3" x 2.4" x 1.4") accompanied by a weight of 269 grams (0.59 lbs).

Look at the Olympus 8010 versus Sony NEX-3N in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you have chosen during that time. Here is the front view overall size comparison of the 8010 compared to the NEX-3N.

Using size and weight, the portability rating of the 8010 and NEX-3N is 92 and 89 respectively.

In many cases, its difficult to picture the gap between sensor sizing merely by reviewing a spec sheet. The visual here might give you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the 8010 and NEX-3N.

Clearly, both the cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The 8010 featuring a tinier sensor is going to make shooting shallower DOF more difficult and the Sony NEX-3N will offer you more detail due to its extra 3 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop pics much more aggressively. The older 8010 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor tech.