Olympus TG-870 vs Olympus XZ-1

Its time to look a bit more in depth at the Olympus TG-870 and Olympus XZ-1, one being a Ultracompact and the latter is a Small Sensor Compact and they are both built by Olympus. There exists a huge gap among the sensor resolutions of the TG-870 (16MP) and XZ-1 (10MP) and the TG-870 (1/2.3") and XZ-1 (1/1.63") use different sensor sizing.

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The TG-870 was manufactured 5 years later than the XZ-1 and that is a fairly significant gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Both of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus TG-870 being a Ultracompact camera and the Olympus XZ-1 being a Compact camera.

Before diving straight into a full comparison, below is a simple synopsis of how the TG-870 matches up vs the XZ-1 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus Stylus Tough TG-870 and Olympus XZ-1. The entire galleries are available at Olympus TG-870 Gallery and Olympus XZ-1 Gallery.

If you are looking to lug around your camera regularly, you need to factor its weight and size. The Olympus TG-870 provides outer dimensions of 113mm x 64mm x 28mm (4.4" x 2.5" x 1.1") having a weight of 221 grams (0.49 lbs) while the Olympus XZ-1 has specifications of 111mm x 65mm x 42mm (4.4" x 2.6" x 1.7") and a weight of 275 grams (0.61 lbs).

Check the Olympus TG-870 and Olympus XZ-1 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change based on the lens you select at that moment. The following is the front view measurements comparison of the TG-870 vs the XZ-1.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the TG-870 and XZ-1 is 91 and 88 respectively.

Normally, it is very tough to visualize the difference in sensor measurements purely by looking through technical specs. The visual underneath will help give you a clearer sense of the sensor dimensions in the TG-870 and XZ-1.

As you can tell, the two cameras posses different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The TG-870 because of its smaller sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field trickier and the Olympus TG-870 will provide you with more detail due to its extra 6 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also make it easier to crop photographs somewhat more aggressively. The fresher TG-870 provides an edge with regard to sensor innovation.