Olympus VG-120 vs Sony a5000

Its time to look a bit more closely at the Olympus VG-120 vs Sony a5000, former being a Ultracompact while the latter is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by competitors Olympus and Sony. There exists a noticeable gap between the image resolutions of the VG-120 (14MP) and a5000 (20MP) and the VG-120 (1/2.3") and a5000 (APS-C) posses totally different sensor sizing.

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The VG-120 was introduced 4 years earlier than the a5000 and that is quite a sizable difference as far as technology is concerned. Both of the cameras have different body design with the Olympus VG-120 being a Ultracompact camera and the Sony a5000 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before delving right into a in depth comparison, here is a brief synopsis of how the VG-120 matches up vs the a5000 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus VG-120 & Sony Alpha a5000. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus VG-120 Gallery & Sony a5000 Gallery.

For those who are aiming to lug around your camera frequently, you need to take into account its weight and volume. The Olympus VG-120 enjoys exterior dimensions of 96mm x 57mm x 19mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.7") having a weight of 120 grams (0.26 lbs) and the Sony a5000 has sizing of 110mm x 63mm x 36mm (4.3" x 2.5" x 1.4") along with a weight of 269 grams (0.59 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus VG-120 vs Sony a5000 in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will differ depending on the lens you have at the time. Following is a front view dimension comparison of the VG-120 vs the a5000.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the VG-120 and a5000 is 96 and 89 respectively.

Quite often, it can be tough to see the difference between sensor measurements merely by checking a spec sheet. The graphic here will help offer you a greater sense of the sensor dimensions in the VG-120 and a5000.

As you can see, the two cameras provide different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The VG-120 having a tinier sensor will make achieving shallow DOF more challenging and the Sony a5000 will give you more detail using its extra 6 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also make it easier to crop shots more aggressively. The older VG-120 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor tech.