Olympus VG-145 vs Panasonic S5

Let's look closer at the Olympus VG-145 and Panasonic S5, former being a Ultracompact while the latter is a Pro Mirrorless by companies Olympus and Panasonic. There exists a noticeable gap among the image resolutions of the VG-145 (14MP) and S5 (24MP) and the VG-145 (1/2.3") and S5 (Full frame) boast different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The VG-145 was brought out 10 years before the S5 and that is a fairly sizable difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Both the cameras have different body design with the Olympus VG-145 being a Ultracompact camera and the Panasonic S5 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera.

Before going into a detailed comparison, here is a quick synopsis of how the VG-145 scores versus the S5 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus VG-145 & Panasonic Lumix DC-S5. The entire galleries are available at Olympus VG-145 Gallery & Panasonic S5 Gallery.

When you are planning to lug around your camera, you will need to take into account its weight and measurements. The Olympus VG-145 has outside dimensions of 96mm x 57mm x 19mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.7") having a weight of 120 grams (0.26 lbs) while the Panasonic S5 has proportions of 133mm x 97mm x 82mm (5.2" x 3.8" x 3.2") along with a weight of 714 grams (1.57 lbs).

Analyze the Olympus VG-145 and Panasonic S5 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will change based on the lens you use at that time. Here is a front view physical size comparison of the VG-145 compared to the S5.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the VG-145 and S5 is 96 and 60 respectively.

Sometimes, it's hard to imagine the difference in sensor measurements purely by going through specifications. The graphic here will help give you a stronger sense of the sensor dimensions in the VG-145 and S5.

Plainly, both the cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The VG-145 because of its smaller sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF harder and the Panasonic S5 will show more detail having its extra 10MP. Higher resolution will also enable you to crop pictures a bit more aggressively. The older VG-145 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.