Olympus VH-515 vs Sony A9

Lets look a bit more closely at the Olympus VH-515 and Sony A9, one is a Small Sensor Compact and the latter is a Pro Mirrorless by companies Olympus and Sony. There exists a big gap between the image resolutions of the VH-515 (12MP) and A9 (24MP) and the VH-515 (1/2.3") and A9 (Full frame) have totally different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The VH-515 was announced 5 years before the A9 which is quite a big gap as far as technology is concerned. Both cameras feature different body design with the Olympus VH-515 being a Compact camera and the Sony A9 being a SLR-style mirrorless camera.

Before delving straight to a step-by-step comparison, here is a brief summary of how the VH-515 grades vs the A9 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Following is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus VH-515 and Sony Alpha A9. The whole galleries are available at Olympus VH-515 Gallery and Sony A9 Gallery.

If you're looking to travel with your camera frequently, you need to factor in its weight and dimensions. The Olympus VH-515 has got external measurements of 102mm x 60mm x 21mm (4.0" x 2.4" x 0.8") accompanied by a weight of 152 grams (0.34 lbs) whilst the Sony A9 has dimensions of 127mm x 96mm x 63mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 2.5") and a weight of 673 grams (1.48 lbs).

Check out the Olympus VH-515 and Sony A9 in the new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ dependant on the lens you are employing at the time. Here is a front view measurement comparison of the VH-515 compared to the A9.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the VH-515 and A9 is 95 and 65 respectively.

More often than not, it is very tough to visualise the contrast between sensor dimensions simply by checking technical specs. The picture below might offer you a stronger sense of the sensor sizing in the VH-515 and A9.

As you can tell, both of those cameras feature different megapixels and different sensor dimensions. The VH-515 with its tinier sensor will make getting shallow depth of field harder and the Sony A9 will resolve greater detail with its extra 12 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also help you crop photographs way more aggressively. The more aged VH-515 is going to be behind when it comes to sensor innovation.