Olympus VH-515 vs Sony NEX-C3

Lets take a deeper look at the Olympus VH-515 and Sony NEX-C3, former is a Small Sensor Compact while the other is a Entry-Level Mirrorless by brands Olympus and Sony. There exists a noticeable gap between the resolutions of the VH-515 (12MP) and NEX-C3 (16MP) and the VH-515 (1/2.3") and NEX-C3 (APS-C) have totally different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The VH-515 was launched 13 months after the NEX-C3 making them a generation away from one another. Each of the cameras have different body design with the Olympus VH-515 being a Compact camera and the Sony NEX-C3 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera.

Before delving into a more detailed comparison, here is a brief summation of how the VH-515 matches up vs the NEX-C3 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

The following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus VH-515 & Sony Alpha NEX-C3. The complete galleries are provided at Olympus VH-515 Gallery & Sony NEX-C3 Gallery.

When you are aiming to travel with your camera regularly, you will need to think about 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") along with a weight of 152 grams (0.34 lbs) whilst the Sony NEX-C3 has dimensions of 110mm x 60mm x 33mm (4.3" x 2.4" x 1.3") accompanied by a weight of 225 grams (0.50 lbs).

Examine the Olympus VH-515 and Sony NEX-C3 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you select at the time. Below is a front view dimensions comparison of the VH-515 against the NEX-C3.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability score of the VH-515 and NEX-C3 is 95 and 91 respectively.

More often than not, its difficult to envision the gap between sensor dimensions purely by reading through a spec sheet. The pic below will provide you a greater sense of the sensor sizing in the VH-515 and NEX-C3.

As you can see, both the cameras provide different megapixel count and different sensor dimensions. The VH-515 due to its tinier sensor will make shooting shallower DOF trickier and the Sony NEX-C3 will resolve greater detail utilizing its extra 4 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also allow you to crop photos more aggressively. The younger VH-515 will have an advantage with regard to sensor technology.