Olympus VR-330 vs Sony A500

Its time to look a little more closely at the Olympus VR-330 vs Sony A500, former being a Small Sensor Superzoom while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by competitors Olympus and Sony. The sensor resolution of the VR-330 (14MP) and the A500 (12MP) is fairly well matched but the VR-330 (1/2.3") and A500 (APS-C) offer different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The VR-330 was brought out 18 months later than the A500 making them a generation apart from one another. Each of the cameras feature different body design with the Olympus VR-330 being a Compact camera and the Sony A500 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before diving right into a complete comparison, here is a simple highlight of how the VR-330 grades versus the A500 with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus VR-330 & Sony Alpha DSLR-A500. The entire galleries are available at Olympus VR-330 Gallery & Sony A500 Gallery.

For those who are planning to lug around your camera frequently, you are going to need to take into account its weight and measurements. The Olympus VR-330 comes with outer measurements of 101mm x 58mm x 29mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.1") along with a weight of 158 grams (0.35 lbs) whilst the Sony A500 has proportions of 137mm x 104mm x 84mm (5.4" x 4.1" x 3.3") and a weight of 630 grams (1.39 lbs).

Check out the Olympus VR-330 vs Sony A500 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you have attached at the time. Here is a front view overall size comparison of the VR-330 versus the A500.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the VR-330 and A500 is 94 and 63 respectively.

More often than not, it's hard to imagine the contrast between sensor measurements just by checking specifications. The graphic underneath should give you a stronger sense of the sensor measurements in the VR-330 and A500.

Plainly, both the cameras feature different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The VR-330 featuring a tinier sensor is going to make achieving shallow depth of field harder and the Olympus VR-330 will give extra detail having its extra 2MP. Greater resolution can also allow you to crop images way more aggressively. The younger VR-330 provides a benefit in sensor technology.