Olympus XZ-1 vs Sony A290

On this page, we are looking at the Olympus XZ-1 and Sony A290, one is a Small Sensor Compact and the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by companies Olympus and Sony. There exists a huge gap between the sensor resolutions of the XZ-1 (10MP) and A290 (14MP) and the XZ-1 (1/1.63") and A290 (APS-C) provide different sensor measurements.

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The XZ-1 was manufactured 8 months after the A290 so they are of a similar generation. The two cameras have different body design with the Olympus XZ-1 being a Compact camera and the Sony A290 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before delving straight to a complete comparison, here is a brief view of how the XZ-1 grades versus the A290 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Here is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus XZ-1 and Sony Alpha DSLR-A290. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus XZ-1 Gallery and Sony A290 Gallery.

For anybody who is looking to travel with your camera regularly, you should factor its weight and measurements. The Olympus XZ-1 has got external measurements of 111mm x 65mm x 42mm (4.4" x 2.6" x 1.7") accompanied by a weight of 275 grams (0.61 lbs) whilst the Sony A290 has proportions of 128mm x 97mm x 86mm (5.0" x 3.8" x 3.4") accompanied by a weight of 549 grams (1.21 lbs).

Check out the Olympus XZ-1 and Sony A290 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ based on the lens you choose at that moment. The following is a front view measurement comparison of the XZ-1 against the A290.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the XZ-1 and A290 is 88 and 66 respectively.

More often than not, it can be difficult to picture the gap between sensor dimensions simply by going over technical specs. The picture below will help give you a far better sense of the sensor sizing in the XZ-1 and A290.

As you can tell, both the cameras provide different megapixel count and different sensor dimensions. The XZ-1 because of its tinier sensor is going to make achieving shallow depth of field more difficult and the Sony A290 will deliver extra detail due to its extra 4MP. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop images more aggressively. The more recent XZ-1 provides an advantage in sensor tech.