Olympus XZ-1 vs Sony A55

Following is a comprehensive comparison of the Olympus XZ-1 and Sony A55, former is a Small Sensor Compact while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by manufacturers Olympus and Sony. There is a large difference between the resolutions of the XZ-1 (10MP) and A55 (16MP) and the XZ-1 (1/1.63") and A55 (APS-C) provide different sensor sizes.

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The XZ-1 was manufactured 6 months after the A55 which means that they are of a similar age. Both the cameras have different body design with the Olympus XZ-1 being a Compact camera and the Sony A55 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before delving into a full comparison, here is a short synopsis of how the XZ-1 matches up versus the A55 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus XZ-1 & Sony SLT-A55. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus XZ-1 Gallery & Sony A55 Gallery.

In case you're going to carry around your camera, you should factor in its weight and dimensions. The Olympus XZ-1 comes with physical 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) and the Sony A55 has dimensions of 124mm x 92mm x 85mm (4.9" x 3.6" x 3.3") accompanied by a weight of 500 grams (1.10 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus XZ-1 and Sony A55 in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you are using at that moment. Here is a front view over all size comparison of the XZ-1 against the A55.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability grade of the XZ-1 and A55 is 88 and 67 respectively.

Usually, it can be hard to picture the gap between sensor sizes merely by going over specs. The pic underneath might provide you a greater sense of the sensor measurements in the XZ-1 and A55.

All in all, both of the cameras have different megapixel count and different sensor sizes. The XZ-1 because of its tinier sensor is going to make getting shallower depth of field more challenging and the Sony A55 will offer more detail due to its extra 6 Megapixels. Greater resolution will allow you to crop images a bit more aggressively.