Olympus XZ-1 vs Sony A58

Lets look a bit more in depth at the Olympus XZ-1 and Sony A58, one being a Small Sensor Compact and the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by brands Olympus and Sony. There is a big difference among the resolutions of the XZ-1 (10MP) and A58 (20MP) and the XZ-1 (1/1.63") and A58 (APS-C) posses different sensor dimensions.

Photography Glossary

The XZ-1 was introduced 3 years earlier than the A58 and that is a fairly big gap as far as camera tech is concerned. Both of the cameras feature different body design with the Olympus XZ-1 being a Compact camera and the Sony A58 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before delving straight to a more detailed comparison, here is a simple highlight of how the XZ-1 scores against the A58 with regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Below is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus XZ-1 and Sony SLT-A58. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus XZ-1 Gallery and Sony A58 Gallery.

If you are aiming to carry your camera frequently, you will need to think about its weight and dimensions. The Olympus XZ-1 comes with physical dimensions of 111mm x 65mm x 42mm (4.4" x 2.6" x 1.7") along with a weight of 275 grams (0.61 lbs) and the Sony A58 has dimensions of 129mm x 95mm x 78mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 3.1") accompanied by a weight of 492 grams (1.08 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus XZ-1 and Sony A58 in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary dependant on the lens you have attached at that time. Underneath is a front view size comparison of the XZ-1 vs the A58.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability score of the XZ-1 and A58 is 88 and 68 respectively.

Generally, its hard to visualize the difference in sensor sizing purely by checking out a spec sheet. The visual below should provide you a greater sense of the sensor dimensions in the XZ-1 and A58.

As you can see, each of these cameras feature different megapixels and different sensor sizing. The XZ-1 using its smaller sensor is going to make getting shallow DOF tougher and the Sony A58 will show greater detail using its extra 10 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also let you crop photographs way more aggressively. The older XZ-1 will be behind in sensor technology.