Below you can see the front view size comparison of Canon S120 and Olympus E-P5. Canon S120 is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 22mm narrower, 10mm shorter and 8mm thinner than Olympus E-P5. As you can tell, actually this is not a fair size comparison since Canon S120 has a built-in lens but Olympus E-P5 doesn't. Once you put a lens on E-P5, its thickness will increase significantly.
Now lets look at the top view comparison of Canon S120 and Olympus E-P5.
Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Canon S120 is significantly lighter (203g ) than the Olympus E-P5 which may become a big advantage especially on long walking trips.
Again, this comparison may not be very useful in real life as we are comparing the weight of a camera with a built-in lens to the body-only weight of an interchangeable lens camera. Once you put a lens on E-P5, the total kit will weigh much higher.
Canon S120 has a 12.0MP 1/1.7" (7.44 x 5.58 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features Digic 6 processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-P5 has a 16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Below you can see the S120 and E-P5 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Olympus E-P5 has a 5.4x Larger sensor area than Canon S120. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.
In this section, we rank and compare Canon S120 and Olympus E-P5 for five different photography types in order to make your decision process easier in case you are specifically interested in one or more of these areas.
Canon S120 for Portrait Photography
Olympus E-P5 for Portrait Photography
Image Stabilization
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
Small 1/1.7" (7.44 x 5.58 mm) sensor
No External Flash Shoe
No Built-in Viewfinder
Not so good Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Image Stabilization
Average Resolution Sensor: 16.0MP
Optional External Viewfinder
Average Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details
Canon S120 for Street Photography
Olympus E-P5 for Street Photography
Image Stabilization
Small Body
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Fast Lens at Wide: f1.80
24 mm - Good Wide Angle Coverage
Small 1/1.7" (7.44 x 5.58 mm) sensor
No Built-in Viewfinder
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Image Stabilization
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Tilting LCD Screen
Optional External Viewfinder
Medium sized Body
Read the details
Canon S120 for Sports Photography
Olympus E-P5 for Sports Photography
Image Stabilization
Fast Continuous Shooting: 12.0fps
Wireless Connection
Average Max shutter speed: 1/2000s
120 mm Tele Lens
No External Flash Shoe
No Built-in Viewfinder
Not so good Ergonomics&Handling
Environmental Sealings
9 Focus Points
Poor Battery Life: 230 shots
Slow Lens at Tele: f5.70
Read the details
Image Stabilization
Fast Continuous Shooting: 9.0fps
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/8000s
35 Focus Points
Wireless Connection
Optional External Viewfinder
Average Ergonomics&Handling
Environmental Sealings
Read the details
Canon S120 for Daily Photography
Olympus E-P5 for Daily Photography
Compact Body
217g
5X Optical Zoom
Small 1/1.7" (7.44 x 5.58 mm) sensor
Read the details
Canon S120 for Landscape Photography
Olympus E-P5 for Landscape Photography
24 mm - Good Wide Angle Coverage
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
Small 1/1.7" (7.44 x 5.58 mm) sensor
No Environmental Sealings
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Live-view
Average Resolution Sensor: 16.0MP
No Environmental Sealings
Read the details
You may have already made your decision about which camera suits better for your needs and your budget so far but in case you wonder how we rated Canon S120 and Olympus E-P5, below you can find their scores in five different aspects.
Our Decision Algorithm dynamically scores cameras using 63 different specs, current price and DxO Mark scores (where possible) in order to make a more objective and consistent comparison.
Here is a summary of how Canon S120 and Olympus E-P5 scores compare:
Canon S120
Ranked
#11 out of 468 in Compact cameras
Ranked
#235 out of 1131 in all Cameras
Olympus E-P5
Ranked
#9 out of 114 in Rangefinder-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#83 out of 1131 in all Cameras
Olympus E-P5 is the overall winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Canon S120 in all criterias except one: Portability.
If small size and light body is a big priority for you, choose Canon S120. Otherwise, Olympus E-P5 is the better camera overall.
| General |
Canon PowerShot S120 |
Olympus PEN E-P5 |
| Brand |
Canon |
Olympus |
| Announced |
2013-11-26 |
2013-10-03 |
| Body Type |
Compact |
Rangefinder-style mirrorless |
| Price |
$647.97 |
$599.00 |
Sensor |
|
|
| Type |
BSI-CMOS |
CMOS |
| Size |
1/1.7" |
Four Thirds |
| Dimensions |
7.44 x 5.58 mm |
17.3 x 13 mm |
| Area |
41.52mm2 |
224.90mm2 |
| Megapixels |
12 megapixels |
16 megapixels |
| Max Resolution |
4000 x 3000 |
4608 x 3456 |
| Max Native Light sensitivity |
12,800 ISO |
25,600 ISO |
| Min Native Light sensitivity |
80 ISO |
100 ISO |
| RAW Support |
|
|
Autofocus |
|
|
| AF Touch |
|
|
| AF Continuous |
|
|
| AF Single |
|
|
| AF Tracking |
|
|
| AF Selective |
|
|
| AF Center |
|
|
| AF Multi Area |
|
|
| AF Live View |
|
|
| AF Face Detection |
|
|
| AF Contrast Detection |
|
|
| AF Phase Detection |
|
|
| Number of Focus Points |
9 |
35 |
Lens |
|
|
| Manual Focus |
|
|
| Lens Mount |
fixed lens |
Micro Four Thirds |
| Number of Available Lenses |
n/a |
92 |
| Lens Focal Range |
24-120 mm (5×) |
no lens |
| Max Aperture |
F1.8-5.7 |
no lens |
| Macro Focus Range |
3cm |
no lens |
Screen |
|
|
| Type |
Fixed type |
Tilting |
| Size |
3″ |
3″ |
| Resolution |
922k dots |
1,037k dots |
| Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
| Viewfinder |
None |
Electronic (optional) |
Photography Features |
|
|
| Max Shutter Speed |
1/2000s |
1/8000s |
| Shutter Priority |
|
|
| Aperture Priority |
|
|
| Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
| Custom White Balance |
|
|
| Image Stabilization |
Optical |
Sensor-shift |
| Built-in Flash |
|
|
| Flash Range |
7.00 m |
7.00 m (ISO 100) |
| Max Flash Sync |
n/a |
1/320s |
| External Flash |
|
|
| Continuous Shooting |
12.0 fps |
9.0 fps |
| Multi-Segment |
|
|
| Average |
|
|
| Spot |
|
|
| Partial |
|
|
| AF-Area |
|
|
| Center Weighted |
|
|
| AE Bracketing |
|
|
| WB Bracketing |
|
|
Video Features |
|
|
| Max Video Resolution |
1920 x 1080 |
1920 x 1080 |
| Video Formats |
MPEG-4, H.264 |
H.264 |
| Microphone Port |
|
|
| Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
| Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
Built-In |
| HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
| Environmental Sealing |
|
|
| Weight |
217g |
420g |
| Dimensions |
100 x 59 x 29mm |
122 x 69 x 37mm |
| Battery Life |
230 shots |
330 shots |
Other Features |
|
|
| Timelapse Recording |
|
|
| GPS |
Optional |
None |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
| DxO Overall Score |
56 |
72 |
| DxO Color Depth |
21.3 |
22.8 |
| DxO Dynamic Range |
11.9 |
12.4 |
| DxO Low Light ISO |
246 |
895 |
|
Report a correction |
Report a correction |