Size and weight is a big decision factor when you are trying to find the ideal camera for your needs.
In this section, We are going to illustrate Olympus E-M5 III and Nikon D500 side-by-side from the front, back and top in their relative dimensions.
Below you can see the front view size comparison of Olympus E-M5 III and Nikon D500. Olympus E-M5 III is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 22mm narrower, 30mm shorter and 31mm thinner than Nikon D500.
Here is the back view size comparison of Olympus E-M5 III and Nikon D500.
Now lets look at the top view comparison of Olympus E-M5 III and Nikon D500.
Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Olympus E-M5 III is significantly lighter (446g ) than the Nikon D500 which may become a big advantage especially on long walking trips.
Also keep in mind that body weight is not the only deciding factor when comparing two interchangeable camera bodies, you have to also take into account the lenses that you will be using with these bodies. Since Nikon D500 has an APS-C sized sensor and Olympus E-M5 III has a smaller Four Thirds sensor, Olympus E-M5 III's lenses for a similar focal length and aperture will generally be lighter and smaller than the Nikon D500 lenses.
Weight Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Thickness Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Weather Sealing
Both E-M5 Mark III and D500 have weather sealings in their body, making them resistant to water and dust.
LCD Screen Size and Features
Nikon D500's 3.2" LCD screen is slightly larger than Olympus E-M5 III's 3 screen.
Olympus E-M5 III has a 20.0MP Four Thirds (17.4 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic VIII processor. On the other hand, Nikon D500 has a 21.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 5 processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Nikon D500's sensor doesn't have an anti-alias (Low-Pass) filter. Removing anti-alias filter increases the sharpness and level of detail but at the same time, it increases the chance of moire occurring in certain scenes.
Below you can see the E-M5 Mark III and D500 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D500 has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M5 III. 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 Olympus E-M5 III and Nikon D500 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.
Olympus E-M5 III for Portrait Photography
Nikon D500 for Portrait Photography
Large Four Thirds (17.4 x 13 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 20.0MP
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 21.0MP
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Olympus E-M5 III for Street Photography
Nikon D500 for Street Photography
Large Four Thirds (17.4 x 13 mm) sensor
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Fully Articulated LCD Screen
Medium sized Body
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm) sensor
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Tilting LCD Screen
No Image Stabilization
Large Body
Read the details
Olympus E-M5 III for Sports Photography
Nikon D500 for Sports Photography
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Fast Continuous Shooting: 30.0fps
Environmental Sealings
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/8000s
121 Focus Points
Wireless Connection
Read the details
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Fast Continuous Shooting: 10.0fps
Environmental Sealings
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/8000s
99 Cross Type Focus sensors
153 Focus Points
Good Battery Life: 1240 shots
Good Low Light ISO
Wireless Connection
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Olympus E-M5 III for Daily Photography
Nikon D500 for Daily Photography
Large Four Thirds (17.4 x 13 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Medium size Body
414g
Body Thickness 50mm
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Large Body
860g
Body Thickness 81mm
Read the details
Olympus E-M5 III for Landscape Photography
Nikon D500 for Landscape Photography
Large Four Thirds (17.4 x 13 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 20.0MP
Environmental Sealings
Live-view
Read the details
Large APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 21.0MP
Environmental Sealings
Live-view
Read the details
Number of available lenses is a big decision factor while choosing your interchangeable lens camera. When we look at the available lenses for these two cameras, we see that Nikon D500 has an advantage over Olympus E-M5 III There are 304 lenses for Nikon D500's Nikon F mount, on the other hand there are only 101 lenses for Olympus E-M5 III's Micro Four Thirds lens mount.
Another important factor is the availability of image stabilization. Olympus E-M5 III has a big advantage in this regard because it has a sensor based image stabilization which means that all the lenses mounted to this body will be stabilized. On the other hand, Nikon D500 doesn't have this feature so you have to buy a lens with optical stabilization feature. Currently there are 101 lenses for Nikon F mount with Optical Image Stabilization features.
| Lens Type |
# of Olympus E-M5 III Lenses |
# of Nikon D500 Lenses |
| Standard Zoom |
14 |
33 |
| Standard Prime |
12 |
20 |
| Wideangle Zoom |
5 |
33 |
| Wideangle Prime |
27 |
47 |
| Telephoto Zoom |
17 |
53 |
| Telephoto Prime |
8 |
43 |
| SuperZoom |
8 |
30 |
| Wideangle Fisheye Prime |
5 |
8 |
| Macro Prime |
4 |
25 |
| Perspective Control Prime |
n/a |
11 |
| Telephoto Mirror Prime |
1 |
1 |
| TOTAL |
101 |
304 |
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 Olympus E-M5 III and Nikon D500, 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 Olympus E-M5 III and Nikon D500 scores compare:
Olympus E-M5 III
Ranked
#29 out of 68 in SLR-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#64 out of 1190 in all Cameras
Nikon D500
Ranked
#9 out of 94 in Mid-size SLR cameras
Ranked
#26 out of 1190 in all Cameras
Nikon D500 has a higher Overall Score than the Olympus E-M5 III and would be our choice if we have to decide between these two cameras.
| General |
Olympus OM-D E-M5 III |
Nikon D500 |
| Brand |
Olympus |
Nikon |
| Announced |
2019-10-17 |
2016-01-05 |
| Body Type |
SLR-style mirrorless |
Mid-size SLR |
Sensor |
|
|
| Type |
CMOS |
CMOS |
| Size |
Four Thirds |
APS-C |
| Dimensions |
17.4 x 13 mm |
23.5 x 15.7 mm |
| Area |
226.20mm2 |
368.95mm2 |
| Megapixels |
20 megapixels |
21 megapixels |
| Max Resolution |
5184 x 3888 |
5568 x 3712 |
| Max Native Light sensitivity |
25,600 ISO |
51,200 ISO |
| Max Boosted Light Sensitivity |
- |
1640000 ISO |
| Min Native Light sensitivity |
200 ISO |
100 ISO |
| Min Boosted Light Sensitivity |
64 ISO |
50 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 |
121 |
153 |
Lens |
|
|
| Manual Focus |
|
|
| Lens Mount |
Micro Four Thirds |
Nikon F |
| Number of Available Lenses |
101 |
304 |
Screen |
|
|
| Type |
Fully Articulated |
Tilting |
| Size |
3 |
3.2" |
| Resolution |
1,040k dots |
2,359k dots |
| Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
| Viewfinder |
Electronic |
Optical (pentaprism) |
| Viewfinder Resolution |
2,360k dots |
no electronic viewfinder |
| Viewfinder Coverage |
100% |
100% |
| Viewfinder Magnification |
0.68 |
0.66 |
Photography Features |
|
|
| Max Shutter Speed |
1/8000s |
1/8000s |
| Shutter Priority |
|
|
| Aperture Priority |
|
|
| Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
| Custom White Balance |
|
|
| Image Stabilization |
Sensor-shift |
No |
| Built-in Flash |
|
|
| Max Flash Sync |
1/250s |
1/250s |
| External Flash |
|
|
| Continuous Shooting |
30.0 fps |
10.0 fps |
| Multi-Segment |
|
|
| Average |
|
|
| Spot |
|
|
| Partial |
|
|
| AF-Area |
|
|
| Center Weighted |
|
|
| AE Bracketing |
|
|
| WB Bracketing |
|
|
Video Features |
|
|
| Max Video Resolution |
4096 x 2160 |
3840 x 2160 |
| Video Formats |
MPEG-4, H.264 |
MPEG-4, H.264 |
| Microphone Port |
|
|
| Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
| Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
Built-In |
| HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
| Environmental Sealing |
|
|
| Weight |
414g |
860g |
| Dimensions |
125 x 85 x 50mm |
147 x 115 x 81mm |
| Battery Life |
310 shots |
1240 shots |
Other Features |
|
|
| Timelapse Recording |
|
|
| GPS |
None |
Optional |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
| DxO Overall Score |
not tested |
84 |
| DxO Color Depth |
not tested |
24.1 |
| DxO Dynamic Range |
not tested |
14.0 |
| DxO Low Light ISO |
not tested |
1324 |
|
Report a correction |
Report a correction |