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 Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160 side-by-side from the front, back and top in their relative dimensions. Panasonic G9 has external dimensions of 137 x 97 x 92 mm (5.39 x 3.82 x 3.62″) and weighs 658 g (1.45 lb / 23.21 oz) (including batteries). Olympus VG-160 has external dimensions of 96 x 57 x 19 mm (3.78 x 2.24 x 0.75″) and weighs 125 g (0.28 lb / 4.41 oz) (including batteries).
Below you can see the front view size comparison of Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160. Olympus VG-160 is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 41mm narrower, 40mm shorter and 73mm thinner than Panasonic G9. As you can tell, actually this is not a fair size comparison since Olympus VG-160 has a built-in lens but Panasonic G9 doesn't. Once you put a lens on G9, its thickness will increase significantly.
![Panasonic G9 vs Olympus VG-160 Camera Size Comparison - Front View]()
Comparison image of Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160 Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View
Now lets look at the top view comparison of Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160.
![Panasonic G9 vs Olympus VG-160 Camera Size Comparison - Top View]()
Top View Comparison image of Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160 Size
Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Olympus VG-160 is significantly lighter (533g ) than the Panasonic G9 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 G9, the total kit will weigh much higher.
Weather Sealing
With its weather sealed body, we believe that G9 has a big advantage over VG-160 which doesn't provide any kind of environmental sealing.
LCD Screen Size and Features
Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160's LCD screens has the same diagonal size of 3".
On the other hand, Panasonic G9 sports a
Fully Articulated screen which you can change the angle and position of the screen almost freely, making it possible to shoot from waist or over the head levels, and especially very useful for shooting selfies and video. Olympus VG-160's LCD screen is a fixed type which provides almost no flexibility in shooting positions compared to G9.
Panasonic G9 has a 20.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor . On the other hand, Olympus VG-160 has a 14.0MP 1/2.3" (6.17 x 4.55 mm ) sized CCD sensor .
Panasonic G9's sensor provides 6MP more than Olympus VG-160's sensor, which gives a significant advantage in real life. You can print your images larger or crop more freely.
On the other hand, please keep in mind that Max sensor resolution is not the only determinant of resolving power. Factors such as the optical elements, low pass filter, pixel size and sensor technology also affects the final resolution of the captured image.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Panasonic G9's sensor lacks 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 G9 and VG-160 sensor size comparison.
![Panasonic G9 vs Olympus VG-160 Sensor Size Comparison]()
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160 Cameras
As seen above, Panasonic G9 has a 8.0x Larger sensor area than Olympus VG-160. 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 Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160 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.
Panasonic G9 for Portrait Photography
Olympus VG-160 for Portrait Photography
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 20.0MP
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details
Average Resolution Sensor: 14.0MP
Small 1/2.3" (6.17 x 4.55 mm) sensor
No Image Stabilization
No RAW shooting capability
No External Flash Shoe
No Built-in Viewfinder
No Manual Focus Mode
No Manual Exposure Mode
Not so good Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details
Panasonic G9 for Street Photography
Olympus VG-160 for Street Photography
Large Four Thirds (17.3 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
Small Body
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Fast Lens at Wide: f2.80
26 mm - Good Wide Angle Coverage
Small 1/2.3" (6.17 x 4.55 mm) sensor
No Image Stabilization
No RAW shooting capability
No Built-in Viewfinder
No Manual Focus Mode
Read the details
Panasonic G9 for Sports Photography
Olympus VG-160 for Sports Photography
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Fast Continuous Shooting: 20.0fps
Environmental Sealings
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/8000s
225 Focus Points
Wireless Connection
Read the details
Average Max shutter speed: 1/2000s
130 mm Tele Lens
No Image Stabilization
No RAW shooting capability
No External Flash Shoe
No Built-in Viewfinder
No Manual Focus Mode
No Manual Exposure Mode
Not so good Ergonomics&Handling
Environmental Sealings
Unknown Focus Points
Poor Battery Life: 165 shots
Slow Lens at Tele: f6.50
Read the details
Panasonic G9 for Daily Photography
Olympus VG-160 for Daily Photography
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Medium size Body
658g
Body Thickness 92mm
Read the details
Compact Body
125g
Body Thickness 19mm
5.0X Optical Zoom
Small 1/2.3" (6.17 x 4.55 mm) sensor
No RAW shooting capability
Read the details
Panasonic G9 for Landscape Photography
Olympus VG-160 for Landscape Photography
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 20.0MP
Environmental Sealings
Live-view
Read the details
26 mm - Good Wide Angle Coverage
Average Resolution Sensor: 14.0MP
Small 1/2.3" (6.17 x 4.55 mm) sensor
No RAW shooting capability
No Manual Focus Mode
No Manual Exposure Mode
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 Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160, 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 Panasonic G9 and Olympus VG-160 scores compare:
Panasonic G9
Ranked
#35 out of 85 in SLR-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#59 out of 1219 in all Cameras
Olympus VG-160
Ranked
#408 out of 475 in Compact cameras
Ranked
#1091 out of 1219 in all Cameras
Panasonic G9 is the overall winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Olympus VG-160 in all criteria except one: Portability. Olympus VG-160 is significantly smaller than Panasonic G9. If small size and light body is a big priority for you, choose Olympus VG-160. Otherwise, Panasonic G9 is the better camera overall.
| General |
Panasonic Lumix DC-G9 |
Olympus VG-160 |
| Brand |
Panasonic |
Olympus |
| Announced |
2017-11-08 |
2012-01-10 |
| Body Type |
SLR-style mirrorless |
Compact |
Sensor |
|
|
| Type |
CMOS |
CCD |
| Size |
Four Thirds |
1/2.3" |
| Dimensions |
17.3 x 13 mm |
6.17 x 4.55 mm |
| Area |
224.90mm2 |
28.07mm2 |
| Megapixels |
20 megapixels |
14 megapixels |
| Max Resolution |
5184 x 3888 |
4288 x 3216 |
| Max Native Light sensitivity |
25,600 ISO |
1,600 ISO |
| Min Native Light sensitivity |
200 ISO |
80 ISO |
| Min Boosted Light Sensitivity |
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 |
225 |
n/a |
Lens |
|
|
| Manual Focus |
|
|
| Lens Mount |
Micro Four Thirds |
fixed lens |
| Lens Focal Range |
no lens |
26-130 mm (5×) |
| Max Aperture |
no lens |
F2.8-6.5 |
| Macro Focus Range |
no lens |
7cm |
Screen |
|
|
| Type |
Fully Articulated |
Fixed type |
| Size |
3" |
3" |
| Resolution |
1,040k dots |
230k dots |
| Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
| Viewfinder |
Electronic |
None |
| Viewfinder Resolution |
3,680k dots |
no electronic viewfinder |
| Viewfinder Coverage |
100% |
n/a |
| Viewfinder Magnification |
0.83x |
n/a |
Photography Features |
|
|
| Max Mechanical Shutter |
1/8000s |
1/2000s |
| Max Electronic Shutter |
1/32000s |
n/a |
| Shutter Priority |
|
|
| Aperture Priority |
|
|
| Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
| Custom White Balance |
|
|
| Image Stabilization |
Sensor-shift |
No |
| Built-in Flash |
|
|
| Flash Range |
no built-in flash |
4.80 m |
| External Flash |
|
|
| Continuous Shooting |
20.0 fps |
n/a |
| Multi-Segment |
|
|
| Average |
|
|
| Spot |
|
|
| Partial |
|
|
| AF-Area |
|
|
| Center Weighted |
|
|
| AE Bracketing |
|
|
| WB Bracketing |
|
|
Video Features |
|
|
| Max Video Resolution |
3840 x 2160 |
1280 x 720 |
| Video Formats |
MPEG-4, AVCHD, H.264 |
Motion JPEG |
| Microphone Port |
|
|
| Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
| Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
None |
| HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
| Environmental Sealing |
|
|
| Weight |
658g |
125g |
| Dimensions |
137 x 97 x 92mm |
96 x 57 x 19mm |
| Battery Life |
400 shots |
165 shots |
Other Features |
|
|
| Timelapse Recording |
|
|
| GPS |
None |
None |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
|
Report a correction |
Report a correction |