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 Sony A7S and Olympus E-510 side-by-side from the front, back and top in their relative dimensions. Sony A7S has external dimensions of 127 x 94 x 48 mm (5 x 3.7 x 1.89″) and weighs 489 g (1.08 lb / 17.25 oz) (including batteries). Olympus E-510 has external dimensions of 136 x 92 x 68 mm (5.35 x 3.62 x 2.68″) and weighs 490 g (1.08 lb / 17.28 oz) (including batteries).
Below you can see the front view size comparison of Sony A7S and Olympus E-510. Sony A7S is 9mm narrower and 20mm thinner than Olympus E-510 but it is also 2mm taller.
Comparison image of Sony A7S and Olympus E-510 Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View
Here is the back view size comparison of Sony A7S and Olympus E-510.
Comparison image of Sony A7S and Olympus E-510 Size and Weight - Back View
Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day.
Sony A7S is 1g lighter than the Olympus E-510 but we don't think this will make a significant difference.
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 Sony A7S has a Full frame sensor and Olympus E-510 has a smaller Four Thirds sensor, Olympus E-510's lenses for a similar focal length and aperture will generally be lighter and smaller than the Sony A7S lenses.
Weight Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Thickness Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Weather Sealing
With its weather sealed body, we believe that A7S has a big advantage over E-510 which doesn't provide any kind of environmental sealing.
LCD Screen Size and Features
Sony A7S's 3 LCD screen is slightly larger than Olympus E-510's 2.5" screen.
In addition to the size advantage, Sony A7S LCD screen also has a
Tilting feature where you can change the angle of the screen to make it easier to shoot from waist or over the head levels. On the other hand, Olympus E-510 has a fixed type screen which provides less flexibility in shooting positions compared to A7S.
Sony A7S has a 12.0MP Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-510 has a 10.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Below you can see the A7S and E-510 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Sony A7S and Olympus E-510 Cameras
As seen above, Sony A7S has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-510. 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.
DxOMark Sensor Scores
Both Sony A7S and Olympus E-510 sensors have been tested by DxoMark. DxoMark scores camera sensors for color depth (DXO Portrait), dynamic range (DXO Landscape) and low-light sensitivity (DXO Sports), and also gives them an overall score. Of the two cameras that we are comparing, A7S has scored 87, 35 points higher than E-510.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony A7S |
87 |
23.9 bits |
13.2 Evs |
3702 ISO |
Olympus E-510 |
52 |
21.2 bits |
10.0 Evs |
442 ISO |
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 Sony A7S has an advantage over Olympus E-510. There are 128 lenses for Sony A7S's Sony E mount, on the other hand there are only 45 lenses for Olympus E-510's Four Thirds lens mount.
Another important factor is the availability of image stabilization. Olympus E-510 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, Sony A7S doesn't have this feature so you have to buy a lens with optical stabilization feature. Currently there are 31 lenses for Sony E mount with Optical Image Stabilization features.
Lens Type |
# of Sony A7S Lenses |
# of Olympus E-510 Lenses |
Standard Zoom |
12 (9 Full Frame) |
8 |
Standard Prime |
18 (9 Full Frame) |
4 |
Wideangle Zoom |
7 (6 Full Frame) |
4 |
Wideangle Prime |
42 (26 Full Frame) |
9 |
Telephoto Zoom |
9 (7 Full Frame) |
6 |
Telephoto Prime |
18 (14 Full Frame) |
4 |
SuperZoom |
8 (1 Full Frame) |
2 |
Wideangle Fisheye Prime |
2 (0 Full Frame) |
3 |
Macro Prime |
8 (7 Full Frame) |
4 |
Perspective Control Prime |
2 (2 Full Frame) |
n/a |
Telephoto Mirror Prime |
n/a |
1 |
TOTAL |
128 (81 Full Frame) |
45 |
In this section, we rank and compare Sony A7S and Olympus E-510 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.
Sony A7S for Portrait Photography
Olympus E-510 for Portrait Photography
Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Image Stabilization
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Very Low Resolution Sensor: 10.0MP
Read the details
Sony A7S for Street Photography
Olympus E-510 for Street Photography
Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Tilting LCD Screen
Medium sized Body
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Image Stabilization
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Live-view
Large Body
Read the details
Sony A7S for Sports Photography
Olympus E-510 for Sports Photography
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Environmental Sealings
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/8000s
25 Focus Points
Good Low Light ISO
Wireless Connection
Average Continuous Shooting: 5.0fps
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Image Stabilization
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/4000s
Slow Continuous Shooting: 3.0fps
Environmental Sealings
3 Focus Points
Read the details
Sony A7S for Daily Photography
Olympus E-510 for Daily Photography
Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Medium size Body
489g
Body Thickness 48mm
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Large Body
490g
Body Thickness 68mm
Read the details
Sony A7S for Landscape Photography
Olympus E-510 for Landscape Photography
Large Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Live-view
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Live-view
Very Low Resolution Sensor: 10.0MP
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 Sony A7S and Olympus E-510, 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 Sony A7S and Olympus E-510 scores compare:
Sony A7S
Ranked
#39 out of 87 in SLR-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#71 out of 1221 in all Cameras
Olympus E-510
Ranked
#62 out of 94 in Mid-size SLR cameras
Ranked
#478 out of 1221 in all Cameras
Sony A7S is the clear winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Olympus E-510 in all criteria. It has better general image quality, more features, more compact body and offers more value for the money
General |
Sony Alpha A7S |
Olympus E-510 |
Brand |
Sony |
Olympus |
Announced |
2014-04-06 |
2007-11-23 |
Body Type |
SLR-style mirrorless |
Mid-size SLR |
Sensor |
|
|
Type |
CMOS |
CMOS |
Size |
Full frame |
Four Thirds |
Dimensions |
35.8 x 23.9 mm |
17.3 x 13 mm |
Area |
855.62mm2 |
224.90mm2 |
Megapixels |
12 megapixels |
10 megapixels |
Max Resolution |
4240 x 2832 |
3648 x 2736 |
Max Native Light sensitivity |
409,600 ISO |
1,600 ISO |
Min Native Light sensitivity |
100 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 |
25 |
3 |
Lens |
|
|
Manual Focus |
|
|
Lens Mount |
Sony E |
Four Thirds |
Number of Available Lenses |
128 |
45 |
Screen |
|
|
Type |
Tilting |
Fixed type |
Size |
3 |
2.5" |
Resolution |
1,230k dots |
230k dots |
Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
Viewfinder |
Electronic |
Optical (pentamirror) |
Viewfinder Resolution |
2,359k dots |
no electronic viewfinder |
Viewfinder Coverage |
100% |
95% |
Viewfinder Magnification |
0.71x |
0.46x |
Photography Features |
|
|
Max Mechanical Shutter |
1/8000s |
1/4000s |
Shutter Priority |
|
|
Aperture Priority |
|
|
Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
Custom White Balance |
|
|
Image Stabilization |
No |
Sensor-shift |
Built-in Flash |
|
|
Flash Range |
no built-in flash |
12.00 m (at ISO 100) |
Max Flash Sync |
n/a |
1/180s |
External Flash |
|
|
Continuous Shooting |
5.0 fps |
3.0 fps |
Multi-Segment |
|
|
Average |
|
|
Spot |
|
|
Partial |
|
|
AF-Area |
|
|
Center Weighted |
|
|
AE Bracketing |
|
|
WB Bracketing |
|
|
Video Features |
|
|
Max Video Resolution |
3840 x 2160 |
None |
Video Formats |
MPEG-4, AVCHD, XAVC |
n/a |
Microphone Port |
|
|
Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
None |
HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
Environmental Sealing |
|
|
Weight |
489g |
490g |
Dimensions |
127 x 94 x 48mm |
136 x 92 x 68mm |
Battery Life |
360 shots |
n/a |
Other Features |
|
|
Timelapse Recording |
With Downloadable App |
|
GPS |
None |
None |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
DxO Overall Score |
87 |
52 |
DxO Color Depth |
23.9 |
21.2 |
DxO Dynamic Range |
13.2 |
10.0 |
DxO Low Light ISO |
3702 |
442 |
|
Report a correction |
Report a correction |