Sony A7S vs Olympus E-P3 Comparison

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Sony A7S

12 MP | Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm) CMOS Sensor

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Olympus E-P3

12 MP | Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) CMOS Sensor

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Sony A7S vs Olympus E-P3 Comparison Overview

Here we are comparing two Mirrorless cameras from Sony and Olympus. Sony A7S was introduced to market in April 2014 and Olympus E-P3 was launched in August 2011. As you can see, E-P3 is 3 years older than A7S. Let's see if this age difference between two cameras makes a big difference.

Both cameras have 12.0MP sensors but Sony A7S's sensor is Full frame sized whereas Olympus E-P3 has a Four Thirds sensor.

Here is a brief look at the main features of Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 before getting into our more detailed comparison.

Sony A7S Key Specs

Announcement Date: 2014-04-06

12MP - Full frame CMOS Sensor

ISO 100 - 409600

Sony E Mount

3 Tilting Screen

2359k dot Electronic viewfinder

5 fps continuous shooting

4K (UHD) - 3840 x 2160 video resolution

120 fps High-Speed Video

Built-in Wireless

489g. 127 x 94 x 48 mm

Weather Sealed Body

Olympus E-P3 Key Specs

Announcement Date: 2011-08-17

12MP - Four Thirds CMOS Sensor

ISO 100 - 12800

Micro Four Thirds Mount

Sensor-shift Image Stabilization

3" Fixed Type Screen

3 fps continuous shooting

Full HD - 1920 x 1080 video resolution

369g. 122 x 69 x 34 mm

Replaced Olympus PEN E-P2 Compare

Sony A7S was replaced by Sony Alpha 7S II. You may also be interested in these comparisons:
Sony Alpha 7S II vs Sony Alpha A7S
Sony Alpha 7S II vs Olympus PEN E-P3

Olympus E-P3 was replaced by Olympus PEN E-P5. You may also be interested in these comparisons:
Olympus PEN E-P5 vs Olympus PEN E-P3
Olympus PEN E-P5 vs Sony Alpha A7S

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 compares and hopefully end up with enough arguments to decide which one is better for you.

Reasons to choose Sony Alpha A7S over Olympus PEN E-P3

Wireless Connection	Built-In vs None	Better connectivity
LCD Screen	Tilting vs Fixed Type	Flexible shooting positions
Viewfinder	Electronic vs Electronic (Optional)	Better framing and control
Max ISO	409.600 vs 12.800	3100% higher Max ISO
LCD Screen Resolution	1.230k dots vs 614k dots	100% higher resolution screen
Max Mech. Shutter	1/8000s vs 1/4000s	faster mechanical shutter
Continuous Shooting	5.0fps vs 3.0fps	2 fps faster
Battery Life	360 shots vs 330 shots	30 more frames with a single charge
Microphone Port	Yes vs No	High quality audio recording option
Headphone Port	Yes vs No	better video control
Environmental Sealing	Yes vs No	shoot at tough conditions
Color Depth	23.9 vs 20.8	higher color depth
Dynamic Range	13.2 vs 10.1	higher dynamic range
Low Light ISO	3702 vs 536	better High ISO performance
Sensor Pixel Area	71.24µm² vs 18.45µm²	286% larger pixel area
Max Video Resolution	3840 x 2160 vs 1920 x 1080	Higher Resolution Video
NFC Connection	Yes vs No	Easy wireless connectivity with compatible devices
Smartphone Remote	Yes vs No	Remote control your camera with a smartphone

Reasons to choose Olympus PEN E-P3 over Sony Alpha A7S

Image Stabilization	Sensor-shift vs None	Sharper images at longer focal lengths and long exposures
Built-in Flash	Yes vs No	Useful in low-light
Touch Screen	Yes vs No	Easy control of camera functions
Number of Focus Points	35 vs 25	10 more focus points
Weight	369 g vs 489 g	120 g lighter

Common Strengths of Sony Alpha A7S and Olympus PEN E-P3

External Flash Shoe	Yes vs Yes	Better for flash photography
RAW Support	Yes vs Yes	Better image quality
Face Detection Focus	Yes vs Yes	very handy for portraits
AE Bracketing	Yes vs Yes	Useful for tough lighting conditions and HDR

Common Weaknesses of Sony Alpha A7S and Olympus PEN E-P3

Sony A7S vs Olympus E-P3: Physical Specs and Body features Comparison

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-P3 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-P3 has external dimensions of 122 x 69 x 34 mm (4.8 x 2.72 x 1.34″) and weighs 369 g (0.81 lb / 13.02 oz) (including batteries).

Below you can see the front view size comparison of Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3. Olympus E-P3 is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 5mm narrower, 25mm shorter and 14mm thinner than Sony A7S.

Comparison image of Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View

Here is the back view size comparison of Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3.

Comparison image of Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 Size and Weight - Back View

Now lets look at the top view comparison of Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3.

Top View Comparison image of Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 Size

Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day. Olympus E-P3 is significantly lighter (120g ) than the Sony A7S 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 Sony A7S has a Full frame sensor and Olympus E-P3 has a smaller Four Thirds sensor, Olympus E-P3's lenses for a similar focal length and aperture will generally be lighter and smaller than the Sony A7S lenses.

Weight Comparison

Mirrorless Cameras

A7S

E-P3

Min

Average

Max

Thickness Comparison

Mirrorless Cameras

A7S

E-P3

Min

Average

Max

Weather Sealing

With its weather sealed body, we believe that A7S has a big advantage over E-P3 which doesn't provide any kind of environmental sealing.

LCD Screen Size and Features

Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3's LCD screens has the same diagonal size of 3.

On the other hand, Sony A7S features a Tilting screen where you can change the angle of the screen to make it easier to shoot from waist or over the head levels whereas the Olympus E-P3 has a fixed type screen which provides less flexibility in shooting positions compared to A7S.

Sony A7S vs Olympus E-P3: Sensor Comparison

Both Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 have 12.0 MP resolution sensors but Sony A7S's sensor is Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm ) and Olympus E-P3's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ).

Since Sony A7S's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Olympus E-P3.

Below you can see the A7S and E-P3 sensor size comparison.

Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 Cameras

As seen above, Sony A7S has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-P3. 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-P3 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, 36 points higher than E-P3.

Model	Overall	Color Depth	Dynamic Range	Low-light ISO
Sony A7S	87	23.9 bits	13.2 Evs	3702 ISO
Olympus E-P3	51	20.8 bits	10.1 Evs	536 ISO

Sony A7S vs Olympus E-P3 Comparison of Available Lenses

Which camera has more lenses?

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-P3. There are 128 lenses for Sony A7S's Sony E mount, on the other hand there are only 107 lenses for Olympus E-P3's Micro Four Thirds lens mount.

Another important factor is the availability of image stabilization. Olympus E-P3 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-P3 Lenses
Standard Zoom	12 (9 Full Frame)	15
Standard Prime	18 (9 Full Frame)	13
Wideangle Zoom	7 (6 Full Frame)	5
Wideangle Prime	42 (26 Full Frame)	29
Telephoto Zoom	9 (7 Full Frame)	18
Telephoto Prime	18 (14 Full Frame)	9
SuperZoom	8 (1 Full Frame)	8
Wideangle Fisheye Prime	2 (0 Full Frame)	5
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)	107

Now let's compare some sample lenses from each mount with typical Focal ranges for Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 to see how these lenses compares:

Fast Standard Zoom Lenses

Model		FF Equiv.	Weight	Weight w/ Cam	Length	Street Price
	Sony FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM	24 - 70mm	886gr	1375gr	136mm	Amazon B&H Photo
	Olympus ED 12-40mm f2.8 PRO	24 - 80mm	382gr	751gr	84mm	Amazon B&H Photo

Fast Tele Zoom Equivalent Lenses

Model		FF Equiv.	Weight	Weight w/ Cam	Length	Street Price
	Sony FE 70-200mm F2.8 GM OSS	70 - 200mm	1480gr	1969gr	200mm	Amazon B&H Photo
	Olympus ED 35-100mm f2.0	70 - 200mm	1650gr	2019gr	214mm	Amazon B&H Photo

Fast Normal Prime Equivalent Lenses

Model		FF Equiv.	Weight	Weight w/ Cam	Length	Street Price
	Sony FE 50mm F1.4	50mm	778gr	1267gr	108mm	Amazon B&H Photo
	Olympus M 25mm F1.8	50mm	136gr	505gr	41mm	Amazon B&H Photo

Fast Wideangle Zoom Equivalent Lenses

Model		FF Equiv.	Weight	Weight w/ Cam	Length	Street Price
	Sony FE 16-35mm F2.8 GM	16 - 35mm	680gr	1169gr	122mm	Amazon B&H Photo
	Olympus ED 7-14mm F2.8 PRO	14 - 28mm	534gr	903gr	106mm	Amazon B&H Photo

24-105mm f4 Equivalent Lenses

Model		FF Equiv.	Weight	Weight w/ Cam	Length	Street Price
	Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS	24 - 105mm	663gr	1152gr	113mm	Amazon B&H Photo
	Olympus ED 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD	24 - 120mm	575gr	944gr	99mm	Amazon B&H Photo

Super-Tele Zoom Equivalent Lenses

Model		FF Equiv.	Weight	Weight w/ Cam	Length	Street Price
	Sony FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS	100 - 400mm	1395gr	1884gr	205mm	Amazon B&H Photo
	Olympus 150-400mm F4.5 TC 1.25x IS	300mm	1850gr	2219gr	mm	Amazon B&H Photo

What types of Photography are Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 Good for?

In this section, we rank and compare Sony A7S and Olympus E-P3 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

GOOD

Olympus E-P3 for Portrait Photography

GOOD

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
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
Optional External Viewfinder
Average Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details

Sony A7S for Street Photography

GOOD

Olympus E-P3 for Street Photography

EXCELLENT

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
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Optional External Viewfinder
Medium sized Body
Read the details

Sony A7S for Sports Photography

GOOD

Olympus E-P3 for Sports Photography

AVERAGE

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
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/4000s
35 Focus Points
Optional External Viewfinder
Average Ergonomics&Handling
Slow Continuous Shooting: 3.0fps
Environmental Sealings
Read the details

Sony A7S for Daily Photography

EXCELLENT

Olympus E-P3 for Daily Photography

GOOD

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
Medium size Body
369g
Read the details

Sony A7S for Landscape Photography

AVERAGE

Olympus E-P3 for Landscape Photography

POOR

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
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
No Environmental Sealings
Read the details

Sony A7S vs Olympus E-P3: OUR DECISION

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-P3, 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-P3 scores compare:

Sony A7S

Imaging

Features

Value

Portability

Overall

Ranked #39 out of 88 in SLR-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked #71 out of 1223 in all Cameras

Olympus E-P3

Imaging

Features

Value

Portability

Overall

Ranked #53 out of 127 in Rangefinder-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked #281 out of 1223 in all Cameras

Sony A7S is the overall winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Olympus E-P3 in all criteria except one: Portability. But the size difference between these cameras are negligible in real world so it is not a big disadvantage for Sony A7S.

Olympus E-P3 vs Sony A7S Specs Table

Detailed comparison of specifications

General	Sony Alpha A7S	Olympus PEN E-P3
Brand	Sony	Olympus
Announced	2014-04-06	2011-08-17
Body Type	SLR-style mirrorless	Rangefinder-style mirrorless
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	12 megapixels
Max Resolution	4240 x 2832	4032 x 3024
Max Native Light sensitivity	409,600 ISO	12,800 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	35
Lens
Manual Focus
Lens Mount	Sony E	Micro Four Thirds
Number of Available Lenses	128	107
Screen
Type	Tilting	Fixed type
Size	3	3"
Resolution	1,230k dots	614k dots
Touch Screen
Viewfinder
Viewfinder	Electronic	Electronic (optional)
Viewfinder Resolution	2,359k dots	no electronic viewfinder
Viewfinder Coverage	100%	n/a
Viewfinder Magnification	0.71x	n/a
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	10.00 m (@ ISO 200)
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	1920 x 1080
Video Formats	MPEG-4, AVCHD, XAVC	AVCHD, Motion JPEG
Microphone Port
Headphone Port
Connectivity
Wireless Connectivity	Built-In	None
HDMI
Physical
Environmental Sealing
Weight	489g	369g
Dimensions	127 x 94 x 48mm	122 x 69 x 34mm
Battery Life	360 shots	330 shots
Other Features
Timelapse Recording	With Downloadable App
GPS	None	None
DxO Sensor Scores
DxO Overall Score	87	51
DxO Color Depth	23.9	20.8
DxO Dynamic Range	13.2	10.1
DxO Low Light ISO	3702	536
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