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 A7R III and Olympus E-1 side-by-side from the front, back and top in their relative dimensions. Sony A7R III has external dimensions of 127 x 96 x 74 mm (5 x 3.78 x 2.91″) and weighs 657 g (1.45 lb / 23.17 oz) (including batteries). Olympus E-1 has external dimensions of 141 x 104 x 81 mm (5.55 x 4.09 x 3.19″) and weighs 735 g (1.62 lb / 25.93 oz) (including batteries).
Below you can see the front view size comparison of Sony A7R III and Olympus E-1. Sony A7R III is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 14mm narrower, 8mm shorter and 7mm thinner than Olympus E-1.
Comparison image of Sony A7R III and Olympus E-1 Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View
Here is the back view size comparison of Sony A7R III and Olympus E-1.
Comparison image of Sony A7R III and Olympus E-1 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 A7R III is 78g lighter than the Olympus E-1 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 A7R III has a Full frame sensor and Olympus E-1 has a smaller Four Thirds sensor, Olympus E-1's lenses for a similar focal length and aperture will generally be lighter and smaller than the Sony A7R III lenses.
Weight Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Thickness Comparison
DSLR Cameras
Weather Sealing
Both A7R III and E-1 have weather sealings in their body, making them resistant to water and dust.
LCD Screen Size and Features
Sony A7R III's 3 LCD screen is slightly larger than Olympus E-1's 1.8" screen.
In addition to the size advantage, Sony A7R III 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-1 has a fixed type screen which provides less flexibility in shooting positions compared to A7R III.
Sony A7R III has a 42.0MP Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-1 has a 5.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CCD sensor .
Sony A7R III's sensor provides 37MP more than Olympus E-1'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 Sony A7R III'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 A7R III and E-1 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Sony A7R III and Olympus E-1 Cameras
As seen above, Sony A7R III has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-1. 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.
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 A7R III has an advantage over Olympus E-1. There are 128 lenses for Sony A7R III's Sony E mount, on the other hand there are only 45 lenses for Olympus E-1's Four Thirds lens mount.
Another important factor is the availability of image stabilization. Sony A7R III has a big advantage in this regard because it has a sensor based image stabilization (IS) which means that all the lenses mounted to this body will be stabilized. A7R III's built-in Image stabilization system is effective to compensate vibration up to 5.0-stops according to CIPA standards.3 lenses for Four Thirds mount with Optical Image Stabilization features.
Lens Type |
# of Sony A7R III Lenses |
# of Olympus E-1 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 A7R III and Olympus E-1 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 A7R III for Portrait Photography
Olympus E-1 for Portrait Photography
Large Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 42.0MP
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Very Low Resolution Sensor: 5.0MP
No Image Stabilization
Read the details
Sony A7R III for Street Photography
Olympus E-1 for Street Photography
Large Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm) sensor
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Tilting LCD Screen
Medium sized Body
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
No Image Stabilization
No Live-view
Large Body
Read the details
Sony A7R III for Sports Photography
Olympus E-1 for Sports Photography
Image Stabilization
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Fast Continuous Shooting: 10.0fps
Anti Flicker feature
Environmental Sealings
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/8000s
425 Focus Points
Good Battery Life: 650 shots
Good Low Light ISO
Wireless Connection
Read the details
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Good Ergonomics&Handling
Environmental Sealings
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/4000s
No Image Stabilization
Slow Continuous Shooting: 3.0fps
3 Focus Points
Read the details
Sony A7R III for Daily Photography
Olympus E-1 for Daily Photography
Large Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm) sensor
Anti Flicker feature
Environmental Sealings
Medium size Body
657g
Body Thickness 74mm
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Large Body
735g
Body Thickness 81mm
Read the details
Sony A7R III for Landscape Photography
Olympus E-1 for Landscape Photography
Large Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 42.0MP
Environmental Sealings
Live-view
Read the details
Large Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm) sensor
Environmental Sealings
Very Low Resolution Sensor: 5.0MP
No Live-view
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 A7R III and Olympus E-1, 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 A7R III and Olympus E-1 scores compare:
Sony A7R III
Ranked
#4 out of 86 in SLR-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked
#4 out of 1220 in all Cameras
Olympus E-1
Ranked
#31 out of 36 in Large SLR cameras
Ranked
#856 out of 1220 in all Cameras
Sony A7R III is the clear winner of this comparison. It has a higher Overall Score and beats Olympus E-1 in all criteria. It has better general image quality, more features, more compact body and offers more value for the money
General |
Sony Alpha A7R III |
Olympus E-1 |
Brand |
Sony |
Olympus |
Announced |
2017-10-25 |
2003-11-29 |
Body Type |
SLR-style mirrorless |
Large SLR |
Sensor |
|
|
Type |
BSI-CMOS |
CCD |
Size |
Full frame |
Four Thirds |
Dimensions |
35.9 x 24 mm |
17.3 x 13 mm |
Area |
861.60mm2 |
224.90mm2 |
Megapixels |
42 megapixels |
5 megapixels |
Max Resolution |
7952 x 5304 |
2560 x 1920 |
Max Native Light sensitivity |
32,000 ISO |
3,200 ISO |
Max Boosted Light Sensitivity |
102400 ISO |
- |
Min Native Light sensitivity |
100 ISO |
100 ISO |
Min Boosted Light Sensitivity |
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 |
425 |
3 |
Lens |
|
|
Manual Focus |
|
|
Lens Mount |
Sony E |
Four Thirds |
Number of Available Lenses |
128 |
45 |
Screen |
|
|
Type |
Tilting |
Fixed type |
Size |
3 |
1.8" |
Resolution |
1,440k dots |
134k dots |
Touch Screen |
|
|
Viewfinder |
|
|
Viewfinder |
Electronic |
Optical (pentaprism) |
Viewfinder Resolution |
3,686k dots |
no electronic viewfinder |
Viewfinder Coverage |
100% |
100% |
Viewfinder Magnification |
0.78x |
0.48x |
Photography Features |
|
|
Max Mechanical Shutter |
1/8000s |
1/4000s |
Shutter Priority |
|
|
Aperture Priority |
|
|
Manual Exposure Mode |
|
|
Custom White Balance |
|
|
Image Stabilization |
Sensor-shift |
No |
Built-in Flash |
|
|
Max Flash Sync |
n/a |
1/180s |
External Flash |
|
|
Continuous Shooting |
10.0 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 S |
n/a |
Microphone Port |
|
|
Headphone Port |
|
|
Connectivity |
|
|
Wireless Connectivity |
Built-In |
None |
HDMI |
|
|
Physical |
|
|
Environmental Sealing |
|
|
Weight |
657g |
735g |
Dimensions |
127 x 96 x 74mm |
141 x 104 x 81mm |
Battery Life |
650 shots |
n/a |
Other Features |
|
|
Timelapse Recording |
|
|
GPS |
None |
None |
DxO Sensor Scores |
|
|
DxO Overall Score |
100 |
not tested |
DxO Color Depth |
26.0 |
not tested |
DxO Dynamic Range |
14.7 |
not tested |
DxO Low Light ISO |
3523 |
not tested |
|
Report a correction |
Report a correction |