Canon EOS Rebel vs Olympus PEN E-PL9

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Canon EOS Rebel and the Olympus PEN E-PL9, highlighting the advantages of each over the other, discussing their pros and cons, shared strengths and weaknesses, and providing a rating based on their available features and specifications to assist you in choosing the one that best suits your needs.

Canon EOS Rebel was introduced in September 2003 and Olympus PEN E-PL9 was introduced in February 2018. Let us first list highlights of the models.

Now that we've looked at the most essential specifications and gained a basic understanding of these cameras, we can delve into more details and see the differences between them.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Canon EOS Rebel over Olympus PEN E-PL9.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Olympus PEN E-PL9 over Canon EOS Rebel.

We already listed pros and cons of each model. However, you may also find useful to look at their common strengths and weaknesses shown side-by-side.

Screen

Canon EOS Rebel has a 1.8" Fixed screen with 118k dot resolution and Olympus PEN E-PL9 has a 3.0" Tilting screen with 1,040k dot resolution. Tilting screen makes Olympus PEN E-PL9 very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting. Olympus PEN E-PL9 also features touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality (available only on Olympus PEN E-PL9) allowing users to select a specific point on the screen where they want the camera to focus. This feature can be helpful for achieving precise focus in both photo and video recording.

Optical (pentamirror) Viewfinder on Canon EOS Rebel

Canon EOS Rebel has a built-in Optical (pentamirror) viewfinder. It has a 95% coverage and 0.80x (0.50x 35mm equivalent) magnification. There is no built-in or optional viewfinder available on Olympus PEN E-PL9.

Canon EOS Rebel features a 6 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with dimensions of 22.7 x 15.1 mm and a total area of 342.8 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 1,600. Olympus PEN E-PL9 features a 16.1 megapixel Micro Four Thirds CMOS sensor with dimensions of 17.3 x 13 mm and a total area of 169 mm². Its native ISO range is 200 - 6,400 and expands to 100 - 25,600 in boosted mode.

Here is a sensor size comparison chart where you can see how different sensors compare with each other:

Sensor size chart

	Sensor	Dimensions	Area	Aspect Ratio	Crop Factor
	Medium Format	44 x 33 mm	1452 mm2	4:3	0.79x
	Full Frame	36 x 24 mm	864 mm2	3:2	1x
	APS-H	27 x 18 mm	486 mm2	3:2	1.3x
	APS-C	23.6 x 15.6 mm	368.2 mm2	3:2	1.5x
	APS-C (Canon)	22.3 x 14.9 mm	332.3 mm2	3:2	1.6x
	Micro Four Thirds	17.4 x 13 mm	226.2 mm2	4:3	2x
	1-inch	13.2 x 8.8 mm	116.2 mm2	3:2	2.7x
	1/1.7-inch	7.44 x 5.58 mm	41.5 mm2	4:3	4.7x
	1/2.3-inch	6.17 x 4.55 mm	28.1 mm2	4:3	5.6x

Canon EOS Rebel can take pictures up to 3072 x 2048 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 2048 x 1360, 1536 x 1024 with 3:2 aspect ratios. Olympus PEN E-PL9 is equipped with TruePic VIII processor and can take pictures up to 4608 x 3456 resolution.

Lens Mount

Canon EOS Rebel has Canon EF/EF-S lens mount and Olympus PEN E-PL9 has Micro Four Thirds lens mount. Due to APS-C sensor in Canon EOS Rebel its crop factor is equal to 1.6x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 1.6. Due to Micro Four Thirds sensor in Olympus PEN E-PL9 its crop factor is equal to 2x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 2.

In-Body Image Stabilization on Olympus PEN E-PL9

Olympus PEN E-PL9 has a built-in Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS) with 3.5 stops of compensation. This means that you are still getting vibration reduction when camera is paired with non-image stabilizied lenses. It also works with lenses with optical image stabilization and in combination can achieve even better compensation.

Built-in Wi-Fi on Olympus PEN E-PL9

Olympus PEN E-PL9 has a built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz) which allows to easily transfer photos and videos from the camera to other Wi-Fi-enabled devices, such as smartphones, tablets, printers, or computers. This eliminates the need for cables and allows for quick and convenient media sharing and social media integration. It gives you the ability to control your camera remotely using a smartphone or tablet. This is particularly useful for taking self-portraits, group shots, or capturing images in challenging conditions without having to touch the camera. Firmware updates can also be downloaded and installed wirelessly.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in WiFi.

Bluetooth on Olympus PEN E-PL9

Olympus PEN E-PL9 has a built-in Bluetooth (version 4.0 LE) which lets you to connect the camera to a smartphone or a dedicated remote control device. This allows you to remotely trigger the camera, adjust settings and controls remotely through a paired mobile app. While Wi-Fi is generally faster for transferring larger files, Bluetooth can be used for small, selective transfers, it can provide real-time information about your camera's battery status, memory card capacity, and other key settings directly on your paired smartphone or smartwatch.
  Check out the cameras in our database that have built-in Bluetooth.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB inputs for data transfer. connector for video signal output.

Battery

Olympus PEN E-PL9 comes with BLS-50 battery pack with battery life of 350 shots.

External Storage Slots

Canon EOS Rebel has a single CompactFlash (Type I/II) card slot. Olympus PEN E-PL9 has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I) card slot.

Shutter

Olympus PEN E-PL9 has Focal-plane (mechanical and electronic) shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/4000 sec on Canon EOS Rebel, and up to 1/16000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/4000 sec with mechanical shutter on Olympus PEN E-PL9. Canon EOS Rebel can shoot continuously up to 2.5 fps. Olympus PEN E-PL9 can shoot continuously up to 8.6 fps.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Olympus PEN E-PL9 ranges from -2 to +20 EV and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±2 EV range on Canon EOS Rebel and ±5 EV range on Olympus PEN E-PL9. You can also do and manual exposure adjustment on Canon EOS Rebel and exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Olympus PEN E-PL9.

Flash

Cameras have built-in flash with maximum range of 12.00 m at ISO 100 on Canon EOS Rebel and 7.60 m at ISO 200 on Olympus PEN E-PL9. They also accept external flash which can be connected via Hot Shoe to Olympus PEN E-PL9. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/200 sec on Canon EOS Rebel and 1/250 sec on Olympus PEN E-PL9.

Canon EOS Rebel body has dimensions of 142 x 99 x 72 mm (5.59 x 3.9 x 2.83") and Olympus PEN E-PL9 body has dimensions of 117 x 68 x 39 mm (4.61 x 2.68 x 1.54"). Canon EOS Rebel weighs 645 g (1.42 lb / 22.75 oz) and Olympus PEN E-PL9 weighs 380 g (0.84 lb / 13.40 oz).

Canon EOS Rebel

Olympus PEN E-PL9

142 mm

99 mm

117 mm

68 mm

99 mm

68 mm

72 mm

39 mm