Olympus PEN E-P7 vs Olympus Stylus SH-3

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Olympus PEN E-P7 and the Olympus Stylus SH-3, 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.

Olympus PEN E-P7 was introduced in June 2021 and Olympus Stylus SH-3 was introduced in February 2016. 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 Olympus PEN E-P7 over Olympus Stylus SH-3.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Olympus Stylus SH-3 over Olympus PEN E-P7.

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

Olympus PEN E-P7 and Olympus Stylus SH-3 have 3.0" screens with 1,040k dot and 460k dot resolutions respectively. Olympus PEN E-P7 has a Tilting screen which makes it very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting. Olympus Stylus SH-3 has a Fixed screen Both models feature touchscreen which has advantages such as easy menu navigation, intuitive controls, quick setting adjustment and most importantly a Touch-to-Focus functionality 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.

Olympus PEN E-P7 features a 20 megapixel Micro Four Thirds CMOS sensor with dimensions of 17.4 x 13 mm and a total area of 226.2 mm². Its native ISO range is 200 - 25,600 and expands to 100 - 25,600 in boosted mode. Olympus Stylus SH-3 features a 16 megapixel 1/2.3-inch BSI-CMOS sensor with dimensions of 6.17 x 4.55 mm and a total area of 20.7 mm². Its native ISO range is 125 - 6,400.

Olympus Stylus SH-3 has BSI-CMOS sensor, short for Backside Illuminated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor sensor. In traditional CMOS sensors, the wiring and circuitry are located on the front side of the sensor, which can block some of the incoming light. BSI technology flips this design by placing the photosensitive elements (pixels) on the backside of the sensor, allowing more light to reach the pixels. This significantly enhances light sensitivity and improves low-light performance. BSI-CMOS sensors are particularly effective in low-light conditions, as they can capture more light, resulting in brighter and less noisy images. This makes them well-suited for indoor and night photography. BSI-CMOS sensors deliver a higher SNR and reduced cross-talk.

Olympus PEN E-P7 is equipped with TruePic VIII processor and can take pictures up to 5184 x 3888 resolution. Olympus Stylus SH-3 is equipped with TruePic VII processor and can take pictures up to 4608 x 3456 resolution.

No Low-Pass Filter on Olympus PEN E-P7

There is no optical low-pass filter (OLPF), also known as an anti-aliasing filter, in front of the sensor on Olympus PEN E-P7. This results in a slightly sharper image but may also introduce moiré patterns and aliasing artifacts when photographing subjects with fine, repetitive patterns or details.

Image Stabilization

The cameras have a built-in image stabilization (4.5 stops of compensation in Olympus PEN E-P7). On Olympus PEN E-P7 it means that you are still getting vibration reduction when it 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

Cameras have built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n 2.4 GHz on Olympus PEN E-P7) 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-P7

Olympus PEN E-P7 has a built-in Bluetooth (version 4.2 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 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) inputs for data transfer. Olympus PEN E-P7 has a Micro HDMI and Olympus Stylus SH-3 has a Micro HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Olympus PEN E-P7 comes with BLS-50 battery pack with battery life of 360 shots and Olympus Stylus SH-3 comes with LI-92B battery pack with battery life of 380 shots.

External Storage Slots

Olympus PEN E-P7 has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) card slot. Olympus Stylus SH-3 has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC Memory card slot.

Shutter

Olympus PEN E-P7 has Electronic focal-plane shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/16000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/4000 sec with mechanical shutter on Olympus PEN E-P7, and up to 1/2000 sec on Olympus Stylus SH-3. Olympus PEN E-P7 can shoot continuously up to 8.7 fps. Olympus Stylus SH-3 can shoot continuously up to 11.5 fps.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Olympus PEN E-P7 ranges from -2 to +20 EV and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±5 EV range on Olympus PEN E-P7 and ±2 range on Olympus Stylus SH-3. You can also do exposure lock, exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Olympus PEN E-P7 and exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Olympus Stylus SH-3.

Flash

Cameras have built-in flash with maximum range of 5.40 m at ISO 100 on Olympus PEN E-P7 and 8.30 m at ISO 3200 on Olympus Stylus SH-3. Olympus PEN E-P7 also accepts external flash..

Olympus PEN E-P7 body has dimensions of 118 x 69 x 38 mm (4.65 x 2.72 x 1.5") and Olympus Stylus SH-3 body has dimensions of 109 x 63 x 42 mm (4.29 x 2.48 x 1.65"). Olympus PEN E-P7 weighs 337 g (0.74 lb / 11.89 oz) and Olympus Stylus SH-3 weighs 271 g (0.60 lb / 9.56 oz).

Olympus PEN E-P7

Olympus Stylus SH-3

118 mm

69 mm

109 mm

63 mm

69 mm

63 mm

38 mm

42 mm