Sony Alpha 5100 vs Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III

In this comparison, we will evaluate the Sony Alpha 5100 and the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III, 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.

Sony Alpha 5100 was introduced in August 2014 and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III was introduced in August 2017. 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 Sony Alpha 5100 over Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III.

This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III over Sony Alpha 5100.

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

Sony Alpha 5100 and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III have 3.0" Tilting screens with 922k dot and 1,040k dot resolutions respectively. Tilting screen makes cameras very useful for photography purposes but not so useful for video shooting. 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.

Electronic Viewfinder on Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III has a built-in Electronic viewfinder with 2,360k dot resolution. It has a 100% coverage and 1.23x (0.62x 35mm equivalent) magnification. There is no built-in or optional viewfinder available on Sony Alpha 5100.

Sony Alpha 5100 features a 24.3 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor with dimensions of 23.5 x 15.6 mm and a total area of 366.6 mm². Its native ISO range is 100 - 25,600. Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III features a 16.1 megapixel Micro Four Thirds CMOS sensor with dimensions of 17.4 x 13 mm and a total area of 169 mm². Its native ISO range is 200 - 25,600 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

Sony Alpha 5100 is equipped with BIONZ X processor and can take pictures up to 6000 x 4000 resolution. It can also take pictures with lower resolution like 6000 x 3376, 4240 x 2832, 4240 x 2400, 3008 x 2000, 3008 x 1688 with 3:2, 16:9 aspect ratios. Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III is equipped with TruePic VIII processor and can take pictures up to 4608 x 3456 resolution.

Lens Mount

Sony Alpha 5100 has Sony E lens mount and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III has Micro Four Thirds lens mount. Due to APS-C sensor in Sony Alpha 5100 its crop factor is equal to 1.5x, this means that a 35mm equivalent focal length of the mounted lens will be equal to its actual focal length times 1.5. Due to Micro Four Thirds sensor in Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III 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 OM-D E-M10 Mark III

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III has a built-in 5-Axis Sensor Shift in-body image stabilization (IBIS). 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

Cameras have 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.

NFC on Sony Alpha 5100

Sony Alpha 5100 has Near Field Communication (NFC) technology which simplifies the process of pairing it with other NFC-enabled devices like smartphones or tablets. It allows to quickly transfer photos and videos or remotely control the camera from compatible device. NFC can also be used for authentication and security purposes. It can verify your identity before accessing certain features or transferring sensitive data. It can be used with NFC-enabled accessories as well, such as lenses, flashes and GPS devices.

USB Inputs and HDMI Outputs

Both models have USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) inputs for data transfer. Sony Alpha 5100 has a Micro HDMI and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III has a Micro HDMI connector for video signal output.

Battery

Sony Alpha 5100 comes with NP-FW50 battery pack with battery life of 400 shots and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III comes with BLS-50 battery pack with battery life of 330 shots.

External Storage Slots

Sony Alpha 5100 has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC/Memory Stick Duo Hybrid (UHS-I) card slot. Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III has a single SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II) card slot.

Shutter

Sony Alpha 5100 has Electronically controlled Vertical-traverse Focal-plane shutter. Shutter speed can go up to 1/4000 sec on Sony Alpha 5100, and up to 1/16000 sec with electronic shutter and up to 1/4000 sec with mechanical shutter on Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III. Sony Alpha 5100 can shoot continuously up to 6.0 fps. Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III can shoot continuously up to 8.6 fps with both electronic and mechanical shutter.

Focusing

Sony Alpha 5100 has Fast Hybrid AF (Phase-detection / Contrast-detection) system with 179 focusing points and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III has 121 focusing points. Sony Alpha 5100 has detection range from -1 to +20 EV.

Exposure

Exposure meterings of Sony Alpha 5100 and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III range from -1 to +20 EV and -2 to +20 EV respectively and you can set the exposure compensation within the ±3 EV range on Sony Alpha 5100 and ±5 EV range on Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III. You can also do exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Sony Alpha 5100 and exposure bracketing and manual exposure adjustment on Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III.

Flash

Cameras have built-in flash with maximum range of 4.00 m at ISO 100 on Sony Alpha 5100 and 5.80 m at ISO 100 on Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III. Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III also accepts external flash which can be connected via Hot Shoe. The fastest flash synchronization speed is 1/160 sec on Sony Alpha 5100 and 1/250 sec on Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III.

Sony Alpha 5100 body has dimensions of 110 x 63 x 36 mm (4.33 x 2.48 x 1.42") and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III body has dimensions of 122 x 84 x 50 mm (4.8 x 3.31 x 1.97"). Sony Alpha 5100 weighs 283 g (0.62 lb / 9.98 oz) and Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III weighs 410 g (0.90 lb / 14.46 oz).

Sony Alpha 5100

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III

110 mm

63 mm

122 mm

84 mm

63 mm

84 mm

36 mm

50 mm