There are times when it is best to research and compare digital cameras of the same brand. The reason is that comparing items would allow you to see how the first unit evolved and was further enhanced or how the other item excels from the other and so on.

Take for instance Olympus, an electronic gadget that has come up with E-500 exactly a year after E-300 was introduced in the market. E-300 was the first Four Thirds System digital SLR that is very affordable for more individuals. There are many updates and improvement with E-500 as compared with the initial release of E-300. To start with, check on how each unit is different in appearance. The E-500 possesses physical features of a traditional film SLR compare with E-300 which is flat and long in appearance. The E-300 also has swinging mirror and viewfinder setup.

E-500 has a bigger LCD monitor. The LCD monitor measures 2.5" with 215,250 pixels and wide viewing angle while E-300 has 1.8" only with 134,000 pixels. The E-500 has a dimension of 5.1-inch by 3.7-in by 2.6-inch and weighs 1.0 lb without the battery while the E-300 has 5.8-inch by 3.4-inch by 2.5-inch and weighs 1.3 lb without the battery. Base on the physical features of the units, the digital camera rating for E-500 is higher compared with the E-300.

With regard to the sensors of the digital cameras, it has the same features. Both have Kodak 4/3 Type CCD with 8M effective pixels. They only differ when it comes to the modified hot mirror or the infrared filter which is only present in E-500. The metering sensor of the E-300 is unspecified while that of the E-500 has 7 by 7 matrix. There metering modes are almost the same since both have digital ESP, center-weighted average and spot except for the highlight based spot and the shadow based spot which is available for the E-500.

The E-500 has high ISO noise filter that can be optionally enabled while E-300 has no specified noise filter. But units also have the same HQ compression options which are ¼ and 1/8 but in addition to this, the E-500 also has a HQ compression option of 1/12. The E-300 can take continuous 2.5 fps, 4 frames of RAW and 4 frames of JPEG files. Aside from these, the E-500 can also take unlimited JPEG files using high speed card.

When viewing your pictures, it can be magnified up to 14 times for the E-500 while it can also show up to 10x for the E-300. Aside from this, the play index for the E-300 is from 4, 9 and 16 frames only. In addition to these, the E-500 also has a play index of 25 frames and calendar form. Lastly, the E-500 has compact flash and xD compatible picture card. This means that you can store more pictures on this type compared with the E-300 which only has a compact flash.

Base on the digital camera ratings, the Olympus Evolt E-500 is better compared with the E-300. It has more advance features that will help photographers make their job easier and more convenient.