Olympus E-420 vs Nikon D90

Nikon D90 advantages over Olympus E-420

• Lens selection
  Excellent vs Good
  Better lens selection gives you more options
• Larger sensor
  APS-C vs 4/3
  More sensor area. Bigger is (generally) better.
• Bigger pixels
  ~ 5.50 vs 4.74 microns
  Better low-light and dynamic range (all else equal)
• Fast startup
  ~0.30 vs 0.8 sec
  Faster startup lets you catch the moment
• Higher effective ISO

  Higher effective ISO

  Maximum effective ISO is an estimate of the highest sensitivity at which a camera can capture excellent quality photos.

  Cameras with higher effective ISO will be better choices for indoor photography, night shooting, and indoor sports photography, especially if you intend to make large prints.

  You can learn more at our glossary entry.

  Maximum effective ISO test data courtesy of DxO Mark.

  D90 test data on DxO Mark E-420 test data on DxO Mark
  977 vs 527 iso
  Take photos in low light with less noise
• More dynamic range

  More dynamic range

  Cameras with more dynamic range allow you to take photos with dramatic differences in highlight and shadow areas while retaining detail in both.

  Think of a brilliant sunset on a rocky beach: Bright sunset in the background, with dark rocks in the foreground. High dynamic range means more of the extremes will be faithfully reproduced.

  Dynamic range test data courtesy of DxO Mark.

  D90 test data on DxO Mark E-420 test data on DxO Mark
  12.5 vs 10.4 evs
  Retain detail in highlight and shadows
• Longer stills battery life
  More info

  Longer stills battery life

  Cameras with longer battery life can take more photos before exhausting their batteries.

  Special note: The measurement standard for battery life stipulates that if a camera has an internal flash, it must be used for 50% of photos taken. For this reason, comparisons of one camera with an internal flash to another without will not be comparable

  850 vs 500 shots
  Capture more photos
• More telephoto lens reach
  158 mm vs 84 mm
  Capture objects farther away with the kit lens
• Top deck display
  Yes vs No
  Check settings with a screen on top of the camera
• Pentaprism viewfinder
  Pentaprism vs Pentamirror
  Much better viewfinder picture fidelity
• HDMI out
  HDMI out vs None
  Use HDMI output to monitor or review video
• Shoots 24p video
  Yes vs No
  Gives your movies a big-screen feel
• More dots on screen
  922k vs 230k dots
  Can mean greater resolution or a brighter screen
• More viewfinder magnification
  0.63x vs 0.46x
  Get a bigger view of the scene through the eye-level viewfinder
• More pixels
  12.3 vs 10.0 megapixels
  Higher resolution photos
• More AF points
  11 vs 3
  More AF points improve autofocus
• Faster JPEG shooting
  4.5 fps vs 3.5 fps
  Faster JPEG shooting (burst mode)
• Bigger JPEG buffer
  Unlimited vs 13 shots
  Take more JPEG shots before waiting (burst mode)
• Higher extended ISO
  6400 vs 1600 ISO
  Higher extended ISO can give more low-light flexibility