Olympus E-30 vs Pentax K-3 II

Below is a thorough assessment of the Olympus E-30 vs Pentax K-3 II, both Advanced DSLR cameras by brands Olympus and Pentax. There exists a big gap among the resolutions of the E-30 (12MP) and K-3 II (24MP) and the E-30 (Four Thirds) and K-3 II (APS-C) provide totally different sensor sizing.

Photography Glossary

The E-30 was announced 7 years before the K-3 II and that is a fairly big gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Both cameras have the same body design (Mid-size SLR).

Before going straight to a detailed comparison, here is a concise summation of how the E-30 matches up versus the K-3 II when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-30 and Pentax K-3 II. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-30 Gallery and Pentax K-3 II Gallery.

If you are planning to lug around your camera regularly, you're going to have to factor its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-30 comes with outer dimensions of 142mm x 108mm x 75mm (5.6" x 4.3" x 3.0") and a weight of 695 grams (1.53 lbs) and the Pentax K-3 II has dimensions of 131mm x 100mm x 77mm (5.2" x 3.9" x 3.0") accompanied by a weight of 800 grams (1.76 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-30 vs Pentax K-3 II in the all new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary based on the lens you are utilising at the time. Following is a front view overall size comparison of the E-30 vs the K-3 II.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-30 and K-3 II is 60 and 59 respectively.

Sometimes, it can be difficult to visualise the gap in sensor measurements simply by viewing specs. The photograph here will help give you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-30 and K-3 II.

As you can plainly see, the two cameras have different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-30 using its smaller sensor will make shooting shallow depth of field harder and the Pentax K-3 II will result in more detail with its extra 12 Megapixels. Greater resolution will let you crop pics a bit more aggressively. The older E-30 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor technology.