Olympus E-300 vs Pentax E70

Let's look much closer at the Olympus E-300 vs Pentax E70, former being a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Small Sensor Compact by rivals Olympus and Pentax. The image resolution of the E-300 (8MP) and the E70 (10MP) is fairly comparable but the E-300 (Four Thirds) and E70 (1/2.3") feature totally different sensor sizes.

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The E-300 was revealed 5 years prior to the E70 and that is a fairly sizable difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-300 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Pentax E70 being a Compact camera.

Before getting through a thorough comparison, below is a quick overview of how the E-300 matches up versus the E70 when considering portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-300 & Pentax Optio E70. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-300 Gallery & Pentax E70 Gallery.

If you're going to lug around your camera, you will need to think about its weight and dimensions. The Olympus E-300 comes with exterior measurements of 147mm x 85mm x 64mm (5.8" x 3.3" x 2.5") accompanied by a weight of 624 grams (1.38 lbs) and the Pentax E70 has dimensions of 94mm x 61mm x 26mm (3.7" x 2.4" x 1.0") with a weight of 175 grams (0.39 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-300 vs Pentax E70 in our completely new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will change depending on the lens you are working with at the time. Underneath is the front view measurements comparison of the E-300 vs the E70.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-300 and E70 is 67 and 94 respectively.

Sometimes, its tough to visualise the gap in sensor measurements merely by going through specifications. The visual below should offer you a stronger sense of the sensor sizing in the E-300 and E70.

To sum up, both the cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The E-300 using its larger sensor will make getting shallower DOF simpler and the Pentax E70 will produce extra detail because of its extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also let you crop pics somewhat more aggressively. The older E-300 will be behind when it comes to sensor technology.