Olympus E-420 vs Pentax 645D

Its time to take a deeper look at the Olympus E-420 and Pentax 645D, former being a Entry-Level DSLR while the other is a Pro DSLR by rivals Olympus and Pentax. There exists a substantial gap between the image resolutions of the E-420 (10MP) and 645D (40MP) and the E-420 (Four Thirds) and 645D (Medium format) use totally different sensor sizes.

Photography Glossary

The E-420 was announced 20 months before the 645D making the cameras a generation apart from one another. Both of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-420 being a Compact SLR camera and the Pentax 645D being a Large SLR camera.

Before delving through a comprehensive comparison, below is a quick introduction of how the E-420 matches up vs the 645D with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-420 & Pentax 645D. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus E-420 Gallery & Pentax 645D Gallery.

If you are looking to lug around your camera often, you will want to factor its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-420 provides outside measurements of 130mm x 91mm x 53mm (5.1" x 3.6" x 2.1") accompanied by a weight of 426 grams (0.94 lbs) and the Pentax 645D has proportions of 156mm x 117mm x 119mm (6.1" x 4.6" x 4.7") with a weight of 1480 grams (3.26 lbs).

See the Olympus E-420 and Pentax 645D in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will vary based on the lens you are utilizing at that moment. The following is the front view physical size comparison of the E-420 against the 645D.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-420 and 645D is 77 and 50 respectively.

More often than not, it can be difficult to visualise the contrast between sensor measurements simply by reviewing a spec sheet. The photograph below should give you a clearer sense of the sensor sizing in the E-420 and 645D.

As you can see, the two cameras posses different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-420 with its tinier sensor will make getting shallow depth of field more difficult and the Pentax 645D will offer you more detail with its extra 30 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also make it easier to crop pics somewhat more aggressively. The older E-420 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor technology.