Olympus E-500 vs Pentax 645D

Its time to look closer at the Olympus E-500 vs Pentax 645D, former being a Advanced DSLR while the other is a Pro DSLR by manufacturers Olympus and Pentax. There exists a noticeable gap among the resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and 645D (40MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and 645D (Medium format) use different sensor dimensions.

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The E-500 was revealed 5 years before the 645D and that is a fairly sizable difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Pentax 645D being a Large SLR camera.

Before we go straight into a thorough comparison, below is a simple highlight of how the E-500 grades vs the 645D when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus E-500 & Pentax 645D. The full galleries are provided at Olympus E-500 Gallery & Pentax 645D Gallery.

For anyone who is aiming to lug around your camera regularly, you need to factor its weight and size. The Olympus E-500 provides exterior measurements of 130mm x 95mm x 66mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.6") along with a weight of 479 grams (1.06 lbs) and the Pentax 645D has specifications of 156mm x 117mm x 119mm (6.1" x 4.6" x 4.7") accompanied by a weight of 1480 grams (3.26 lbs).

Look at the Olympus E-500 vs Pentax 645D in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an ILC will vary based on the lens you use at that moment. Here is the front view dimension comparison of the E-500 versus the 645D.

Taking into account dimensions and weight, the portability score of the E-500 and 645D is 70 and 50 respectively.

More often than not, it's difficult to picture the difference in sensor measurements only by viewing a spec sheet. The graphic below will help give you a far better sense of the sensor measurements in the E-500 and 645D.

Clearly, both of the cameras have got different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The E-500 using its smaller sensor is going to make shooting shallow depth of field more challenging and the Pentax 645D will render more detail because of its extra 32MP. Greater resolution will allow you to crop pics much more aggressively. The older E-500 will be behind in sensor tech.