Olympus E-500 vs Pentax 645Z

Its time to take a more detailed look at the Olympus E-500 and Pentax 645Z, one being a Advanced DSLR and the other is a Pro DSLR by companies Olympus and Pentax. There is a sizeable difference between the resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and 645Z (51MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and 645Z (Medium format) use different sensor sizes.

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The E-500 was announced 9 years before the 645Z and that is quite a large gap as far as tech is concerned. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-500 being a Mid-size SLR camera and the Pentax 645Z being a Large SLR camera.

Before going in to a in depth comparison, below is a short view of how the E-500 scores vs the 645Z with regard to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-500 and Pentax 645Z. The whole galleries are viewable at Olympus E-500 Gallery and Pentax 645Z Gallery.

In case you're planning to carry your camera regularly, you'll need to consider its weight and size. The Olympus E-500 offers outside dimensions of 130mm x 95mm x 66mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.6") with a weight of 479 grams (1.06 lbs) and the Pentax 645Z has specifications of 156mm x 117mm x 123mm (6.1" x 4.6" x 4.8") having a weight of 1550 grams (3.42 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus E-500 and Pentax 645Z in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary based on the lens you have at the time. Below is the front view scale comparison of the E-500 vs the 645Z.

Looking at size and weight, the portability grade of the E-500 and 645Z is 70 and 49 respectively.

Oftentimes, its difficult to imagine the difference between sensor sizing merely by reading specifications. The visual here will give you a clearer sense of the sensor sizes in the E-500 and 645Z.

Plainly, both of these cameras have got different megapixels and different sensor sizing. The E-500 using its tinier sensor is going to make shooting shallower DOF harder and the Pentax 645Z will offer more detail with its extra 43 Megapixels. Greater resolution will make it easier to crop photos much more aggressively. The older E-500 is going to be behind in sensor innovation.