Olympus E-500 vs Pentax K-5 II

Here is a in depth assessment of the Olympus E-500 and Pentax K-5 II, both Advanced DSLR cameras by companies Olympus and Pentax. There exists a sizable gap among the image resolutions of the E-500 (8MP) and K-5 II (16MP) and the E-500 (Four Thirds) and K-5 II (APS-C) enjoy totally different sensor dimensions.

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The E-500 was released 8 years prior to the K-5 II and that is a fairly significant difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of these cameras come with the identical body type (Mid-size SLR).

Before going in to a step-by-step comparison, below is a quick summary of how the E-500 grades against the K-5 II in regards to portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Below is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus E-500 & Pentax K-5 II. The complete galleries are available at Olympus E-500 Gallery & Pentax K-5 II Gallery.

If you're aiming to carry your camera often, you will have to factor its weight and volume. The Olympus E-500 features physical dimensions of 130mm x 95mm x 66mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.6") accompanied by a weight of 479 grams (1.06 lbs) whilst the Pentax K-5 II has sizing of 131mm x 97mm x 73mm (5.2" x 3.8" x 2.9") and a weight of 760 grams (1.68 lbs).

Analyze the Olympus E-500 and Pentax K-5 II in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an ILC will vary based on the lens you are utilizing during that time. Here is the front view overall size comparison of the E-500 compared to the K-5 II.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the E-500 and K-5 II is 70 and 60 respectively.

Normally, its difficult to visualise the contrast in sensor sizing just by researching specs. The graphic below might give you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the E-500 and K-5 II.

As you can plainly see, both cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor sizing. The E-500 due to its smaller sensor will make achieving shallow depth of field more challenging and the Pentax K-5 II will result in extra detail as a result of its extra 8 Megapixels. Greater resolution can also help you crop images somewhat more aggressively. The older E-500 will be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.