Olympus FE-4030 vs Pentax K100D

Below, we will be looking at the Olympus FE-4030 and Pentax K100D, former being a Small Sensor Compact while the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by competitors Olympus and Pentax. There is a considerable difference among the sensor resolutions of the FE-4030 (14MP) and K100D (6MP) and the FE-4030 (1/2.3") and K100D (APS-C) possess different sensor sizing.

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The FE-4030 was revealed 3 years later than the K100D and that is a fairly large difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Both the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus FE-4030 being a Compact camera and the Pentax K100D being a Compact SLR camera.

Before getting through a more detailed comparison, below is a brief introduction of how the FE-4030 scores against the K100D in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus FE-4030 & Pentax K100D. The full galleries are available at Olympus FE-4030 Gallery & Pentax K100D Gallery.

For those who are aiming to lug around your camera frequently, you're going to have to take into account its weight and dimensions. The Olympus FE-4030 features exterior dimensions of 93mm x 56mm x 22mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 0.9") having a weight of 146 grams (0.32 lbs) while the Pentax K100D has dimensions of 129mm x 93mm x 70mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.8") along with a weight of 660 grams (1.46 lbs).

Look at the Olympus FE-4030 and Pentax K100D in our completely new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember, the weight of an ILC will differ based on the lens you have attached at the time. Here is the front view over all size comparison of the FE-4030 vs the K100D.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability grade of the FE-4030 and K100D is 95 and 64 respectively.

Generally, its difficult to picture the contrast in sensor measurements only by looking through specs. The photograph underneath may provide you a better sense of the sensor sizes in the FE-4030 and K100D.

As you can plainly see, both of these cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The FE-4030 having a smaller sensor is going to make shooting shallower DOF more challenging and the Olympus FE-4030 will render more detail because of its extra 8MP. Higher resolution can also make it easier to crop shots somewhat more aggressively. The newer FE-4030 should have a benefit with regard to sensor innovation.