Olympus E-PL1 vs Pentax KP

Its time to look a little more closely at the Olympus E-PL1 vs Pentax KP, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Advanced DSLR by competitors Olympus and Pentax. There exists a considerable gap between the resolutions of the E-PL1 (12MP) and KP (24MP) and the E-PL1 (Four Thirds) and KP (APS-C) feature different sensor sizing.

Photobucket discusses licensing 13 billion images with AI firms

The E-PL1 was brought out 7 years prior to the KP and that is quite a large difference as far as technology is concerned. Each of these cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-PL1 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Pentax KP being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before getting straight into a thorough comparison, below is a brief highlight of how the E-PL1 scores against the KP in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-PL1 & Pentax KP. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus E-PL1 Gallery & Pentax KP Gallery.

For anyone who is looking to lug around your camera regularly, you need to factor its weight and size. The Olympus E-PL1 has external dimensions of 115mm x 72mm x 42mm (4.5" x 2.8" x 1.7") having a weight of 334 grams (0.74 lbs) and the Pentax KP has specifications of 132mm x 101mm x 76mm (5.2" x 4.0" x 3.0") having a weight of 703 grams (1.55 lbs).

Examine the Olympus E-PL1 vs Pentax KP in our brand new Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into consideration, the weight of an ILC will differ depending on the lens you have at the time. The following is the front view proportions comparison of the E-PL1 against the KP.

Considering dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the E-PL1 and KP is 86 and 61 respectively.

Normally, its difficult to visualize the gap between sensor measurements only by going over specs. The graphic below will help provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PL1 and KP.

As you can plainly see, both cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-PL1 due to its tinier sensor is going to make shooting shallow DOF trickier and the Pentax KP will deliver greater detail having its extra 12 Megapixels. Greater resolution will let you crop photos a little more aggressively. The older E-PL1 is going to be behind when it comes to sensor tech.