Olympus E-PL1s vs Pentax K-50

Its time to take a deeper look at the Olympus E-PL1s versus Pentax K-50, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the latter is a Entry-Level DSLR by companies Olympus and Pentax. There is a sizable difference among the image resolutions of the E-PL1s (12MP) and K-50 (16MP) and the E-PL1s (Four Thirds) and K-50 (APS-C) feature totally different sensor sizes.

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The E-PL1s was released 4 years before the K-50 and that is a fairly significant difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Both the cameras offer different body type with the Olympus E-PL1s being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Pentax K-50 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before we go through a in depth comparison, below is a brief view of how the E-PL1s grades versus the K-50 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus PEN E-PL1s & Pentax K-50. The complete galleries are available at Olympus E-PL1s Gallery & Pentax K-50 Gallery.

If you are aiming to lug around your camera, you'll need to think about its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-PL1s enjoys outside dimensions of 115mm x 72mm x 42mm (4.5" x 2.8" x 1.7") with a weight of 334 grams (0.74 lbs) while the Pentax K-50 has proportions of 130mm x 97mm x 71mm (5.1" x 3.8" x 2.8") accompanied by a weight of 650 grams (1.43 lbs).

See the Olympus E-PL1s versus Pentax K-50 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you have at that moment. Following is the front view size comparison of the E-PL1s and the K-50.

Using size and weight, the portability score of the E-PL1s and K-50 is 86 and 63 respectively.

In many cases, it's difficult to envision the gap in sensor measurements simply by researching specifications. The graphic underneath will help give you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PL1s and K-50.

To sum up, both the cameras enjoy different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The E-PL1s because of its smaller sensor will make getting shallow depth of field trickier and the Pentax K-50 will provide you with more detail as a result of its extra 4MP. Higher resolution will enable you to crop photographs far more aggressively. The older E-PL1s will be disadvantaged with regard to sensor innovation.