Olympus E-PL5 vs Pentax K-3 II

Its time to take a deeper look at the Olympus E-PL5 and Pentax K-3 II, one is a Entry-Level Mirrorless and the other is a Advanced DSLR by competitors Olympus and Pentax. There is a significant difference between the resolutions of the E-PL5 (16MP) and K-3 II (24MP) and the E-PL5 (Four Thirds) and K-3 II (APS-C) use different sensor size.

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The E-PL5 was revealed 3 years prior to the K-3 II which is quite a sizable gap as far as tech is concerned. Both of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Pentax K-3 II being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before going straight into a comprehensive comparison, below is a short overview of how the E-PL5 scores vs the K-3 II when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Here is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus PEN E-PL5 and Pentax K-3 II. The full galleries are viewable at Olympus E-PL5 Gallery and Pentax K-3 II Gallery.

For anyone who is planning to travel with your camera regularly, you're going to have to factor its weight and size. The Olympus E-PL5 provides physical measurements of 111mm x 64mm x 38mm (4.4" x 2.5" x 1.5") along with a weight of 325 grams (0.72 lbs) while the Pentax K-3 II has specifications of 131mm x 100mm x 77mm (5.2" x 3.9" x 3.0") along with a weight of 800 grams (1.76 lbs).

Check out the Olympus E-PL5 and Pentax K-3 II in the new Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Bear in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you are utilizing at that moment. Below is the front view proportions comparison of the E-PL5 compared to the K-3 II.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability grade of the E-PL5 and K-3 II is 88 and 59 respectively.

Often, it is tough to imagine the contrast between sensor dimensions simply by going over specs. The image below may provide you a much better sense of the sensor sizing in the E-PL5 and K-3 II.

As you can plainly see, both the cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The E-PL5 with its tinier sensor is going to make getting shallower depth of field trickier and the Pentax K-3 II will offer more detail because of its extra 8 Megapixels. Greater resolution will also allow you to crop images much more aggressively. The more aged E-PL5 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor technology.