Olympus E-PL5 vs Pentax K-30

Below is a in depth comparison of the Olympus E-PL5 versus Pentax K-30, former being a Entry-Level Mirrorless while the other is a Advanced DSLR by companies Olympus and Pentax. The resolution of the E-PL5 (16MP) and the K-30 (16MP) is fairly close but the E-PL5 (Four Thirds) and K-30 (APS-C) use totally different sensor dimensions.

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The E-PL5 was brought out at a similar time to the K-30 which means that they are both of a similar age. Both cameras come with different body type with the Olympus E-PL5 being a Rangefinder-style mirrorless camera and the Pentax K-30 being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before diving through a complete comparison, below is a concise synopsis of how the E-PL5 scores vs the K-30 in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus PEN E-PL5 & Pentax K-30. The entire galleries are available at Olympus E-PL5 Gallery & Pentax K-30 Gallery.

If you are looking to lug around your camera frequently, you need to think about its weight and measurements. The Olympus E-PL5 comes with exterior dimensions of 111mm x 64mm x 38mm (4.4" x 2.5" x 1.5") having a weight of 325 grams (0.72 lbs) and the Pentax K-30 has proportions of 130mm x 97mm x 71mm (5.1" x 3.8" x 2.8") along with a weight of 650 grams (1.43 lbs).

See the Olympus E-PL5 versus Pentax K-30 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will change based on the lens you have at that time. Below is the front view size comparison of the E-PL5 compared to the K-30.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability grade of the E-PL5 and K-30 is 88 and 63 respectively.

Generally, it is very difficult to envision the gap in sensor measurements merely by researching specs. The visual underneath may offer you a clearer sense of the sensor sizes in the E-PL5 and K-30.

As you can plainly see, the two cameras posses the exact same resolution but not the same sensor measurements. The E-PL5 uses the smaller sensor which will make achieving shallow DOF more challenging.