Olympus SZ-11 vs Pentax K-S1

The following is a thorough review of the Olympus SZ-11 and Pentax K-S1, former is a Small Sensor Superzoom while the other is a Advanced DSLR by companies Olympus and Pentax. There exists a sizable gap among the sensor resolutions of the SZ-11 (14MP) and K-S1 (20MP) and the SZ-11 (1/2.3") and K-S1 (APS-C) offer totally different sensor measurements.

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The SZ-11 was manufactured 4 years prior to the K-S1 which is a fairly significant difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Both the cameras have different body design with the Olympus SZ-11 being a Compact camera and the Pentax K-S1 being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before getting into a detailed comparison, here is a brief view of how the SZ-11 matches up against the K-S1 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall mark.

Here is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus SZ-11 & Pentax K-S1. The entire galleries are provided at Olympus SZ-11 Gallery & Pentax K-S1 Gallery.

When you are going to travel with your camera, you will have to think about its weight and volume. The Olympus SZ-11 provides physical measurements of 106mm x 69mm x 40mm (4.2" x 2.7" x 1.6") and a weight of 226 grams (0.50 lbs) while the Pentax K-S1 has sizing of 121mm x 93mm x 70mm (4.8" x 3.7" x 2.8") accompanied by a weight of 558 grams (1.23 lbs).

Compare the Olympus SZ-11 and Pentax K-S1 in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an ILC will vary dependant on the lens you have attached at the time. Following is a front view size comparison of the SZ-11 versus the K-S1.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the SZ-11 and K-S1 is 89 and 69 respectively.

Sometimes, its difficult to visualise the difference in sensor dimensions simply by looking through technical specs. The picture underneath may give you a far better sense of the sensor sizing in the SZ-11 and K-S1.

As you can tell, both of these cameras provide different resolutions and different sensor dimensions. The SZ-11 due to its smaller sensor will make shooting shallow depth of field tougher and the Pentax K-S1 will result in greater detail due to its extra 6MP. Greater resolution will let you crop pics more aggressively. The more aged SZ-11 will be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor tech.