Olympus SZ-12 vs Pentax K100D

Its time to look much closer at the Olympus SZ-12 versus Pentax K100D, former is a Small Sensor Superzoom while the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by competitors Olympus and Pentax. There is a noticeable difference between the resolutions of the SZ-12 (14MP) and K100D (6MP) and the SZ-12 (1/2.3") and K100D (APS-C) posses different sensor dimensions.

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The SZ-12 was released 5 years after the K100D which is quite a sizable difference as far as tech is concerned. Each of these cameras have different body design with the Olympus SZ-12 being a Compact camera and the Pentax K100D being a Compact SLR camera.

Before going straight to a comprehensive comparison, here is a brief synopsis of how the SZ-12 scores vs the K100D for portability, imaging, features and an overall score.

This is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus SZ-12 & Pentax K100D. The complete galleries are available at Olympus SZ-12 Gallery & Pentax K100D Gallery.

If you are planning to carry around your camera, you are going to need to consider its weight and size. The Olympus SZ-12 has got outside dimensions of 106mm x 69mm x 40mm (4.2" x 2.7" x 1.6") having a weight of 226 grams (0.50 lbs) whilst the Pentax K100D has specifications of 129mm x 93mm x 70mm (5.1" x 3.7" x 2.8") accompanied by a weight of 660 grams (1.46 lbs).

Check the Olympus SZ-12 versus Pentax K100D in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Do not forget, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you have at the time. Following is a front view size comparison of the SZ-12 vs the K100D.

Taking into consideration size and weight, the portability score of the SZ-12 and K100D is 89 and 64 respectively.

Generally, it is very difficult to picture the difference between sensor sizes simply by reading through specs. The picture below should provide you a stronger sense of the sensor dimensions in the SZ-12 and K100D.

As you can plainly see, both of the cameras provide different resolutions and different sensor sizes. The SZ-12 featuring a tinier sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field more challenging and the Olympus SZ-12 will give more detail as a result of its extra 8MP. Greater resolution can also enable you to crop pics more aggressively. The newer SZ-12 should have an advantage with regard to sensor tech.