Olympus 7040 vs Pentax K-500

Lets take a closer look at the Olympus 7040 and Pentax K-500, one being a Small Sensor Compact and the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by manufacturers Olympus and Pentax. The resolution of the 7040 (14MP) and the K-500 (16MP) is very similar but the 7040 (1/2.3") and K-500 (APS-C) possess different sensor sizes.

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The 7040 was announced 4 years before the K-500 and that is quite a serious gap as far as technology is concerned. The two cameras come with different body type with the Olympus 7040 being a Compact camera and the Pentax K-500 being a Compact SLR camera.

Before getting straight into a thorough comparison, below is a quick highlight of how the 7040 scores vs the K-500 when it comes to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a sample of the gallery pics for Olympus Stylus 7040 and Pentax K-500. The whole galleries are available at Olympus 7040 Gallery and Pentax K-500 Gallery.

For those who are going to lug around your camera often, you are going to need to factor its weight and size. The Olympus 7040 comes with exterior dimensions of 95mm x 56mm x 26mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 1.0") having a weight of 144 grams (0.32 lbs) while the Pentax K-500 has specifications of 130mm x 97mm x 71mm (5.1" x 3.8" x 2.8") and a weight of 646 grams (1.42 lbs).

Compare the Olympus 7040 and Pentax K-500 in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary dependant on the lens you are using at the time. Underneath is the front view overall size comparison of the 7040 vs the K-500.

Taking into consideration dimensions and weight, the portability grade of the 7040 and K-500 is 95 and 64 respectively.

Sometimes, its hard to imagine the difference between sensor measurements just by reviewing a spec sheet. The visual underneath should give you a better sense of the sensor sizes in the 7040 and K-500.

As you can see, both of those cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The 7040 with its tinier sensor is going to make shooting shallower depth of field more difficult and the Pentax K-500 will deliver more detail with its extra 2MP. Greater resolution will also let you crop pics somewhat more aggressively. The older 7040 is going to be disadvantaged in sensor innovation.