Olympus 7040 vs Pentax K-r

Let's look more closely at the Olympus 7040 and Pentax K-r, one being a Small Sensor Compact and the other is a Entry-Level DSLR by companies Olympus and Pentax. The image resolution of the 7040 (14MP) and the K-r (12MP) is fairly well matched but the 7040 (1/2.3") and K-r (APS-C) enjoy totally different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The 7040 was introduced 14 months prior to the K-r making the cameras a generation apart from each other. The two cameras come with different body type with the Olympus 7040 being a Compact camera and the Pentax K-r being a Compact SLR camera.

Before going in to a thorough comparison, below is a quick view of how the 7040 grades against the K-r in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

Here is a sample of the gallery pictures for Olympus Stylus 7040 and Pentax K-r. The whole galleries are available at Olympus 7040 Gallery and Pentax K-r Gallery.

If you are going to lug around your camera frequently, you have to factor its weight and measurements. The Olympus 7040 has physical dimensions of 95mm x 56mm x 26mm (3.7" x 2.2" x 1.0") with a weight of 144 grams (0.32 lbs) whilst the Pentax K-r has proportions of 125mm x 97mm x 68mm (4.9" x 3.8" x 2.7") with a weight of 598 grams (1.32 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus 7040 and Pentax K-r in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Keep in mind, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will vary depending on the lens you choose during that time. Here is the front view physical size comparison of the 7040 versus the K-r.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability rating of the 7040 and K-r is 95 and 67 respectively.

Usually, it's difficult to envision the gap between sensor measurements purely by looking at technical specs. The graphic below should provide you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the 7040 and K-r.

As you can tell, both cameras posses different megapixels and different sensor measurements. The 7040 having a tinier sensor will make getting shallower DOF harder and the Olympus 7040 will give you greater detail using its extra 2 Megapixels. Greater resolution will enable you to crop pics somewhat more aggressively. The older 7040 is going to be disadvantaged when it comes to sensor tech.