Olympus TG-870 vs Pentax E70

Lets look closer at the Olympus TG-870 and Pentax E70, one being a Ultracompact and the latter is a Small Sensor Compact by competitors Olympus and Pentax. There exists a significant gap among the image resolutions of the TG-870 (16MP) and E70 (10MP) but both cameras provide the same sensor dimensions (1/2.3").

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The TG-870 was manufactured 7 years later than the E70 and that is a fairly sizable gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of the cameras have different body design with the Olympus TG-870 being a Ultracompact camera and the Pentax E70 being a Compact camera.

Before diving into a thorough comparison, here is a short highlight of how the TG-870 scores vs the E70 in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Following is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus Stylus Tough TG-870 and Pentax Optio E70. The entire galleries are viewable at Olympus TG-870 Gallery and Pentax E70 Gallery.

For anybody who is going to carry your camera often, you're going to have to think about its weight and volume. The Olympus TG-870 provides outside dimensions of 113mm x 64mm x 28mm (4.4" x 2.5" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 221 grams (0.49 lbs) and the Pentax E70 has sizing of 94mm x 61mm x 26mm (3.7" x 2.4" x 1.0") along with a weight of 175 grams (0.39 lbs).

Look at the Olympus TG-870 and Pentax E70 in the latest Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you are employing at that moment. Here is a front view proportions comparison of the TG-870 against the E70.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the TG-870 and E70 is 91 and 94 respectively.

Quite often, its difficult to visualize the difference in sensor sizing merely by researching a spec sheet. The visual underneath will help give you a far better sense of the sensor dimensions in the TG-870 and E70.

As you can see, both of those cameras have the same sensor dimensions albeit different resolution. You should expect the Olympus TG-870 to render more detail due to its extra 6MP. Higher resolution will help you crop photographs a bit more aggressively. The fresher TG-870 should have an advantage in sensor innovation.