Olympus VR-330 vs Pentax K-5 IIs

Below is a extended review of the Olympus VR-330 vs Pentax K-5 IIs, former being a Small Sensor Superzoom while the latter is a Advanced DSLR by companies Olympus and Pentax. The resolution of the VR-330 (14MP) and the K-5 IIs (16MP) is pretty comparable but the VR-330 (1/2.3") and K-5 IIs (APS-C) feature totally different sensor size.

Photography Glossary

The VR-330 was announced 3 years before the K-5 IIs and that is a fairly significant difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Both the cameras come with different body type with the Olympus VR-330 being a Compact camera and the Pentax K-5 IIs being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before diving straight into a step-by-step comparison, below is a short summation of how the VR-330 matches up versus the K-5 IIs in the way of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Olympus VR-330 & Pentax K-5 IIs. The whole galleries are provided at Olympus VR-330 Gallery & Pentax K-5 IIs Gallery.

For anybody who is looking to lug around your camera, you are going to need to take into account its weight and measurements. The Olympus VR-330 has outside dimensions of 101mm x 58mm x 29mm (4.0" x 2.3" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 158 grams (0.35 lbs) whilst the Pentax K-5 IIs has proportions of 131mm x 97mm x 73mm (5.2" x 3.8" x 2.9") accompanied by a weight of 760 grams (1.68 lbs).

Take a look at the Olympus VR-330 vs Pentax K-5 IIs in our newest Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you are utilizing at the time. Underneath is the front view dimension comparison of the VR-330 against the K-5 IIs.

Taking into account size and weight, the portability rating of the VR-330 and K-5 IIs is 94 and 60 respectively.

In many cases, it is very difficult to envision the difference in sensor measurements purely by going through specs. The visual below will help give you a better sense of the sensor sizes in the VR-330 and K-5 IIs.

All in all, both of those cameras have got different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The VR-330 with its smaller sensor will make achieving shallower DOF more challenging and the Pentax K-5 IIs will produce more detail with its extra 2MP. Higher resolution can also allow you to crop photographs much more aggressively. The older VR-330 will be disadvantaged with regard to sensor technology.