Olympus VR-340 vs Pentax P70

Below is a extended overview of the Olympus VR-340 and Pentax P70, former being a Small Sensor Compact while the latter is a Ultracompact by rivals Olympus and Pentax. There is a sizable difference among the sensor resolutions of the VR-340 (16MP) and P70 (12MP) but they feature the exact same sensor dimensions (1/2.3").

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The VR-340 was unveiled 2 years later than the P70 and that is a fairly significant difference as far as camera tech is concerned. Each of these cameras come with different body type with the Olympus VR-340 being a Compact camera and the Pentax P70 being a Ultracompact camera.

Before going in to a complete comparison, below is a brief summary of how the VR-340 scores versus the P70 in relation to portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery photos for Olympus VR-340 & Pentax Optio P70. The full galleries are available at Olympus VR-340 Gallery & Pentax P70 Gallery.

For anybody who is looking to lug around your camera, you'll have to consider its weight and measurements. The Olympus VR-340 provides outer measurements of 96mm x 57mm x 19mm (3.8" x 2.2" x 0.7") having a weight of 125 grams (0.28 lbs) whilst the Pentax P70 has proportions of 97mm x 54mm x 22mm (3.8" x 2.1" x 0.9") accompanied by a weight of 155 grams (0.34 lbs).

Contrast the Olympus VR-340 and Pentax P70 in our brand new Camera plus Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Remember that, the weight of an ILC will change dependant on the lens you have at that time. Below is the front view proportions comparison of the VR-340 against the P70.

Factoring in size and weight, the portability grade of the VR-340 and P70 is 96 and 95 respectively.

Often, it's difficult to visualise the difference in sensor measurements simply by going through specs. The photograph here should give you a greater sense of the sensor sizing in the VR-340 and P70.

As you can plainly see, both cameras have got the exact same sensor measurements albeit not the same resolution. You can count on the Olympus VR-340 to provide more detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also make it easier to crop photographs much more aggressively. The more modern VR-340 will have a benefit when it comes to sensor tech.