Panasonic ZS80 vs Pentax K-5 IIs

Lets examine more in depth at the Panasonic ZS80 and Pentax K-5 IIs, one being a Small Sensor Superzoom and the latter is a Advanced DSLR by companies Panasonic and Pentax. There exists a huge gap among the resolutions of the ZS80 (20MP) and K-5 IIs (16MP) and the ZS80 (1/2.3") and K-5 IIs (APS-C) use different sensor dimensions.

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The ZS80 was released 4 years later than the K-5 IIs and that is a fairly significant gap as far as camera technology is concerned. Each of the cameras come with different body type with the Panasonic ZS80 being a Compact camera and the Pentax K-5 IIs being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before getting straight into a complete comparison, below is a short overview of how the ZS80 matches up against the K-5 IIs for portability, imaging, features and an overall rating.

Below is a preview of the gallery images for Panasonic Lumix DC-ZS80 and Pentax K-5 IIs. The complete galleries are available at Panasonic ZS80 Gallery and Pentax K-5 IIs Gallery.

For those who are going to carry your camera frequently, you need to consider its weight and measurements. The Panasonic ZS80 comes with outer dimensions of 112mm x 69mm x 42mm (4.4" x 2.7" x 1.7") along with a weight of 327 grams (0.72 lbs) whilst the Pentax K-5 IIs has proportions of 131mm x 97mm x 73mm (5.2" x 3.8" x 2.9") with a weight of 760 grams (1.68 lbs).

See the Panasonic ZS80 and Pentax K-5 IIs in the new Camera and Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Take into account, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will change dependant on the lens you are working with at that moment. The following is the front view measurement comparison of the ZS80 against the K-5 IIs.

Factoring in dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the ZS80 and K-5 IIs is 86 and 60 respectively.

Normally, it can be tough to visualize the difference in sensor sizing simply by going through technical specs. The visual underneath may provide you a clearer sense of the sensor dimensions in the ZS80 and K-5 IIs.

As you can tell, the two cameras posses different resolutions and different sensor sizing. The ZS80 featuring a smaller sensor is going to make getting bokeh tougher and the Panasonic ZS80 will show extra detail as a result of its extra 4MP. Higher resolution will enable you to crop shots somewhat more aggressively. The more modern ZS80 should have an edge in sensor technology.