Panasonic FH25 vs Pentax ist DS2

Below is a extended review of the Panasonic FH25 versus Pentax ist DS2, one being a Small Sensor Compact and the latter is a Advanced DSLR by manufacturers Panasonic and Pentax. There exists a sizeable gap among the sensor resolutions of the FH25 (16MP) and ist DS2 (6MP) and the FH25 (1/2.3") and ist DS2 (APS-C) enjoy totally different sensor measurements.

Photography Glossary

The FH25 was launched 5 years later than the ist DS2 and that is a fairly large gap as far as camera technology is concerned. The two cameras come with different body type with the Panasonic FH25 being a Compact camera and the Pentax ist DS2 being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before we go through a step-by-step comparison, below is a short summary of how the FH25 scores versus the ist DS2 for portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

The following is a preview of the gallery images for Panasonic Lumix DMC-FH25 and Pentax ist DS2. The complete galleries are available at Panasonic FH25 Gallery and Pentax ist DS2 Gallery.

For anybody who is intending to lug around your camera, you need to think about its weight and proportions. The Panasonic FH25 offers outside dimensions of 99mm x 57mm x 28mm (3.9" x 2.2" x 1.1") accompanied by a weight of 159 grams (0.35 lbs) and the Pentax ist DS2 has measurements of 125mm x 93mm x 66mm (4.9" x 3.7" x 2.6") having a weight of 605 grams (1.33 lbs).

Examine the Panasonic FH25 versus Pentax ist DS2 in the latest Camera with Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Don't forget, the weight of an Interchangeable Lens Camera will differ depending on the lens you are employing at the time. Following is the front view overall size comparison of the FH25 vs the ist DS2.

Using dimensions and weight, the portability score of the FH25 and ist DS2 is 94 and 68 respectively.

Quite often, it is very difficult to envision the difference in sensor measurements purely by looking through technical specs. The visual here will provide you a far better sense of the sensor sizes in the FH25 and ist DS2.

As you can tell, both the cameras have got different megapixel count and different sensor measurements. The FH25 because of its smaller sensor will make getting shallower DOF tougher and the Panasonic FH25 will render more detail utilizing its extra 10 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also enable you to crop pictures much more aggressively. The fresher FH25 will have an advantage with regard to sensor tech.