Panasonic ZS5 vs Pentax K-5 II

Its time to look a bit more in depth at the Panasonic ZS5 and Pentax K-5 II, former being a Small Sensor Superzoom while the latter is a Advanced DSLR by rivals Panasonic and Pentax. There exists a substantial gap among the resolutions of the ZS5 (12MP) and K-5 II (16MP) and the ZS5 (1/2.3") and K-5 II (APS-C) use different sensor sizing.

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The ZS5 was unveiled 4 years prior to the K-5 II and that is a fairly big difference as far as camera technology is concerned. Both of these cameras offer different body type with the Panasonic ZS5 being a Compact camera and the Pentax K-5 II being a Mid-size SLR camera.

Before diving in to a detailed comparison, below is a brief highlight of how the ZS5 matches up against the K-5 II in terms of portability, imaging, features and an overall grade.

This is a preview of the gallery images for Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS5 & Pentax K-5 II. The full galleries are provided at Panasonic ZS5 Gallery & Pentax K-5 II Gallery.

For those who are looking to lug around your camera frequently, you'll need to think about its weight and dimensions. The Panasonic ZS5 provides external dimensions of 103mm x 60mm x 32mm (4.1" x 2.4" x 1.3") having a weight of 214 grams (0.47 lbs) while the Pentax K-5 II has dimensions of 131mm x 97mm x 73mm (5.2" x 3.8" x 2.9") along with a weight of 760 grams (1.68 lbs).

Check the Panasonic ZS5 and Pentax K-5 II in our newest Camera & Lens Size Comparison Tool.

Always remember, the weight of an ILC will differ dependant on the lens you are using during that time. Here is the front view physical size comparison of the ZS5 against the K-5 II.

Looking at dimensions and weight, the portability rating of the ZS5 and K-5 II is 92 and 60 respectively.

Normally, its tough to visualize the difference in sensor measurements simply by looking through specs. The visual underneath will help give you a stronger sense of the sensor sizes in the ZS5 and K-5 II.

As you can plainly see, the two cameras offer different resolutions and different sensor measurements. The ZS5 using its smaller sensor is going to make getting shallow depth of field harder and the Pentax K-5 II will provide you with greater detail having an extra 4 Megapixels. Higher resolution can also help you crop pictures a little more aggressively. The older ZS5 will be disadvantaged in sensor tech.