Both Olympus Tough-3000 and Pentax Q7 have 12.0 MP resolution sensors but Olympus Tough-3000's sensor is 1/2.3-inch (6.08 x 4.56 mm ) and Pentax Q7's sensor is 1/1.7-inch (7.44 x 5.58 mm ).
Since Pentax Q7's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Olympus Tough-3000.
Below you can see the Tough-3000 and Q7 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Olympus Tough-3000 and Pentax Q7 Cameras
As seen above, Pentax Q7 has a 1.5x Larger sensor area than Olympus Tough-3000. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.
Sensor size sets the circle of confusion, so it drives how much depth of field each
of these bodies gives you at a given aperture. You can calculate it exactly for the
Olympus Tough-3000
or the
Pentax Q7 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(1/2.3-inch versus 1/1.7-inch),
so compare them at the same framing rather than the same focal length.
Put the same focal length on the smaller sensor and it will show less depth of
field, not more, because it also crops tighter. The calculator shows the
full frame equivalent focal length for each body so you can match the framing.
