Both Pentax K10D and Olympus E-510 have 10.0 MP resolution sensors but Pentax K10D's sensor is APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) and Olympus E-510's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ).
Since Pentax K10D'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 E-510.
Below you can see the K10D and E-510 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Pentax K10D and Olympus E-510 Cameras
As seen above, Pentax K10D has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-510. 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.
DxOMark Sensor Scores
Both Pentax K10D and Olympus E-510 sensors have been tested by DxoMark. DxoMark scores camera sensors for color depth (DXO Portrait), dynamic range (DXO Landscape) and low-light sensitivity (DXO Sports), and also gives them an overall score. Of the two cameras that we are comparing, K10D has scored 66, 14 points higher than E-510.
| Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
|
Pentax K10D |
66 |
22.7 bits |
11.6 Evs |
522 ISO |
|
Olympus E-510 |
52 |
21.2 bits |
10.0 Evs |
442 ISO |