Nikon 1 J5 has a
21.0MP 1' (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features Expeed 5A processor. On the other hand, Sony a5000 has a
20.0MP APS-C (23.2 x 15.4 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Nikon 1 J5's sensor lacks anti-alias (Low-Pass) filter. Removing anti-alias filter increases the sharpness and level of detail but at the same time, it increases the chance of moiré occurring in certain scenes.
Below you can see the J5 and a5000 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony a5000 has a 3.1x Larger sensor area than Nikon 1 J5. 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
DxOMark is a benchmark that scientifically assesses image quality of camera sensors. It 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. Nikon 1 J5 and Sony a5000 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that a5000 has a better overall score of 79, 14 points higher compared to J5's score of 65.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon 1 J5 |
65 |
22.1 bits |
12.0 Evs |
479 ISO |
Sony a5000 |
79 |
23.8 bits |
13.0 Evs |
1089 ISO |