Nikon D3100 has a
14.0MP APS-C (23.1 x 15.4 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 2 processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-M10 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic VII processor.
Below you can see the D3100 and E-M10 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D3100 has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M10. 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 D3100 and Olympus E-M10 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that E-M10 has a better overall score of 72, 5 points higher compared to D3100's score of 67.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D3100 |
67 |
22.5 bits |
11.3 Evs |
919 ISO |
Olympus E-M10 |
72 |
22.8 bits |
12.3 Evs |
884 ISO |