Both Nikon D4 and Nikon D7000 have 16.0 MP resolution sensors but Nikon D4's sensor is Full frame (36 x 23.9 mm ) and Nikon D7000's sensor is APS-C (23.6 x 15.7 mm ).
Since Nikon D4'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 Nikon D7000.
Below you can see the D4 and D7000 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D4 has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Nikon D7000. 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 Nikon D4 and Nikon D7000 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, D4 has scored 89, 9 points higher than D7000.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D4 |
89 |
24.7 bits |
13.1 Evs |
2965 ISO |
Nikon D7000 |
80 |
23.5 bits |
13.9 Evs |
1167 ISO |