Olympus E-PM1 has a
12.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic VI processor. On the other hand, Canon 600D has a
18.0MP APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Digic 4 processor.
Canon 600D's sensor provides 6MP more than Olympus E-PM1's sensor, which gives a significant advantage in real life. You can print your images larger or crop more freely.
On the other hand, please keep in mind that Max sensor resolution is not the only determinant of resolving power. Factors such as the optical elements, low pass filter, pixel size and sensor technology also affects the final resolution of the captured image.
Below you can see the E-PM1 and 600D sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon 600D has a 1.5x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-PM1. 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. Olympus E-PM1 and Canon 600D sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that 600D has a better overall score of 65, 13 points higher compared to E-PM1's score of 52.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Olympus E-PM1 |
52 |
21.0 bits |
10.3 Evs |
499 ISO |
Canon 600D |
65 |
22.1 bits |
11.5 Evs |
793 ISO |