Both Olympus E-PM2 and Panasonic G85 have 16.0 MP resolution sensors but Olympus E-PM2's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) and Panasonic G85's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ).
Since Panasonic G85'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-PM2.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Panasonic G85's sensor doesn't have an 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 E-PM2 and G85 sensor size comparison.
Olympus E-PM2 and Panasonic G85 have the same sensor sizes so they will provide same level of control over the depth of field when used with same focal length and aperture.
DxOMark Sensor Scores
Both Olympus E-PM2 and Panasonic G85 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, E-PM2 has scored 72, 1 points higher than G85.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Olympus E-PM2 |
72 |
22.7 bits |
12.2 Evs |
932 ISO |
Panasonic G85 |
71 |
22.8 bits |
12.5 Evs |
656 ISO |