Panasonic ZS60 has a
18.0MP (1/2. ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine processor. On the other hand, Samsung NX500 has a
28.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features DRIMe 5 processor.
Samsung NX500's sensor provides 10MP more than Panasonic ZS60'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.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Samsung NX500'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 ZS60 and NX500 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Samsung NX500 has a infx Larger sensor area than Panasonic ZS60. 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. Panasonic ZS60 and Samsung NX500 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that NX500 has a better overall score of 87, 50 points higher compared to ZS60's score of 37.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Panasonic ZS60 |
37 |
19.3 bits |
10.6 Evs |
109 ISO |
Samsung NX500 |
87 |
24.8 bits |
13.9 Evs |
1379 ISO |