Pentax 645Z has a
51.0MP Medium format (44 x 33 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features PRIME III processor. On the other hand, Nikon D5500 has a
24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 4 processor.
Pentax 645Z's sensor provides 27MP more than Nikon D5500'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.
Another similarity between these two cameras is that both Nikon D5500 and Pentax 645Z sensors lack anti-alias (Low-Pass) filters. 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 645Z and D5500 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Pentax 645Z has a 4.0x Larger sensor area than Nikon D5500. 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 Pentax 645Z and Nikon D5500 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, 645Z has scored 101, 17 points higher than D5500.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Pentax 645Z |
101 |
26.0 bits |
14.7 Evs |
4505 ISO |
Nikon D5500 |
84 |
24.1 bits |
14.0 Evs |
1438 ISO |