Both Sony A7R and Nikon D810 have 36.0 MP resolution sensors but Sony A7R's sensor is Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm ) and Nikon D810's sensor is Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm ).
Since Nikon D810'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 Sony A7R.
Another similarity between these two cameras is that both Nikon D810 and Sony A7R 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 A7R and D810 sensor size comparison.
Sony A7R and Nikon D810 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
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. Sony A7R and Nikon D810 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that D810 has a better overall score of 97, 2 points higher compared to A7R's score of 95.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony A7R |
95 |
25.6 bits |
14.1 Evs |
2746 ISO |
Nikon D810 |
97 |
25.7 bits |
14.8 Evs |
2853 ISO |