Sony A9 has a
24.0MP Full frame (35.6 x 23.8 mm ) sized Stacked BSI-CMOS sensor and features BIONZ X processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-M1 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePIC VII processor.
Sony A9's sensor provides 8MP more than Olympus E-M1'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 A9 and E-M1 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony A9 has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M1. 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 Sony A9 and Olympus E-M1 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, A9 has scored 92, 19 points higher than E-M1.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony A9 |
92 |
24.9 bits |
13.3 Evs |
3517 ISO |
Olympus E-M1 |
73 |
23.0 bits |
12.7 Evs |
757 ISO |