Both Sony a5000 and Panasonic GX8 have 20.0 MP resolution sensors but Sony a5000's sensor is APS-C (23.2 x 15.4 mm ) and Panasonic GX8's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ).
Since Sony a5000'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 Panasonic GX8.
Below you can see the a5000 and GX8 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony a5000 has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Panasonic GX8. 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 a5000 and Panasonic GX8 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, a5000 has scored 79, 4 points higher than GX8.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony a5000 |
79 |
23.8 bits |
13.0 Evs |
1089 ISO |
Panasonic GX8 |
75 |
23.5 bits |
12.6 Evs |
806 ISO |