Canon 1D MIII has a
10.0MP APS-H (28.7 x 18.7 mm ) sized CMOS sensor . On the other hand, Nikon D3S has a
12.0MP Full frame (36 x 23.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed processor.
Below you can see the 1D MIII and D3S sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D3S has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Canon 1D MIII. 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. Canon 1D MIII and Nikon D3S sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that D3S has a better overall score of 82, 11 points higher compared to 1D MIII's score of 71.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon 1D MIII |
71 |
22.7 bits |
11.7 Evs |
1078 ISO |
Nikon D3S |
82 |
23.5 bits |
12.0 Evs |
3253 ISO |