Canon 1D X II has a
20.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Dual DIGIC 6+ processor. On the other hand, Nikon D500 has a
21.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 5 processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Nikon D500's sensor doesn't have an anti-alias (Low-Pass) filter. 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 1D X MII and D500 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon 1D X II has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Nikon D500. 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 Canon 1D X II and Nikon D500 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, 1D X MII has scored 88, 4 points higher than D500.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon 1D X II |
88 |
24.1 bits |
13.5 Evs |
3207 ISO |
Nikon D500 |
84 |
24.1 bits |
14.0 Evs |
1324 ISO |