Canon 550D has a
18.0MP APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Digic 4 processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-M10 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic VII processor.
Below you can see the 550D and E-M10 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon 550D has a 1.5x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M10. 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 550D and Olympus E-M10 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that E-M10 has a better overall score of 72, 6 points higher compared to 550D's score of 66.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon 550D |
66 |
22.0 bits |
11.6 Evs |
807 ISO |
Olympus E-M10 |
72 |
22.8 bits |
12.3 Evs |
884 ISO |