Canon M3 has a 24.0MP APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features DIGIC 6 processor. On the other hand, Samsung NX500 has a 28.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features DRIMe 5 processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Samsung NX500'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 M3 and NX500 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Canon M3 and Samsung NX500 Cameras
As seen above, Samsung NX500 has a 1.1x Larger sensor area than Canon M3. 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 M3 and Samsung NX500 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that NX500 has a better overall score of 87, 15 points higher compared to M3's score of 72.
| Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
|
Canon M3 |
72 |
22.8 bits |
11.8 Evs |
1169 ISO |
|
Samsung NX500 |
87 |
24.8 bits |
13.9 Evs |
1379 ISO |