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, Sony NEX-6 has a
16.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz processor.
Canon M3's sensor provides 8MP more than Sony NEX-6's sensor, which gives a significant advantage in real life. You can print your images larger or crop more freely.
On the other hand, please keep in mind that Max sensor resolution is not the only determinant of resolving power. Factors such as the optical elements, low pass filter, pixel size and sensor technology also affects the final resolution of the captured image.
Below you can see the M3 and NEX-6 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony NEX-6 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 Sony NEX-6 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that NEX-6 has a better overall score of 78, 6 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 |
Sony NEX-6 |
78 |
23.7 bits |
13.1 Evs |
1018 ISO |