Canon M5 has a
24.0MP APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Digic 7 processor. On the other hand, Sony A7 IV has a
33.0MP Full frame (35.8 x 23.8 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features Bionz XR processor.
Sony A7 IV's sensor provides 9MP more than Canon M5'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.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Sony A7 IV'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 M5 and A7 IV sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony A7 IV has a 2.6x Larger sensor area than Canon M5. 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 M5 and Sony A7 IV sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that A7 IV has a better overall score of 97, 20 points higher compared to M5's score of 77.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon M5 |
77 |
23.4 bits |
12.4 Evs |
1262 ISO |
Sony A7 IV |
97 |
25.4 bits |
14.7 Evs |
3379 ISO |