Canon SL2 has a
24.0MP APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features DIGIC 7 processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-M1 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePIC VII processor.
Canon SL2's sensor provides 8MP more than Olympus E-M1'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 SL2 and E-M1 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon SL2 has a 1.5x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M1. 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 SL2 and Olympus E-M1 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, SL2 has scored 79, 6 points higher than E-M1.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon SL2 |
79 |
23.6 bits |
13.4 Evs |
1041 ISO |
Olympus E-M1 |
73 |
23.0 bits |
12.7 Evs |
757 ISO |