Canon G5 X has a
20.0MP 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features DIGIC 6 processor. On the other hand, Canon 1D MIII has a
10.0MP APS-H (28.7 x 18.7 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Canon G5 X's sensor provides 10MP more than Canon 1D MIII'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 G5 X and 1D MIII sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon 1D MIII has a 4.6x Larger sensor area than Canon G5 X. 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 G5 X and Canon 1D MIII sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that 1D MIII has a better overall score of 71, 9 points higher compared to G5 X's score of 62.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon G5 X |
62 |
21.4 bits |
12.3 Evs |
471 ISO |
Canon 1D MIII |
71 |
22.7 bits |
11.7 Evs |
1078 ISO |