Canon S90 has a
10.0MP 1/1.7-inch (7.44 x 5.58 mm ) sized CCD sensor and features Digic 4 processor. On the other hand, Samsung NX30 has a
20.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features DRIMeIV processor.
Samsung NX30's sensor provides 10MP more than Canon S90'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 S90 and NX30 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Samsung NX30 has a 8.9x Larger sensor area than Canon S90. 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 S90 and Samsung NX30 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that NX30 has a better overall score of 77, 31 points higher compared to S90's score of 46.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon S90 |
46 |
20.2 bits |
11.0 Evs |
185 ISO |
Samsung NX30 |
77 |
23.5 bits |
12.4 Evs |
1014 ISO |