Canon S95 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, Sony RX100 has a
20.0MP 1-inch (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Sony RX100's sensor provides 10MP more than Canon S95'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 S95 and RX100 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony RX100 has a 2.8x Larger sensor area than Canon S95. 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 S95 and Sony RX100 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that RX100 has a better overall score of 66, 19 points higher compared to S95's score of 47.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon S95 |
47 |
20.4 bits |
11.3 Evs |
153 ISO |
Sony RX100 |
66 |
22.6 bits |
12.4 Evs |
390 ISO |