Both Canon XC10 and Olympus E-5 have 12.0 MP resolution sensors but Canon XC10's sensor is 1' (12.8 x 9.6 mm ) and Olympus E-5's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ).
Since Olympus E-5's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Canon XC10.
Below you can see the XC10 and E-5 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Canon XC10 and Olympus E-5 Cameras
As seen above, Olympus E-5 has a 1.8x Larger sensor area than Canon XC10. 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.
Sensor size sets the circle of confusion, so it drives how much depth of field each
of these bodies gives you at a given aperture. You can calculate it exactly for the
Canon XC10
or the
Olympus E-5 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(1' versus Four Thirds),
so compare them at the same framing rather than the same focal length.
Put the same focal length on the smaller sensor and it will show less depth of
field, not more, because it also crops tighter. The calculator shows the
full frame equivalent focal length for each body so you can match the framing.
