Nikon 1 AW1 has a
14.0MP 1-inch (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features EXPEED 3A processor. On the other hand, Panasonic GX850 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Panasonic GX850's sensor doesn't have an anti-alias (Low-Pass) filter. Removing anti-alias filter increases the sharpness and level of detail but at the same time, it increases the chance of moiré occurring in certain scenes.
Below you can see the 1 AW1 and GX850 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Panasonic GX850 has a 1.9x Larger sensor area than Nikon 1 AW1. 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. Nikon 1 AW1 and Panasonic GX850 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that GX850 has a better overall score of 73, 22 points higher compared to 1 AW1's score of 51.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon 1 AW1 |
51 |
20.2 bits |
10.9 Evs |
428 ISO |
Panasonic GX850 |
73 |
23.2 bits |
13.3 Evs |
586 ISO |