Nikon 1 J1 has a
10.0MP 1-inch (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor . On the other hand, Fujifilm X100 has a
12.0MP APS-C (23.6 x 15.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features EXR processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Fujifilm X100'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 J1 and X100 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Fujifilm X100 has a 3.2x Larger sensor area than Nikon 1 J1. 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 J1 and Fujifilm X100 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that X100 has a better overall score of 73, 17 points higher compared to 1 J1's score of 56.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon 1 J1 |
56 |
21.5 bits |
11.0 Evs |
372 ISO |
Fujifilm X100 |
73 |
22.9 bits |
12.4 Evs |
1001 ISO |