Nikon 1 J5 has a 21.0MP 1' (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features Expeed 5A processor. On the other hand, Canon R3 has a 24.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized Stacked CMOS sensor and features Digic X processor.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Nikon 1 J5's sensor lacks 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 J5 and R3 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Nikon 1 J5 and Canon R3 Cameras
As seen above, Canon R3 has a 7.4x Larger sensor area than Nikon 1 J5. 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 J5 and Canon R3 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that R3 has a better overall score of 96, 31 points higher compared to J5's score of 65.
| Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
|
Nikon 1 J5 |
65 |
22.1 bits |
12.0 Evs |
479 ISO |
|
Canon R3 |
96 |
25.0 bits |
14.7 Evs |
4086 ISO |