Nikon D3 has a
12.0MP Full frame (36 x 23.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed processor. On the other hand, Sony A77 II has a
24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor.
Sony A77 II's sensor provides 12MP more than Nikon D3'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 D3 and A77 II sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D3 has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Sony A77 II. 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 D3 and Sony A77 II sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that A77 II has a better overall score of 82, 1 points higher compared to D3's score of 81.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D3 |
81 |
23.5 bits |
12.2 Evs |
2290 ISO |
Sony A77 II |
82 |
24.4 bits |
13.4 Evs |
1013 ISO |