Nikon D40 has a
6.0MP APS-C (23.7 x 15.5 mm ) sized CCD sensor . On the other hand, Sony A37 has a
16.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Sony A37's sensor provides 10MP more than Nikon D40'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 D40 and A37 sensor size comparison.
Nikon D40 and Sony A37 have almost the same sensor size, so neither of them has any significant advantage over the other in terms of providing control over depth of field when used with the 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 D40 and Sony A37 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that A37 has a better overall score of 75, 19 points higher compared to D40's score of 56.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D40 |
56 |
21.0 bits |
11.0 Evs |
561 ISO |
Sony A37 |
75 |
23.3 bits |
12.9 Evs |
799 ISO |