Nikon D50 has a
6.0MP APS-C (23.7 x 15.5 mm ) sized CCD sensor . On the other hand, Panasonic GX85 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine processor.
Panasonic GX85's sensor provides 10MP more than Nikon D50'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.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Panasonic GX85'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 D50 and GX85 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D50 has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Panasonic GX85. 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 D50 and Panasonic GX85 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that GX85 has a better overall score of 71, 16 points higher compared to D50's score of 55.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D50 |
55 |
20.9 bits |
10.8 Evs |
560 ISO |
Panasonic GX85 |
71 |
22.9 bits |
12.6 Evs |
662 ISO |