Nikon D500 has a
21.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 5 processor. On the other hand, Panasonic GM5 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine processor.
Nikon D500's sensor provides 5MP more than Panasonic GM5'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.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Nikon D500'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 D500 and GM5 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D500 has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Panasonic GM5. 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
Both Nikon D500 and Panasonic GM5 sensors have been tested by DxoMark. DxoMark 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. Of the two cameras that we are comparing, D500 has scored 84, 18 points higher than GM5.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D500 |
84 |
24.1 bits |
14.0 Evs |
1324 ISO |
Panasonic GM5 |
66 |
22.1 bits |
11.7 Evs |
721 ISO |