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, Sony A99 has a 24.0MP Full frame (35.8 x 23.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz processor.
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 moire occurring in certain scenes.
Below you can see the D500 and A99 sensor size comparison.
![Nikon D500 vs Sony A99 Sensor Size Comparison]()
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Nikon D500 and Sony A99 Cameras
As seen above, Sony A99 has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Nikon D500. 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 D500 and Sony A99 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that A99 has a better overall score of 89, 5 points higher compared to D500's score of 84.
| Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
|
Nikon D500 |
84 |
24.1 bits |
14.0 Evs |
1324 ISO |
|
Sony A99 |
89 |
25.0 bits |
14.0 Evs |
1555 ISO |