Nikon D5300 has a
24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 4 processor. On the other hand, Canon 1D X III has a
20.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Digic X processor.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Nikon D5300'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 D5300 and 1D X MIII sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon 1D X III has a 2.4x Larger sensor area than Nikon D5300. 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 D5300 and Canon 1D X III sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that 1D X MIII has a better overall score of 91, 8 points higher compared to D5300's score of 83.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D5300 |
83 |
24.0 bits |
13.9 Evs |
1338 ISO |
Canon 1D X III |
91 |
24.2 bits |
14.5 Evs |
3248 ISO |