Nikon D600 has a
24.0MP Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 3 processor. On the other hand, Nikon D90 has a
12.0MP APS-C (23.6 x 15.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Nikon D600's sensor provides 12MP more than Nikon D90'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 D600 and D90 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D600 has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Nikon D90. 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 D600 and Nikon D90 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, D600 has scored 94, 21 points higher than D90.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D600 |
94 |
25.1 bits |
14.2 Evs |
2980 ISO |
Nikon D90 |
73 |
22.7 bits |
12.5 Evs |
977 ISO |