Nikon D610 has a
24.0MP Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 3 processor. On the other hand, Pentax K-S1 has a
20.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Prime MII processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Pentax K-S1'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 D610 and K-S1 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D610 has a 2.4x Larger sensor area than Pentax K-S1. 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 D610 and Pentax K-S1 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, D610 has scored 94, 16 points higher than K-S1.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D610 |
94 |
25.1 bits |
14.4 Evs |
2925 ISO |
Pentax K-S1 |
78 |
23.5 bits |
13.0 Evs |
1061 ISO |