Nikon D700 has a
12.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed processor. On the other hand, Nikon D7100 has a
24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Nikon D7100's sensor provides 12MP more than Nikon D700'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.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Nikon D7100'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 D700 and D7100 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D700 has a 2.4x Larger sensor area than Nikon D7100. 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 D700 and Nikon D7100 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that D7100 has a better overall score of 83, 3 points higher compared to D700's score of 80.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D700 |
80 |
23.5 bits |
12.2 Evs |
2303 ISO |
Nikon D7100 |
83 |
24.2 bits |
13.7 Evs |
1256 ISO |