Both Nikon D80 and Olympus E-520 have 10.0 MP resolution sensors but Nikon D80's sensor is APS-C (23.6 x 15.8 mm ) and Olympus E-520's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ).
Since Nikon D80's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Olympus E-520.
Below you can see the D80 and E-520 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Nikon D80 and Olympus E-520 Cameras
As seen above, Nikon D80 has a 1.7x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-520. 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 D80 and Olympus E-520 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, D80 has scored 61, 6 points higher than E-520.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D80 |
61 |
22.1 bits |
11.2 Evs |
524 ISO |
Olympus E-520 |
55 |
21.4 bits |
10.4 Evs |
548 ISO |