Nikon D90 has a
12.0MP APS-C (23.6 x 15.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor . On the other hand, Panasonic G85 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Panasonic G85'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 D90 and G85 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D90 has a 1.7x Larger sensor area than Panasonic G85. 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 D90 and Panasonic G85 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, D90 has scored 73, 2 points higher than G85.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Nikon D90 |
73 |
22.7 bits |
12.5 Evs |
977 ISO |
Panasonic G85 |
71 |
22.8 bits |
12.5 Evs |
656 ISO |