Olympus E-520 has a
10.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor . On the other hand, Nikon D5 has a
21.0MP Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed 5 processor.
Nikon D5's sensor provides 11MP more than Olympus E-520'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 E-520 and D5 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Olympus E-520 and Nikon D5 Cameras
As seen above, Nikon D5 has a 3.8x 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
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. Olympus E-520 and Nikon D5 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that D5 has a better overall score of 88, 33 points higher compared to E-520's score of 55.
Model
Overall
Color Depth
Dynamic Range
Low-light ISO
Olympus E-520
55
21.4 bits
10.4 Evs
548 ISO
Nikon D5
88
25.1 bits
12.3 Evs
2434 ISO
Sensor size sets the circle of confusion, so it drives how much depth of field each
of these bodies gives you at a given aperture. You can calculate it exactly for the
Olympus E-520
or the
Nikon D5 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(Four Thirds versus Full frame),
so compare them at the same framing rather than the same focal length.
Put the same focal length on the smaller sensor and it will show less depth of
field, not more, because it also crops tighter. The calculator shows the
full frame equivalent focal length for each body so you can match the framing.
