Olympus E-M1 II has a
20.0MP Four Thirds (17.4 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic VIII processor. On the other hand, Canon 30D has a
8.0MP APS-C (22.5 x 15 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Olympus E-M1 II's sensor provides 12MP more than Canon 30D'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.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Olympus E-M1 II's sensor lacks 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 E-M1 II and 30D sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon 30D has a 1.5x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M1 II. 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 Olympus E-M1 II and Canon 30D 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, E-M1 II has scored 80, 21 points higher than 30D.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Olympus E-M1 II |
80 |
23.7 bits |
12.8 Evs |
1312 ISO |
Canon 30D |
59 |
21.5 bits |
10.8 Evs |
736 ISO |