Both Olympus E-P7 and Canon ELPH 190 IS have 20.0 MP resolution sensors but Olympus E-P7's sensor is Four Thirds (17.4 x 13 mm ) and Canon ELPH 190 IS's sensor is 1/2.3 (6.17 x 4.55 mm ).
Since Olympus E-P7'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 Canon ELPH 190 IS.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Olympus E-P7'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-P7 and 190 IS sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Olympus E-P7 and Canon ELPH 190 IS Cameras
As seen above, Olympus E-P7 has a 8.1x Larger sensor area than Canon ELPH 190 IS. 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.
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-P7
or the
Canon ELPH 190 IS ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(Four Thirds versus 1/2.3),
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.
