Olympus E-PL1 has a
12.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Truepic V processor. On the other hand, Nikon 1 J1 has a
10.0MP 1-inch (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Below you can see the E-PL1 and 1 J1 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Olympus E-PL1 has a 1.9x Larger sensor area than Nikon 1 J1. 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-PL1 and Nikon 1 J1 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that 1 J1 has a better overall score of 56, 2 points higher compared to E-PL1's score of 54.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Olympus E-PL1 |
54 |
21.5 bits |
10.1 Evs |
487 ISO |
Nikon 1 J1 |
56 |
21.5 bits |
11.0 Evs |
372 ISO |