Both Olympus E-PL5 and Canon A1400 have 16.0 MP resolution sensors but Olympus E-PL5's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) and Canon A1400's sensor is 1/2.3-inch (6.17 x 4.55 mm ).
Since Olympus E-PL5'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 A1400.
Below you can see the E-PL5 and A1400 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Olympus E-PL5 and Canon A1400 Cameras
As seen above, Olympus E-PL5 has a 8.0x Larger sensor area than Canon A1400. 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-PL5
or the
Canon A1400 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(Four Thirds versus 1/2.3-inch),
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.
