Both Olympus E-PL7 and Olympus E-M5 have 16.0 MP resolution sensors but Olympus E-PL7's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) and Olympus E-M5's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ).
Since Olympus E-M5'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 Olympus E-PL7.
Below you can see the E-PL7 and E-M5 sensor size comparison.
Olympus E-PL7 and Olympus E-M5 have the same sensor sizes so they will provide same level of control over the depth of field when used with same focal length and aperture.
DxOMark Sensor Scores
Both Olympus E-PL7 and Olympus E-M5 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-PL7 has scored 72, 1 points higher than E-M5.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Olympus E-PL7 |
72 |
22.7 bits |
12.4 Evs |
873 ISO |
Olympus E-M5 |
71 |
22.8 bits |
12.3 Evs |
826 ISO |