Olympus E-PM1 has a
12.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic VI processor. On the other hand, Canon M100 has a
24.0MP APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features DIGIC 7 processor.
Canon M100's sensor provides 12MP more than Olympus E-PM1'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.
Below you can see the E-PM1 and M100 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon M100 has a 1.5x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-PM1. 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-PM1 and Canon M100 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that M100 has a better overall score of 79, 27 points higher compared to E-PM1's score of 52.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Olympus E-PM1 |
52 |
21.0 bits |
10.3 Evs |
499 ISO |
Canon M100 |
79 |
23.5 bits |
13.0 Evs |
1272 ISO |