Both Olympus PEN-F and Panasonic ZS100 have 20.0 MP resolution sensors but Olympus PEN-F's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) and Panasonic ZS100's sensor is 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm ).
Since Olympus PEN-F'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 Panasonic ZS100.
Below you can see the PEN-F and ZS100 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Olympus PEN-F and Panasonic ZS100 Cameras
As seen above, Olympus PEN-F has a 1.9x Larger sensor area than Panasonic ZS100. 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
Both Olympus PEN-F and Panasonic ZS100 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, PEN-F has scored 74, 4 points higher than ZS100.
Model
Overall
Color Depth
Dynamic Range
Low-light ISO
Olympus PEN-F
74
23.1 bits
12.4 Evs
894 ISO
Panasonic ZS100
70
22.8 bits
12.5 Evs
559 ISO
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 PEN-F
or the
Panasonic ZS100 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(Four Thirds versus 1″ ),
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.
