Both Panasonic G9 and Canon G3 X have 20.0 MP resolution sensors but Panasonic G9's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) and Canon G3 X's sensor is 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm ).
Since Panasonic G9'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 G3 X.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Panasonic G9's sensor lacks anti-alias (Low-Pass) filter. Removing anti-alias filter increases the sharpness and level of detail but at the same time, it increases the chance of moiré occurring in certain scenes.
Below you can see the G9 and G3 X sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic G9 and Canon G3 X Cameras
As seen above, Panasonic G9 has a 1.9x Larger sensor area than Canon G3 X. 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
Panasonic G9
or the
Canon G3 X ,
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.
