Both Panasonic GH5 II and Sony RX100 IV have 20.0 MP resolution sensors but Panasonic GH5 II's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) and Sony RX100 IV's sensor is 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm ).
Since Panasonic GH5 II'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 Sony RX100 IV.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Panasonic GH5 II'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 GH5 II and RX100 IV sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic GH5 II and Sony RX100 IV Cameras
As seen above, Panasonic GH5 II has a 1.9x Larger sensor area than Sony RX100 IV. 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 Panasonic GH5 II and Sony RX100 IV 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, GH5 II has scored 79, 9 points higher than RX100 IV.
Model
Overall
Color Depth
Dynamic Range
Low-light ISO
Panasonic GH5 II
79
23.7 bits
13.1 Evs
1136 ISO
Sony RX100 IV
70
22.9 bits
12.6 Evs
562 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
Panasonic GH5 II
or the
Sony RX100 IV ,
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.
