Panasonic G3 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine FHD processor. On the other hand, Nikon D90 has a
12.0MP APS-C (23.6 x 15.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Below you can see the G3 and D90 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D90 has a 1.7x Larger sensor area than Panasonic G3. 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. Panasonic G3 and Nikon D90 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that D90 has a better overall score of 73, 17 points higher compared to G3's score of 56.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Panasonic G3 |
56 |
21.0 bits |
10.6 Evs |
667 ISO |
Nikon D90 |
73 |
22.7 bits |
12.5 Evs |
977 ISO |