Panasonic G85 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor . On the other hand, Nikon D3 has a
12.0MP Full frame (36 x 23.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Expeed processor.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Panasonic G85'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 G85 and D3 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon D3 has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Panasonic G85. 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 G85 and Nikon D3 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that D3 has a better overall score of 81, 10 points higher compared to G85's score of 71.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Panasonic G85 |
71 |
22.8 bits |
12.5 Evs |
656 ISO |
Nikon D3 |
81 |
23.5 bits |
12.2 Evs |
2290 ISO |