Panasonic GF2 has a
12.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine FHD processor. On the other hand, Sony A850 has a
25.0MP Full frame (35.9 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz processor.
Sony A850's sensor provides 13MP more than Panasonic GF2's sensor, which gives a significant advantage in real life. You can print your images larger or crop more freely.
On the other hand, please keep in mind that Max sensor resolution is not the only determinant of resolving power. Factors such as the optical elements, low pass filter, pixel size and sensor technology also affects the final resolution of the captured image.
Below you can see the GF2 and A850 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony A850 has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Panasonic GF2. 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 GF2 and Sony A850 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that A850 has a better overall score of 79, 25 points higher compared to GF2's score of 54.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Panasonic GF2 |
54 |
21.2 bits |
10.3 Evs |
506 ISO |
Sony A850 |
79 |
23.8 bits |
12.2 Evs |
1415 ISO |