Panasonic GH1 has a
12.0MP Four Thirds (18.89 x 14.48 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine HD processor. On the other hand, Olympus PEN-F has a
20.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic VII processor.
Olympus PEN-F's sensor provides 8MP more than Panasonic GH1'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 GH1 and PEN-F sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic GH1 and Olympus PEN-F Cameras
As seen above, Panasonic GH1 has a 1.2x Larger sensor area than Olympus PEN-F. 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 GH1 and Olympus PEN-F sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that PEN-F has a better overall score of 74, 10 points higher compared to GH1's score of 64.
Model
Overall
Color Depth
Dynamic Range
Low-light ISO
Panasonic GH1
64
21.6 bits
11.6 Evs
772 ISO
Olympus PEN-F
74
23.1 bits
12.4 Evs
894 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 GH1
or the
Olympus PEN-F ,
including hyperfocal distance.
