Panasonic GX8 has a
20.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine processor. On the other hand, Panasonic GX850 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Panasonic GX850's sensor doesn't have an 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 GX8 and GX850 sensor size comparison.
Panasonic GX8 and Panasonic GX850 have the same sensor sizes so they will provide same level of control over the depth of field when used with same focal length and aperture. On the other hand, since Panasonic GX850 has 27% larger pixel area (14.21µm2 vs 11.16µm2) compared to Panasonic GX8, it has larger pixel area to collect light hence potential to have less noise in low light / High ISO images.
DxOMark Sensor Scores
Both Panasonic GX8 and Panasonic GX850 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, GX8 has scored 75, 2 points higher than GX850.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Panasonic GX8 |
75 |
23.5 bits |
12.6 Evs |
806 ISO |
Panasonic GX850 |
73 |
23.2 bits |
13.3 Evs |
586 ISO |