Both Panasonic GX8 and Sony RX10 have 20.0 MP resolution sensors but Panasonic GX8's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) and Sony RX10's sensor is 1-inch (13.2 x 8.8 mm ).
Since Panasonic GX8's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Sony RX10.
Below you can see the GX8 and RX10 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic GX8 and Sony RX10 Cameras
As seen above, Panasonic GX8 has a 1.9x Larger sensor area than Sony RX10. 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
Both Panasonic GX8 and Sony RX10 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, 6 points higher than RX10.
Model
Overall
Color Depth
Dynamic Range
Low-light ISO
Panasonic GX8
75
23.5 bits
12.6 Evs
806 ISO
Sony RX10
69
22.9 bits
12.6 Evs
474 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 GX8
or the
Sony RX10 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(Four Thirds versus 1-inch),
so compare them at the same framing rather than the same focal length.
Put the same focal length on the smaller sensor and it will show less depth of
field, not more, because it also crops tighter. The calculator shows the
full frame equivalent focal length for each body so you can match the framing.
