Both Panasonic ZS100 and Olympus PEN-F have 20.0 MP resolution sensors but Panasonic ZS100's sensor is 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) and Olympus PEN-F's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ).
Since Olympus PEN-F'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 Panasonic ZS100.
Below you can see the ZS100 and PEN-F sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic ZS100 and Olympus PEN-F Cameras
As seen above, Olympus PEN-F has a 1.9x Larger sensor area than Panasonic ZS100. 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 ZS100 and Olympus PEN-F sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that PEN-F has a better overall score of 74, 4 points higher compared to ZS100's score of 70.
Model
Overall
Color Depth
Dynamic Range
Low-light ISO
Panasonic ZS100
70
22.8 bits
12.5 Evs
559 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 ZS100
or the
Olympus PEN-F ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(1″ versus Four Thirds),
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.
