Both Panasonic ZS50 and Canon G15 have 12.0 MP resolution sensors but Panasonic ZS50's sensor is (1/2. ) and Canon G15's sensor is 1/1.7-inch (7.44 x 5.58 mm ).
Since Canon G15'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 ZS50.
Below you can see the ZS50 and G15 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Canon G15 has a infx Larger sensor area than Panasonic ZS50. 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 ZS50 and Canon G15 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that G15 has a better overall score of 46, 2 points higher compared to ZS50's score of 44.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Panasonic ZS50 |
44 |
20.0 bits |
11.2 Evs |
138 ISO |
Canon G15 |
46 |
19.9 bits |
11.5 Evs |
165 ISO |