Both Panasonic GH7 and Nikon D780 have 25.0 MP resolution sensors but Panasonic GH7's sensor is Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) and Nikon D780's sensor is Full frame (35.9 x 23.9 mm ).
Since Nikon D780'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 GH7.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Panasonic GH7's sensor lacks 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 GH7 and D780 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic GH7 and Nikon D780 Cameras
As seen above, Nikon D780 has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Panasonic GH7. 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.
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 GH7
or the
Nikon D780 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(Four Thirds versus Full frame),
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.
