Both Panasonic S9 and Fujifilm X-T20 have 24.0 MP resolution sensors but Panasonic S9's sensor is Full frame (35.6 x 23.8 mm ) and Fujifilm X-T20's sensor is APS-C (23.6 x 15.6 mm ).
Since Panasonic S9'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 Fujifilm X-T20.
Another similarity between these two cameras is that both Fujifilm X-T20 and Panasonic S9 sensors lack anti-alias (Low-Pass) filters. 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 S9 and X-T20 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic S9 and Fujifilm X-T20 Cameras
As seen above, Panasonic S9 has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Fujifilm X-T20. 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 S9
or the
Fujifilm X-T20 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(Full frame versus APS-C),
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.
