Samsung NX500 has a
28.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features DRIMe 5 processor. On the other hand, Nikon Z8 has a
46.0MP Full frame (35.9 x 23.9 mm ) sized Stacked CMOS sensor and features Expeed 7 processor.
Nikon Z8's sensor provides 18MP more than Samsung NX500's sensor, which gives a significant advantage in real life. You can print your images larger or crop more freely.
On the other hand, please keep in mind that Max sensor resolution is not the only determinant of resolving power. Factors such as the optical elements, low pass filter, pixel size and sensor technology also affects the final resolution of the captured image.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Samsung NX500'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 NX500 and Z8 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon Z8 has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Samsung NX500. 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. Samsung NX500 and Nikon Z8 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that Z8 has a better overall score of 98, 11 points higher compared to NX500's score of 87.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Samsung NX500 |
87 |
24.8 bits |
13.9 Evs |
1379 ISO |
Nikon Z8 |
98 |
26.3 bits |
14.2 Evs |
2548 ISO |