Sony A290 has a
14.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized CCD sensor and features Bionz processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-M1 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePIC VII processor.
Below you can see the A290 and E-M1 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony A290 has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M1. 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. Sony A290 and Olympus E-M1 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that E-M1 has a better overall score of 73, 7 points higher compared to A290's score of 66.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony A290 |
66 |
22.6 bits |
11.5 Evs |
615 ISO |
Olympus E-M1 |
73 |
23.0 bits |
12.7 Evs |
757 ISO |