Sony A500 has a
12.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz processor. On the other hand, Panasonic GX85 has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Panasonic GX85's sensor doesn't have an 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 A500 and GX85 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Sony A500 has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Panasonic GX85. 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 A500 and Panasonic GX85 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that GX85 has a better overall score of 71, 7 points higher compared to A500's score of 64.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony A500 |
64 |
21.8 bits |
11.6 Evs |
772 ISO |
Panasonic GX85 |
71 |
22.9 bits |
12.6 Evs |
662 ISO |