Sony A6300 has a
24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features BIONZ X processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-420 has a
10.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic III processor.
Sony A6300's sensor provides 14MP more than Olympus E-420'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.
Below you can see the A6300 and E-420 sensor size comparison.
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Sony A6300 and Olympus E-420 Cameras
As seen above, Sony A6300 has a 1.6x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-420. 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
Both Sony A6300 and Olympus E-420 sensors have been tested by DxoMark. DxoMark 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. Of the two cameras that we are comparing, A6300 has scored 85, 29 points higher than E-420.
Model
Overall
Color Depth
Dynamic Range
Low-light ISO
Sony A6300
85
24.4 bits
13.7 Evs
1437 ISO
Olympus E-420
56
21.5 bits
10.4 Evs
527 ISO
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
Sony A6300
or the
Olympus E-420 ,
including hyperfocal distance.
One thing to watch when comparing these two: they have different sensor sizes
(APS-C versus Four Thirds),
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.