Sony A6500 has a
24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor. On the other hand, Nikon Z7 II has a
46.0MP Full frame (35.9 x 23.9 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features Dual Expeed 6 processor.
Nikon Z7 II's sensor provides 22MP more than Sony A6500'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.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Nikon Z7 II'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 A6500 and Z7 Mark II sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Nikon Z7 II has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Sony A6500. 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 A6500 and Nikon Z7 II sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that Z7 Mark II has a better overall score of 100, 15 points higher compared to A6500's score of 85.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony A6500 |
85 |
24.5 bits |
13.7 Evs |
1405 ISO |
Nikon Z7 II |
100 |
26.3 bits |
14.7 Evs |
2841 ISO |