Sony RX10 III has a
20.0MP 1″ (13.2 x 8.8 mm ) sized Stacked BSI-CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor. On the other hand, Pentax ist DL2 has a
6.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.7 mm ) sized CCD sensor .
Sony RX10 III's sensor provides 14MP more than Pentax ist DL2'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 RX10 III and ist DL2 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Pentax ist DL2 has a 3.2x Larger sensor area than Sony RX10 III. 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 RX10 III and Pentax ist DL2 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, RX10 III has scored 70, 5 points higher than ist DL2.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony RX10 III |
70 |
23.1 bits |
12.6 Evs |
472 ISO |
Pentax ist DL2 |
65 |
22.9 bits |
11.1 Evs |
639 ISO |