Nikon D7100 sensor appears to be the same as the D5200

Nikon claims that the sensor in the D7100 is completely new.  DPReview has said that it is not the same as that of the D5200.  However, I compared the specifications of the sensors in the brochures:

D5200
Effective pixels: 24.1 megapixels
Sensor size: 23.5mm x 15.6mm CMOS
Total pxels: 24.71 million

Image sizes (pixels):
Large: 6000 × 4000
Medium: 4496 × 3000
Small: 2992 × 2000

D7100
Effective pixels: 24.1 megapixels
Sensor size: 23.5mm x 15.6mm CMOS
Total pxels: 24.71 million

Image sizes (pixels):
Large: 6000 × 4000
Medium: 4494 × 3000
Small: 2992 × 2000

I also looked at the sensor specifications for the D3200 (which, like the D5200 and D7100 has 24mp):

D3200
Effective pixels: 24.2 megapixels
Sensor size: 23.2mm x 15.4mm CMOS
Total pixels: 24.7 million

Image sizes (pixels):
Large: 6,016 × 4,000
Medium: 4,512 × 3,000
Small: 3,008 × 2,000

(Note: the D3200 sensor is indeed different from that of the D5200, and they have different performance, with the D5200 having better high ISO performance.)

The similarity in specifications between the D5200 and D7100 sensors seems to show that they are in fact the same sensor, except that the D7100 doesn't have a low pass filter.  I'm therefore expecting that the DXO scores will be practically identical (just like the similarity of scores between the D800 and D800E).  We'll see soon enough.

If you are interested in the Nikon D7100, you can join the Nikon D7100 group on Flickr for discussions and samples from the D7100. I will be posting there regularly.