Canon 1Ds MIII has a
21.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor . On the other hand, Leica SL has a
24.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Maestro II processor.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Leica SL'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 1Ds MIII and SL sensor size comparison.
Canon 1Ds MIII and Leica SL have the same sensor sizes so they will provide same level of control over the depth of field when used with same focal length and aperture. On the other hand, since Canon 1Ds MIII has 14% larger pixel area compared to Leica SL, it has potential to collect more light on pixel level hence have less noise in low light / High ISO images.
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. Canon 1Ds MIII and Leica SL sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that SL has a better overall score of 88, 8 points higher compared to 1Ds MIII's score of 80.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon 1Ds MIII |
80 |
24.0 bits |
12.0 Evs |
1663 ISO |
Leica SL |
88 |
25.0 bits |
13.4 Evs |
1821 ISO |