Leica SL has a
24.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Maestro II processor. On the other hand, Olympus E-M10 II has a
16.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features TruePic VII processor.
Leica SL's sensor provides 8MP more than Olympus E-M10 II'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.
Another difference between these two cameras is that Leica SL's sensor lacks 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 SL and E-M10 II sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Leica SL has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Olympus E-M10 II. 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 Leica SL and Olympus E-M10 II 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, SL has scored 88, 15 points higher than E-M10 II.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Leica SL |
88 |
25.0 bits |
13.4 Evs |
1821 ISO |
Olympus E-M10 II |
73 |
23.1 bits |
12.5 Evs |
842 ISO |