Leica SL has a
24.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Maestro II processor. On the other hand, Panasonic GX8 has a
20.0MP Four Thirds (17.3 x 13 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Venus Engine processor.
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 GX8 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Leica SL has a 3.8x Larger sensor area than Panasonic GX8. 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 Panasonic GX8 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, 13 points higher than GX8.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Leica SL |
88 |
25.0 bits |
13.4 Evs |
1821 ISO |
Panasonic GX8 |
75 |
23.5 bits |
12.6 Evs |
806 ISO |