Sony RX100 IV 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, Leica M9 has a
18.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CCD sensor .
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Leica M9'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 RX100 IV and M9 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Leica M9 has a 7.4x Larger sensor area than Sony RX100 IV. 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 RX100 IV and Leica M9 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, RX100 IV has scored 70, 1 points higher than M9.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Sony RX100 IV |
70 |
22.9 bits |
12.6 Evs |
562 ISO |
Leica M9 |
69 |
22.5 bits |
11.7 Evs |
884 ISO |