Canon 50D has a
15.0MP APS-C (22.3 x 14.9 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Digic 4 processor. On the other hand, Leica SL has a
24.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Maestro II processor.
Leica SL's sensor provides 9MP more than Canon 50D'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.
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 50D and SL sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Leica SL has a 2.6x Larger sensor area than Canon 50D. 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
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 50D and Leica SL sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that SL has a better overall score of 88, 25 points higher compared to 50D's score of 63.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Canon 50D |
63 |
21.8 bits |
11.4 Evs |
696 ISO |
Leica SL |
88 |
25.0 bits |
13.4 Evs |
1821 ISO |