Leica M-E Typ 220 has a
18.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CCD sensor . On the other hand, Sony A6500 has a
24.0MP APS-C (23.5 x 15.6 mm ) sized CMOS sensor and features Bionz X processor.
Sony A6500's sensor provides 6MP more than Leica M-E Typ 220'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.
Below you can see the M-E Typ 220 and A6500 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Leica M-E Typ 220 has a 2.4x Larger sensor area than Sony A6500. 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. Leica M-E Typ 220 and Sony A6500 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that A6500 has a better overall score of 85, 16 points higher compared to M-E Typ 220's score of 69.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Leica M-E Typ 220 |
69 |
22.7 bits |
11.7 Evs |
787 ISO |
Sony A6500 |
85 |
24.5 bits |
13.7 Evs |
1405 ISO |