Leica M9-P 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 M9-P'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 M9-P'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 M9-P and A6500 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Leica M9-P 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 M9-P and Sony A6500 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that A6500 has a better overall score of 85, 17 points higher compared to M9-P's score of 68.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Leica M9-P |
68 |
22.5 bits |
11.6 Evs |
854 ISO |
Sony A6500 |
85 |
24.5 bits |
13.7 Evs |
1405 ISO |