Leica M9 has a
18.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CCD sensor . On the other hand, Nikon D90 has a
12.0MP APS-C (23.6 x 15.8 mm ) sized CMOS sensor .
Leica M9's sensor provides 6MP more than Nikon D90'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'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 and D90 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Leica M9 has a 2.3x Larger sensor area than Nikon D90. 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 and Nikon D90 sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that D90 has a better overall score of 73, 4 points higher compared to M9's score of 69.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Leica M9 |
69 |
22.5 bits |
11.7 Evs |
884 ISO |
Nikon D90 |
73 |
22.7 bits |
12.5 Evs |
977 ISO |