Both Leica Q and Sony RX1R have 24.0 MP resolution sensors but Leica Q's sensor is Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) and Sony RX1R's sensor is Full frame (35.8 x 23.9 mm ).
Since Leica Q's has a larger sensor area with the same resolution, this means that it also has a larger pixel area hence better light collecting capacity for a given aperture compared to Sony RX1R.
One other difference between these two cameras that is worth mentioning is that Sony RX1R'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 Q Typ 116 and RX1R sensor size comparison.
Leica Q and Sony RX1R have almost the same sensor size, so neither of them has any significant advantage over the other in terms of providing control over depth of field when used with the 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 Q and Sony RX1R sensors have been tested by DxO and the results show that RX1R has a better overall score of 91, 6 points higher compared to Q Typ 116's score of 85.
Model |
Overall |
Color Depth |
Dynamic Range |
Low-light ISO |
Leica Q |
85 |
24.3 bits |
12.7 Evs |
2221 ISO |
Sony RX1R |
91 |
25.0 bits |
13.6 Evs |
2537 ISO |