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Panasonic FX48 vs Leica M9-P Comparison

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Panasonic FX48

12 MP | 1/2.33" (6.08 x 4.56 mm) CCD Sensor

Panasonic FX48
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Leica M9-P

18 MP | Full frame (36 x 24 mm) CCD Sensor

Leica M9-P
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Panasonic FX48 vs Leica M9-P Comparison Overview

Here we are comparing two cameras with different body types: Panasonic FX48, which was introduced in January 2009 is a Small Sensor Compact camera with a 12.0MP 1/2.3-inch sensor whereas Leica M9-P, which was introduced in June 2011 is a Pro Mirrorless camera with a 18.0MP Full frame sensor. As you can see, FX48 is 2 years older than M9-P. Let's see if this age difference between two cameras makes a big difference.

Comparing an interchangeble lens camera to a fixed lens camera is a bit tricky but we will do our best to make this a fair comparison.

Here is a brief look at the main features of Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P before getting into our more detailed comparison.

Panasonic FX48 Key Specs

  • Announcement Date: 2009-01-27
  • 12MP - 1/2.3-inch CCD Sensor
  • ISO 80 - 3200 ( expands to 6400)
  • 25-125 mm F2.8-5.9 Zoom Lens
  • Optical Image Stabilization
  • 2.5" Fixed Type Screen
  • 2 fps continuous shooting
  • - 640 x 480 video resolution
  • 150g. 95 x 53 x 22 mm
  • Also known as Lumix DMC-FX40

Leica M9-P Key Specs

  • Announcement Date: 2011-06-21
  • 18MP - Full frame CCD Sensor
  • No Anti-aliasing (AA) filter
  • ISO 80 - 2500
  • Leica M Mount
  • 2.5" Fixed Type Screen
  • Optical (rangefinder) viewfinder
  • 2 fps continuous shooting
  • No Video Mode
  • 600g. 139 x 80 x 37 mm
  • Replaced Leica M9 Compare

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P compares and hopefully end up with enough arguments to decide which one is better for you.

Reasons to choose Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX48 over Leica M9-P
Image Stabilization
Optical vs None Sharper images at longer focal lengths and long exposures
Built-in Flash
Yes vs No Useful in low-light
Face Detection Focus
Yes vs No very handy for portraits
Max ISO
3.200 vs 2.500 28% higher Max ISO
Weight
150 g vs 600 g 450 g lighter
Max Video Resolution
640 x 480 vs None Higher Resolution Video


Reasons to choose Leica M9-P over Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX48
External Flash Shoe
Yes vs No Better for flash photography
Viewfinder
Optical vs None Better framing and control
RAW Support
Yes vs No Better image quality
Max Sensor Resolution
18 MP vs 12 MP 50% more pixels
Max Mech. Shutter
1/4000s vs 1/3000s faster mechanical shutter
Sensor Pixel Area
47.73µm2 vs 2.31µm2 1966% larger pixel area

Common Strengths of Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX48 and Leica M9-P
Common Weaknesses of Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX48 and Leica M9-P
Fixed Screen
Fixed Type vs No No flexible viewing angles
LCD Screen Size
2.5" vs 2.5" Small display
LCD Screen Resolution
230k dots vs 230k dots Low resolution screens
Continuous Shooting
2.0fps vs 2.0fps Slow shooting speeds
Environmental Sealing
No vs No not suitable for tough conditions
AE Bracketing
No vs No Not good for multi-exposure HDR
New4
Panasonic FX48 vs Leica M9-P: Physical Specs and Body features Comparison

Size and weight is a big decision factor when you are trying to find the ideal camera for your needs. In this section, We are going to illustrate Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P side-by-side from the front, back and top in their relative dimensions. Panasonic FX48 has external dimensions of 95 x 53 x 22 mm (3.74 x 2.09 x 0.87″) and weighs 150 g (0.33 lb / 5.29 oz) (including batteries). Leica M9-P has external dimensions of 139 x 80 x 37 mm (5.47 x 3.15 x 1.46″) and weighs 600 g (1.32 lb / 21.16 oz) (including batteries).

Below you can see the front view size comparison of Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P. Panasonic FX48 is clearly the smaller of the two cameras. Its body is 44mm narrower, 27mm shorter and 15mm thinner than Leica M9-P. As you can tell, actually this is not a fair size comparison since Panasonic FX48 has a built-in lens but Leica M9-P doesn't. Once you put a lens on M9-P, its thickness will increase significantly.

Panasonic FX48 vs Leica M9-P Camera Size Comparison - Front View
Comparison image of Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P Size, Weight and External Dimensions - Front View

Here is the back view size comparison of Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P.

Panasonic FX48 vs Leica M9-P Camera Size Comparison - Back View
Comparison image of Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P Size and Weight - Back View

Weight is another important factor especially when deciding on a camera that you want to carry with you all day. Panasonic FX48 is significantly lighter (450g ) than the Leica M9-P which may become a big advantage especially on long walking trips.

Again, this comparison may not be very useful in real life as we are comparing the weight of a camera with a built-in lens to the body-only weight of an interchangeable lens camera. Once you put a lens on M9-P, the total kit will weigh much higher.

Weather Sealing

Unfortunately neither Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX48 (Lumix DMC-FX40) nor Leica M9-P provides any type of weather sealing in their body, so you have to give extra care especially when you are shooting outdoors. If weather sealing is a must-have feature for you, check these sections:
Top Compact Cameras with Weather Sealing
Top Mirrorless Cameras with Weather Sealing

LCD Screen Size and Features

Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P's LCD screens has the same diagonal size of 2.5".

Unfortunately, both cameras has fixed screens so they don't tilt or flip in directions.
Panasonic FX48 vs Leica M9-P: Sensor Comparison

Panasonic FX48 has a 12.0MP 1/2.3-inch (6.08 x 4.56 mm ) sized CCD sensor . On the other hand, Leica M9-P has a 18.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized CCD sensor .

Leica M9-P's sensor provides 6MP more than Panasonic FX48'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 M9-P'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 moire occurring in certain scenes.

Below you can see the FX48 and M9-P sensor size comparison.

Panasonic FX48 vs Leica M9-P Sensor Size Comparison
Sensor Size and Resolution Comparison image of Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P Cameras


As seen above, Leica M9-P has a 31.2x Larger sensor area than Panasonic FX48. 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.

What types of Photography are Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P Good for?
In this section, we rank and compare Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P for five different photography types in order to make your decision process easier in case you are specifically interested in one or more of these areas.

Panasonic FX48 for Portrait Photography

POOR

Leica M9-P for Portrait Photography

AVERAGE
Image Stabilization
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
Small 1/2.33" (6.08 x 4.56 mm) sensor
No RAW shooting capability
No External Flash Shoe
No Built-in Viewfinder
No Manual Focus Mode
Not so good Ergonomics&Handling
Read the details
Large Full frame (36 x 24 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 18.0MP
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Average Ergonomics&Handling
No Image Stabilization
Read the details

Panasonic FX48 for Street Photography

AVERAGE

Leica M9-P for Street Photography

AVERAGE
Image Stabilization
Small Body
Live-view
Face-Detection Focusing
Fast Lens at Wide: f2.80
25 mm - Good Wide Angle Coverage
Small 1/2.33" (6.08 x 4.56 mm) sensor
No RAW shooting capability
No Built-in Viewfinder
No Manual Focus Mode
Read the details
Large Full frame (36 x 24 mm) sensor
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Medium sized Body
No Image Stabilization
No Live-view
Read the details

Panasonic FX48 for Sports Photography

POOR

Leica M9-P for Sports Photography

AVERAGE
Image Stabilization
11 Focus Points
Average Max shutter speed: 1/3000s
125 mm Tele Lens
No RAW shooting capability
No External Flash Shoe
No Built-in Viewfinder
No Manual Focus Mode
Not so good Ergonomics&Handling
Slow Continuous Shooting: 2.0fps
Environmental Sealings
Slow Lens at Tele: f5.90
Read the details
Optical Built-in Viewfinder
Fast Max shutter speed: 1/4000s
Average Ergonomics&Handling
No Image Stabilization
Slow Continuous Shooting: 2.0fps
Environmental Sealings
Focus Points
Read the details

Panasonic FX48 for Daily Photography

AVERAGE

Leica M9-P for Daily Photography

GOOD
Compact Body
150g
Body Thickness 22mm
5.0X Optical Zoom
Small 1/2.33" (6.08 x 4.56 mm) sensor
No RAW shooting capability
Read the details
Large Full frame (36 x 24 mm) sensor
Medium size Body
600g
Read the details

Panasonic FX48 for Landscape Photography

POOR

Leica M9-P for Landscape Photography

AVERAGE
25 mm - Good Wide Angle Coverage
Average Resolution Sensor: 12.0MP
Small 1/2.33" (6.08 x 4.56 mm) sensor
No RAW shooting capability
No Manual Focus Mode
No Environmental Sealings
Read the details
Large Full frame (36 x 24 mm) sensor
Very High Resolution Sensor: 18.0MP
No Environmental Sealings
No Live-view
Read the details

Panasonic FX48 vs Leica M9-P: OUR DECISION

You may have already made your decision about which camera suits better for your needs and your budget so far but in case you wonder how we rated Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P, below you can find their scores in five different aspects. Our Decision Algorithm dynamically scores cameras using 63 different specs, current price and DxO Mark scores (where possible) in order to make a more objective and consistent comparison.

Here is a summary of how Panasonic FX48 and Leica M9-P scores compare:

Panasonic FX48
Imaging
Features
Value
Portability
Overall
Ranked #299 out of 475 in Compact cameras
Ranked #930 out of 1223 in all Cameras
Leica M9-P
Imaging
Features
Value
Portability
Overall
Ranked #117 out of 127 in Rangefinder-style mirrorless cameras
Ranked #509 out of 1223 in all Cameras

Leica M9-P has a higher Overall Score than the Panasonic FX48 mainly because of its huge advantage in Image quality. In all other areas, Panasonic FX48 excels. It is a tough choice!
If image quality is your priority, get the Leica M9-P.
If you are ready to compromise image quality for extra features, compactness and value, choose Panasonic FX48

Panasonic FX48
Panasonic FX48
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Leica M9-P
Leica M9-P
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Leica M9-P vs Panasonic FX48 Specs Table
Detailed comparison of specifications
General Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX48 Leica M9-P
Brand Panasonic Leica
Announced 2009-01-27 2011-06-21
Body Type Compact Rangefinder-style mirrorless
Sensor
Type CCD CCD
Size 1/2.3-inch Full frame
Dimensions 6.08 x 4.56 mm 36 x 24 mm
Area 27.72mm2 864.00mm2
Megapixels 12 megapixels 18 megapixels
Max Resolution 4000 x 3000 5212 x 3472
Max Native Light sensitivity 3,200 ISO 2,500 ISO
Max Boosted Light Sensitivity 6400 ISO -
Min Native Light sensitivity 80 ISO 80 ISO
RAW Support
Autofocus
AF Touch
AF Continuous
AF Single
AF Tracking
AF Selective
AF Center
AF Multi Area
AF Live View
AF Face Detection
AF Contrast Detection
AF Phase Detection
Number of Focus Points 11 n/a
Lens
Manual Focus
Lens Mount fixed lens Leica M
Lens Focal Range 25-125 mm (5×) no lens
Max Aperture F2.8-5.9 no lens
Macro Focus Range 5cm no lens
Screen
Type Fixed type Fixed type
Size 2.5" 2.5"
Resolution 230k dots 230k dots
Touch Screen
Viewfinder
Viewfinder None Optical (rangefinder)
Viewfinder Magnification n/a 0.68x
Photography Features
Max Mechanical Shutter 1/3000s 1/4000s
Shutter Priority
Aperture Priority
Manual Exposure Mode
Custom White Balance
Image Stabilization Optical No
Built-in Flash
Flash Range 6.00 m no built-in flash
Max Flash Sync n/a s
External Flash
Continuous Shooting 2.0 fps 2.0 fps
Multi-Segment
Average
Spot
Partial
AF-Area
Center Weighted
AE Bracketing
WB Bracketing
Video Features
Max Video Resolution 640 x 480 None
Video Formats Motion JPEG n/a
Microphone Port
Headphone Port
Connectivity
Wireless Connectivity None None
HDMI
Physical
Environmental Sealing
Weight 150g 600g
Dimensions 95 x 53 x 22mm 139 x 80 x 37mm
Battery Life n/a 350 shots
Other Features
Timelapse Recording
GPS None None
DxO Sensor Scores
DxO Overall Score not tested 68
DxO Color Depth not tested 22.5
DxO Dynamic Range not tested 11.6
DxO Low Light ISO not tested 854
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