It’s interesting to me that the new Leica M11 very closely matches the performance of the Sony a7RIV, because Leica has always been full of pride that their cameras are built primarily in Germany using European technology, but it looks to me like Leica may have convinced Sony to share a tweaked 60MP sensor with them.
Photons to Photos published its PDR results, which you can see and manipulate here, and the sensors are pretty close to identical with the Leica tuned to perform a little better at base ISO while remaining competitive all the way up to 51,200 ISO. This could be due to the camera exhibiting better thermal characteristics or because Leica doesn’t need the sensor to read out beyond when you are taking a photo. I’d be curious to see how the PDR results might change while using Live View or sensor-based metering, but so far these modes haven’t been tested. It sure would be interesting if the Leica fell slightly behind the Sony a7RIV while using the sensor for these kinds of tasks.
| Camera Model | Maximum PDR | Low Light ISO | Low Light EV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leica M10-P | 10.48 | 3700 | 10.21 |
| Leica M10-R | 10.71 | 4083 | 10.35 |
| Leica M11 | 11.82 | 4931 | 10.62 |
| Sony a7RIV | 11.62 | 4744 | 10.57 |
If Leica is using a Sony sensor it makes me want the Leica M11 that much more, because to me Leica’s biggest shortcoming since the Leica M9 has been getting access to competitive high-resolution sensors. Don’t get me wrong the Leica M9 is still digital Kodachrome in my estimation, but not having a useful ISO above 1,250 is pretty difficult to work with. The real question remains will Leica M glass be able to resolve 60MP of detail or will it start to falter? Only time will tell.
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