The Sony A7r camera body vs. Leica M9 camera body sensor dynamic range comparison in these two photos illustrates the advantage Sony has in its latest 24MP CMOS full-frame camera sensor (same as used in the Nikon D600/610).

Sony A7r with Leica 75mm f/2 lens

Leica M9 with Leica 75mm f/2 lens

(Use left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to flip back and forth between the Sony A7r photo and the Leica M9 photo on Flickr.)

The lights and darks in the Sony A7r photo contain color and definition of lines and texture.  They’re not just white and black.  Compare the Sony photo to the Leica M9 photo where the bright and dark areas are mostly just white and black without much visible definition of what is in those areas.  Colors are also more recognizable in the Sony A7r photo compared with the Leica M9.  Granted, the Sony A7r camera CMOS sensor is basically one year old, whereas the Leica M9 CMOS Sensor, released in 2009, is now 5 years old.  This type of dynamic range difference between Sony sensor and Leica sensor 4 years older, should be expected, regardless of manufacturer.  Chip technology will continue to advance whereas lens designs and materials are much more stable and only improve slowly over time…..

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