360Photography

DxOMark has just finished a new sensor test, and for once it’s not a “highest rated camera in the world” announcement. Instead, the testing and consulting company put the new Leica M10 to the test to see how it compares to the rest of the luxury brand’s lineup. The results: they’re calling it “a classic reinvented.”

Unlike the top-scoring Nikon D850 and Sony a7R III—both of which scored 100 and sit at the top of DxO’s full-frame sensor rankings—the M10 pulls in a meeker score of 86. However, that still makes it the second highest scoring Leica ever, just behind the Leica SL with an overall score of 88.

What’s intriguing is that, in terms of sensor performance, the Leica M10 actually scores “more on par” with the best APS-C chips DxO has tested, outperforming them significantly only in the low-light ISO category thanks to its physically larger sensor:

Image: DxOMark

DxO summed up these results well for us in an email:

Overall, better image quality can be found elsewhere for less money, but the Leica offers first-class engineering, and a digital camera with similar proportions to analog M cameras will be hugely appealing to Leica enthusiasts. Add to that compatibility with almost all Leica lenses ever made, as well as its simplicity of operation, and the M10 will be an attractive proposition to those who appreciate the quality of the Leica system.

No doubt a good chunk of our readers will bold-face and underline what DxO said above: “better image quality can be found elsewhere for less money.” But does the massive lens library, top-notch engineering, ‘simplicity of operation,’ and that pretty red dot help balance out the cost at all?

Head over to DxOMark to read the full review, and let us know what you think about these results in the comments.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)