[Leica] leica d-lux 6

[Mark Rabiner]

In the old film days say the 1990's there were half a dozen quality classy compacts selling for a grand and the film size were all full frame 35mm of course. No half frame. No Robot. No crop… nobody wanted more shots on a roll they wanted less shots on the roll so they could see their pictures faster.
So in the old days when you got a classy compact the image quality was not an issue. You were still getting full frame the pix came out looking  pretty much the same as with a hulking 3 pound metal munching SLR. 

So when now in the digital age you buy a small classy camera for a lot of money we might be expecting to be like in the old days. 
We'd still expect it to make a viable image. And we'd be wrong. A print looks ok snapshot sized. On a computer screen where 99.9 % of anybody experiences photography its fine. We'd be getting a not so small camera but with a very tiny sensor like in a camera you could attach to the corner of your eye glasses.

The bottom line in any camera is not if it’s a reflex or a rangefinder, a twin lens or an electronic viewfinder or how much it cost or with weight behind its brand name. The bottom line is the size of its film or sensor. Like if you measured it with a little ruler. The diagonal like on a tv set or computer monitor.
A senor 7.5mm by 5.7 is a tiny speck a fraction of the size of your pinky toenail.
On a sensor size cart it’s the second to the last mentioned. Its several down from a so called one inch sensor on the phased out Nikon one (which is 13x8mm) and many down from a 4/3's a size which also seems to be being phased out now I won’t say I told you so. (say it isn't true!?!?)
I noticed some of Leica's classy compacts which had stupidly small sensor sizes like this one they've upped the size so the latest model is 4/3's. (17x13) a size I'd expect from a pocket camera; If not a 1.5 crop.

See sensor size chart.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format

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Mark William Rabiner
Photographer