This camera brand is developing its own sensor. I hope the change indicates a push for even better color science

(Image credit: Rod Lawton)

In a German language podcast, a Leica shareholder and chairman dropped a bombshell that has sparked a frenzy of internet speculation: Leica is developing its own camera sensor.

The insight comes from a podcast interview between Leica Chairman of the Supervisory Board and shareholder Dr. Andreas Kaufmann and podcaster Michel Birnbacher. In the interview, Kaufmann revealed that around the same time the Leica M11 transitioned to using Sony-made sensors, Leica “started developing our own sensor again, in a more advanced version.”

The German language podcast translated by Google Translate leaves some room for error – for example, some have incorrectly described Kaufmann as the Leica CEO. But, the interview seems to confirm that the German camera brand is developing its own sensor, adding fuel to the Leica M12 rumors.

The internet has had a mixed reaction to the report. Some celebrate the news, as Leica developing its own sensor could indicate some unique upcoming camera features. Others wonder why Leica would go to the expense, when Sony’s sensors are so widely used across multiple brands.

Personally, the first thing I thought of when I spotted the interview was color science. I’m drawn to cameras that require the least amount of color tweaking in post production, and I think Leica’s current monochrome color profiles are *chef’s kiss.*

The news of the in-house sensor development, coupled with brands like Nikon and Panasonic seeming to put even more emphasis on colors, has me wondering: Is color science going to be the next megapixel race?

For several years, camera brands have focused on edging out the competition in resolution. Now, pro cameras with 50+ and even 100+ MP are becoming more common. At some point, the megapixel race will need to slow because our screens and our hard drives can’t take much more, at least not until those, too, continue to develop. (And, we can thank AI for increasing the cost of digital storage for all those high-resolution files).

The megapixel race was already bound to slow down – and I suspect the next big tech push will be for color. From Nikon’s latest push for Imaging Recipes to Panasonic’s in-camera LUTs, color seems to be jumping up the list of headline-making features for new camera launches. And, of course, there’s Fujifilm’s recent success to point to as well.

Color science is part image processing algorithms, part sensor technology. A brand’s color science inside the image processing algorithm can make photos from the same Sony-made sensor look quite different. After all, when I get a Leica camera in to review, one of my favorite things to play with is the different color profiles, and Leica’s house-made sensor isn’t even here yet.

But the sensor plays a role in color processing as well. The arrangement of the tiny red, green, and blue filters that allow the sensor to see in color plays a key role. Filters placed over a sensor, like the infrared cut sensor, also play a role in color production. But, it’s possible for a brand to use a sensor made by another company and customize it with its own color filter array and sensor filters.

Still, processing plays a key role in color science as well, which is why brands that still use Sony’s sensors still have noticeable differences in color science.

The Leica M11 already uses a sensor that can record in 60, 36, or 18MP. That’s done without cropping the full-frame sensor by combining pixels for lower resolutions in order to decrease high ISO noise or reduce file sizes. The news of an in-house sensor has me immensely curious to see what Leica has in store for the rumored M12.

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