a question to the Jedi(s)

Having been to this forum for sometimes now i reckon there is no better forum to ask than the community here given that so much have been focused on just sensors.

Leica opened an outlet here in KL (malaysia) and i had the opportunity to visit it 2 days ago.

My question is, why is the M9 the smallest full-frame digital camera around, is it because of its unique sensor or is it just that nobody else could do a fullframe camera that is of equivalent size?

Also isn't M9 a bit dated, how could the old sensor in a new body be priced so significantly higher than newer bodies with even better sensors (iso performance etc) from other brands?

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marcuslowphoto.blogspot.com