A new Leica camera is always big news, even when it is little more than a rebadged Panasonic. I wonder who got the best deal in the close Panasonic/Leica partnership? Panasonic, which gets to use the German camera-maker's amazing glass, along with its legendary brand name, or Leica, which gets to recycle the tired camera-body designs of a consumer electronics giant that also makes beard trimmers?
So, what do you get in the new V-Lux 3 (aka Lumix FZ-150)? It's a hybrid-style camera, so the non-removable lens gives a 24x zoom (25-600mm 35mm equivalent) in an ƒ2.8-5.2 lens, capturing to a 12.1 megapixel sensor. It will shoot at up to 12fps at full resolution. Drop to 3.5 megapixels and you can capture stills at 60fps.
Video is 1080p (AVCHD) at up to 60fps.
Aside from slapping on the red Leica dot, the camera also comes with some bundled software: Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements.
The Lumix FZ-150 goes for around $500. Can you guess the price of the Leica-like when it goes on sale in January? $950. Snicker.
Leica V-Lux 3 product page [Leica]
