Lunch With Leica

[Mike Farley]

I have just come back from an event at Park Cameras in London which was billed as "Lunch With Leica". Technically, I suppose that the title is correct as there was lunch and there were Leicas to look at, although not the full range, but no one actually from Leica so far as I could tell.

Less excusable was the lack of knowledge on the part of the staff. The Panasonic LX100 and Leica D-Lux are essentially the same camera*, with what are mainly cosmetic differences and maybe each company has its own processing for JPEGs. Asked about the difference between the two, the sales person claimed that it was the lens. Apparently the Panasonic has a faux Leica optic, whereas the Leica camera has a genuine one. OK, very funny, what's the real answer. That was the "real" answer apparently and he did not know whether Raw file output was the same for both cameras. It was a similar situation with the Leica M, which was all a bit of a mystery to the first person I spoke to. Even the "expert" could not answer all my questions.

A couple of years ago Leica had a big shake out of its dealers, dropping quite a few who could or would not meet their requirements, and appeared to be going up market. Back then, Leica could sell everything it made, but has since increased production in its new manufacturing facility. It now seems that the company is going back to a position where anyone can sell them. Even Jessops stocks them. Based on my experience today, it's not unlike buying a Rolls Royce from a Ford dealer.

* Possibly the most important difference is that the Panasonic has a grip on the front of the camera with is lacking on the D-Lux and the LX100's thumb grip is bigger. I would save my money and forego the red dot if I were buying.

[Rose]

The Panasonic LX series has always been identical to the Leica D-Lux. It's not been clear to me what, if any, difference there is between them, other than a bright red dot on the Leica and slightly different styling

[Mike Farley]

The Panasonic LX series has always been identical to the Leica D-Lux. It's not been clear to me what, if any, difference there is between them, other than a bright red dot on the Leica and slightly different styling

Leica claims that it applies its own processing to images to give them a "Leica" look, but I am fairly certain that only applies to JPEGs. I would not expect to see any differences in the Raw files, although it is suspected that some manufacturers do apply tweaks.

You missed out the biggest difference, though. That red dot does not come cheap and at present it commands a whopping £126 premium which represents an 18% markup compared to the Panasonic. It used to be that part of the extra cost of Leica's rebadged Panasonics was due Leica bundling a copy of Lightroom, but it seems with this camera it has instead opted for a three year warranty compared to a single year for its Panasonic sibling. If you buy the LX100 by the end of this month, Panasonic is currently offering a free automatic lens cap via redemption. Choices, choices.

[Mike Farley]

It turns out that I was being unfair to Leica when I said that Lightroom was not being bundled with its rebadged Panasonic models. It is. I took my information from the Park Cameras' website which omits this detail. This, together with my experience at the shop, makes me wonder how serious they are about selling the products they stock. as previously mentioned, Leica also includes a three year warranty in the deal. If you want a camera such as the D-Lux or V-Lux, which are based based on the LX100 and FZ1000 respectively, and do not already have a copy of Lightroom, that Red Dot is not costing as much as you might think.

If you need a grip for the D-Lux, there is an accessory which looks to be more substantial than the protusion built into the Panasonic equivalent. It does add £55* to the bill, but you pays yer money.....

http://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/d-lux/76 ... p-109.html

Here's Jono Slack's take on the new D-Lux. Interesting that he does not shy away from talking about the camera's parentage.

http://www.slack.co.uk/2014/D-Lux.html

* Even that is not excessive by other manufacturer's standards and is the same price as the grip for the Olympus OM-D E-M10.