18191 V-LUX 4 12.7MP Compact System Camera with 3.0-Inch TFT LCD - Black

Leica V-Lux 4 ReviewI love the camera! I have been a loyal Canon customer and love their cameras. However, I am getting older and do not relish carrying my heavy telephoto lens with my heavy Canon 60D camera.This little, light beauty takes wonderfully sharp images and is nimble and quick (starts in less than 1 second). I love taking nature photos as my primary interest in photography. With the 24x zoom, I can go from a wide-angle (25mm) to an effective 600mm telephoto. The camera has a 4x digital zoom which I have not even turned on. With my fixed focal length, heavy, Canon 300mm f4 “L” lens, I reach slightly more max. telephoto focal length when coupled with my 1.4x extender, and the1.6x factor for the “C” size sensor, making it an 672 mm f 5.6 system weighing 4.8 lb. The Leica lens is f.2.8 from wide-angle to tele! That makes for much more interesting photo possibilities and this camera with lens weighs 1.3 lbs.I have learned to use a different technique when using the Leica for my nature shots. The little control (Settings) to change the shutter speed is too fussy for me and I waste valuable time trying to turn it. I use the Shutter Preferred mode and shoot my optically stabilized shots at 1/2000 sec. It is very fast and I am able to reach the high speed I need to use with a hand held 600mm shot. The Auto ISO feature works very well and in the Florida sun most of my exposures are at ISO 100 and around f3.5. I use the Vivid exposure mode and I am very happy with the results. With my Canons, the Aperture Preferred method was my favorite mode. The plethora of many large controls on the Canon 60D makes it easy to use any exposure mode. The controls of the Leica are very well situated and it fits my hand beautifully.The Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) takes a bit of getting used to. There is nothing like an optical view finder for moving targets such as a flying bird. I find, I can, with practice, acquire, follow my targets, and shoot my images quite well. The camera can shoot 12 frames/second (fps) at full resolution and up to 60 fps at lower resolution. The quality of the images is fantastic. For some reason, I feel the whites are more pure and very white. Using the spot meter mode, and a bit of underexposure, I find the exposures for my many white birds are excellent.Shooting close ups is also handled well. Battery life is exceptional, especially if you view the images with EVF instead of the LCD screen. The included Adobe Lightroom 4 software helps make the superb images. I shoot in the Raw/jpg mode. Final processing, rarely needed, is done in Photoshop.The camera also takes great videos too. The built in flash is OK. No small flash can compare with a large external flash or flashes.What is missing? WIFI capability.I think it is astounding to be able to buy a Leica camera for a hair under $800.00. I feel it will be my only camera soon. I am able to shoot quality images with much less weight. It is almost too good to be true. The camera is well worth the money! I

Love that 24X zoom, size and light weight. It weights even much lighter than one of my 70-200mm f/2.8L lens. Pictures came out great, consider it's 12mp only. Body's workmanship is very good(by Panasonic). But the material is a little on the cheap side for that price tag. It takes some times to learn how to use all the features and functions. If you're thinking of just one camera when you travel, this is it. Loving it.

Love the real view finder. this is new to me so am learning it's many features.the picture quality is outstanding. the camera is light, so easy to hold steady. fast zoom,if a bit touchy. I have not used the toggle like feature to fine tune the zoom. have not learned to use Lightroom software so can not comment. e have had family emergency so just have not had time to really learn what all this camera can do. have been very satisfied so far. Hope anyone who purchases this camera loves it as much as I do.Buy on line a manual, it has helped me

I don't like de panoramic shots because it has a bar image.The lens comes good but a bit noise images

For a novice like me, plunking down close a $1000 for a camera is a tough purchase to justify. I don't work for National Geographic or Newsweek. Rather, I take photos of what I see around me (which, in New Mexico, is abundant, given our diverse selection of wildlife, plants/flowers, sunsets, views, balloons---no aliens, yet). These are photos I share with friends or post to Facebook. So why not do that with a $100 digital camera from Walgreens?I've gone through several digital cameras these past few years, most of which I end up re-selling on Amazon, as I don't like the picture quality. Granted, some (much?) of that is photographer error, but it really does seem that the quality of the picture also depends on the quality of the camera.In anticipation of an upcoming trip to Spain, I took the plunge and bought this one. On our first trip overseas, most of my pictures were washed out. On the last trip, there was a long delay between 'click' and 'picture' on the camera I was using. As such, I liked that people said this camera is faster.I've played with the camera for a few weeks, shooting pictures of hot air balloons this morning. The shutter is fast! I can only imagine how the camera operates in multi-shoot mode. It takes very little pressure on the button to take the picture, which eliminates shake/blur. The photos are crisp and clear.Like a lot of digital cameras, this one does a whole bunch of things; many of which I will never dabble into. You can take 'still' photos or videos. If you do a video, you can identify a spot on the frame and turn that into a photo. There are 'auto shoot' modes, as well as specialized selections.The camera comes with a basic manual, but a more detailed version is available on-line. This was helpful, as a quick scan let me know what the camera can do. Of course, I didn't read it thoroughly, but it at least gave me a good overview of the camera's potential.So, I'm happy with the purchase. Spain, here I come.Update (11/18/2013). Ok, so I took the camera to Spain. As I hoped, the pictures turned out really good. The camera was easy to use and it held up well during the travels. I'm keeping this one, as I'm impressed with the photos.