Leica relaunches V-Lux and D-Lux compact ranges

After a long period of inactivity in the standard compact market, Leica has reintroduced a pair of its V-Lux and D-Lux camera models. The Leica V-Lux 2 and the Leica D-Lux 5 will both be on sale from October 2010, and will cost £675 and £630 respectively.

The V-Lux 2 is a bridge style camera featuring a 24x zoom lens with a focal range equivalent to 25-600mm. Based squarely on Panasonic?s Lumix DMC-FZ100, the V-Lux 2 has an aperture range of f/2.8-5.2 and a 14.1-million-pixel CMOS sensor. The camera?s principle feature is a burst mode that can record full resolution images at a rate of 11fps, and at 60fps when the resolution is switched to 2.8MP. A 460-dot, vari-angle 3in LCD panel allows recording of stills and 1080i-AVCHD movies from creative positions. The camera comes with the previous generation of Adobe?s enthusiast image editing software, Adobe Elements 8.

A smaller model, the D-Lux 5 features a larger-than-usual 1/1.63in 10-million-pixel CCD sensor and is fitted with a 24-90mm f/2-3.3 lens. Based on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5, the D-Lux 5 will be compatible with Leica?s CF 22 flash unit and will also be packaged with Adobe Elements 8.

The following accessories will be available for the D-Lux 5:

Leica D-Lux accessories
Leica D-Lux 5 EVF1 electronic viewfinder £270
Leica D-Lux 5 ever-ready case £135
Leica D-Lux 5 brown leather case £90
Leica D-Lux 5 soft leather pouch £62
Leica D-Lux 5 handgrip £62
Leica CF 22 flash unit £225

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