Leica X Vario with APS-C sensor
Leica has officially unveiled the Leixa X Vario, its much-teased compact camera with an unusually large image sensor.
Leica makes the bold claim that the Leica X Vario (formerly referred to as the Leica Mini M) "contains the DNA of the Leica M," its £5,000 35mm retro camera from last year.
The Leica X Vario crams a 16.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor into a magnesium and aluminium body that measures up at a mere 133 x 73 x 95mm. In addition, the camera features a fixed Vario Elmar zoom lens with a focal length range of 28mm to 70mm.
Maximum aperture is f/3.5, while the ISO range is 100-12,500.
Despite the camera's compact size there are manual controls for shutter speed and aperture settings, as well as a zoom ring on the lens. There's also an auto mode for those quick snaps.
There's a zippy autofocus mode on board, as you'd expect from any modern camera, and you can also set the autofocus zone manually so as to define the plane of sharpness.
Around back there's no viewfinder, but there is a sharp 3-inch LCD display with a 920k resolution.
Full HD 1080p video recording at 30fps is also possible.
The Leica X Vario comes bundled with a free copy of Adobe's Lightroom photo editing software for Mac OS X or Windows.
You can pick up the Leica X Vario now in shops for around £2,250.
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