Leica has announced "X Vario" which is the first camera in the market combining an APS-C sensor and an immovable zoom.
As announced, Leica has finally formalized today the "Mini M" camera, for which it was launched a month ago in a teasing campaign. But if it was expected that the German manufacturer launches a new midway range between M and what it called Micro M, it is in fact a variant of the latter.
The "Leica Vario X", as the name suggests, is actually a variant to zoom Leica X range. This is the first of its kind, after a wave of compact large sensor and fixed focal length (such as the Nikon Coolpix A or Ricoh GR).
Unfortunately this Vario-Elmar zoom equivalent to a 28-70 mm f/3.5 to 6.4 is not very wide, too faint for the segment (especially in telephoto position), but also and especially it is not retractable and too bulky compared to the 35 mm f/2.8 Leica X2.
If it is closer to the Leica X2 as the aesthetic and ergonomic, it relies on electronics itself. It particularly features the same APS-C CMOS sensor with 16.2 million pixels and a processing chip derived for photographing up to ISO 12500 and filming in Full HD at 30 frames/s now in MP4 format. The layout of the knobs and buttons as well as the 3-inch VGA screen, however, are borrowed from the Leica M variant.
The "Leica Vario X" will be available in Europe for the tidy sum of 2450 euros.
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