Is the Lumix Really considered a Leica camera?
I agree with Ben. Panasonic and Leica have several sister models in the digital point & shoot market but these are really just Panasonics. Not that there’s anything wrong with Panasonic cameras… but they are not the stuff that Leica is famous for. Leica’s reputation is based on $2000 lenses for their rangefinder models. You can rest assured that Leica does not stick those lenses on point & shoots cameras. (The Fz28 costs $270, lens and all.) The famous Leica lenses are also all primes. Any professional quality lens, by any brand, will be a prime lens or a 3x zoom lens at the most. An 18x zoom lens such as on the Fz28 requires too many design compromises in favor of convenience. If you’re going to get a point & shoot, the Canon G10 is as good as it gets. But this presents another dilemma: the G10 is a $500 camera and for $50 less you could buy a Nikon D40 dSLR camera – for any serious amateur the dSLR would be a much better choice. Having said all that, the Fz28 does get good reviews.
