Introduction



Well, here it is - Not a competitor for the Sony RX1 or a mini Leica M with an EVF or a compact full frame camera with a small fast zoom. The Mini M teaser seems to have generated all the wildest fantasies in the internet photo community - whether this was a good thing, or a bad thing is not up to me to decide, but that’s the first (and the next to last) time that I’m going to type Mini M!







What is it then? Well, it seems to me that it is the logical successor to Leica’s much loved Digilux 2 which came out early in 2004. If you’re interested in this camera Thorsten Overgaards Excellent Digilux 2 report will tell you everything you need to know. The camera had a 2/3” sensor, much smaller than the APS/c sensor on the new X Vario, which means that the actual depth of field you will get is roughly equivalent. Paula doesn’t have a built in electronic viewfinder, but it does have Live View, and you can plug in the Leica EVF (and probably the Olympus VF-2, although I haven’t tried it).







Despite the yawns from some of the more technically minded on the internet this is pretty much a unique camera - being the only currently available APS-c sized camera with an integral zoom lens (the Canon G1x sensor is rather smaller). As far as I’m aware the Sony R1 is the only previous camera with a fixed zoom lens and an APS-c sized sensor Dpreview Review here. I didn’t own either the Digilux 2 or the Sony R1, but I was aware that both of these cameras were much appreciated by many photographers.







So it seems to me that at the very least Leica have produced an interesting modern take on a popular design strategy.





