If the Leica X-Vario is the mini M, as Leica’s much derided pre-release marketing campaign would have had us believe, the new Leica C is surely the micro M. This has nothing to do with performance, please note, it’s just a design paradigm. This Audi-skinned rework of the decidedly dull, cheap looking and boring Panasonic LF1 is already proving a winner for Leica. With the same 1-1/7in sensor as the company’s much larger D-Lux 6, the C is a brilliant little camera. The built-in electronic viewfinder is small, wishy-washy and low resolution. But it works and it is a real asset. And the lens, though not quite as sharp as the superlative f/1.4-2.3 zoom of the D-Lux, is a little gem with a long reach: 28-200mm (35mm equivalent) and a very respectable aperture range of f/2-5.9. Add in stabilisation and wireless communication and you have a winner in the making.
The Leica C is in for test and I will be reporting when I’ve put it through its paces. Also in the pipeline is the X-Vario which I have been playing with for a week or two already.