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Leica X1

While Leica has a line of point-and-shoot digitals that it cross-sells with Panasonic (and usually at small premium), the Leica X1 is the first point-and-shoot that feels like a Leica in many way. It is small, discrete, and is optimized for manual control. Rather than be concerned with such un-Leica things as the camera's mode, you quite easily toggle shutter priority by setting the Aperture to "auto" and clicking-in the shutter speed you want (aperture priority works much the same). The X1, unlike it's recently released M-mount M9, has a fixed 28mm (34mm equivalent) f/2.8 lens in front of an APS-C sized 12MP sensor. It can shoot up to ISO 3200 and is usable the entire way.

Leica rangefinders were often used by zone focusing, and autofocus was unheard. The X1 supports contrast-detect autofocus, but you may wish it were easier to focus without it. The X1 supports Adobe's digital negative raw format and can shoot a somewhat-impressive (for a point-and-shoot) six frames in two seconds. Beyond the autofocus issues, the batteries are not the longest lasting, dials change readily while pulling the camera out of a pocket, and the darn thing is expensive.