Leica will be showing off four new digital cameras (and a few lenses) at the Photokina trade show that starts in just a couple days.  While three of the models are essentially the same as some Panasonic models, the fourth one, the Leica M8, is the first digital camera to use the Leica viewfinder system.

As a side note for the folks in the US, Leica cameras are not widely distributed in North America, so you can mostly just drool.  Some models are/will be available, but I don't have definite details about the new models.

Leica M8

Features

  • 10.3 megapixel
  • 2.5 inch LCD with 230K pixels
  • Accepts all Leica M lenses with a 1.33x crop factor
  • ISO range of 160-2500
  • Shutter speed as fast as 1/8000 of a second
  • Hot shoe for an external flash
  • Full manual controls
  • Uses SD/SDHC media
  • Lithium-ion battery

Leica DIGILUX 3

The Digilux 3 is essentially the same camera as the Panasonic DMC-L1 with some Leica changes to the image processing.

Features

  • 7.5 megapixels
  • Accepts FourThirds lenses
  • Optical image stabilization
  • 2.5 inch, 207K pixel LCD
  • Dust reduction
  • ISO range: 100-1600

Leica V-LUX 1

The V-LUX 1 is essentially the same camera as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50 with some Leica changes to the image processing.

Features

  • 10 megapixels
  • 12x optical zoom, stabilized fixed lens
  • tilting 2 inch, 207K pixel LCD
  • electronic viewfinder
  • hotshoe for external flash
  • full manual modes

Leica D-LUX 3

The V-LUX 1 is essentially the same camera as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2 with some Leica changes to the image processing.

Features

  • 16:9 aspect ratio, 10 megapixel sensor
  • 2.8 inch, 207K pixel wide format LCD
  • wide angle lens (24mm equivalent)
  • 4x optical zoom with image stabilization