I'll let you in on a little secret, girls: you may not think Panasonic when you think digital cameras, but you surely should be, and here's why. Panasonic has a cozy little relationship with German camera-maker Leica, which makes some of the finest and most collectible cameras in the world. Panasonic does all the techie bits and Leica does the camera bits. Then they both release the same camera, one with a Leica logo and one with a Panasonic logo. The Leica one is basically the same - maybe a metal case versus a plastic one, but the image quality is going to be just as good with the Panasonic. But the Panasonic is generally half the price of the Leica branded version.
At least, that's typically the case. It's a little less clear what the strategy is with the DMC-L1 DSLR since they seem to be pricing it at $2000 USD, for 7.5 megapixels, with a kit lens, whereas the recently released Sony Alpha is seemingly going to be half that price (albeit without a lens, but with a third more pixels). [GT]
Thanks for this. I'm not (quite yet) in the market for a DSLR, but I never would have considered a Panasonic camera. I had no idea they were Leicas underneath, or even that they had Leica lenses. Good to know.
Pixels aren't everything. The sensor ("CMOS") is not the typical kind ("CCD") and that plus the lens make all the diff in the world. For all we know, the 7.5 mp L1 could be equal to a 10+++ mp CCD type camera. I can't wait to try one on/out!!!!