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Thoughts on the V-Lux typ 114 vs FZ1000?

Godfrey

Well-known member
I've gotten interested in one of these ultra zoom cameras as a complement to my M and X, and for movie work. I spent some time with the spec sheets and manuals, and went to the store and handled them side by side for a bit yesterday.

By comparison to either X or M9, they're cheap and plasticky feeling. However, that's irrelevant. The V-Lux has a couple of styling changes that give it an edge, like the shape of the grip, but a couple others that seem to make no sense, like the way the control buttons are shaped near the shutter release don't have differentiable shape where the FZ buttons do. More critically, the V-Lux seems to be missing a couple of the movie capture modes that the FZ is capable of, notably 24p.

As far as I could tell by handling and shooting some test exposures, the build and quality of the body and lens are identical in both, and both produced excellent quality, sharp JPEGs and movie clips at ISO 1600. Control responsiveness was identical too.

I'm sure the Leica model has some differences in default colors, etc, but since I usually capture raw and do my own image processing, I don't know that this makes any difference to me.

So the question—is there any reason to prefer the V-Lux over the FZ1000 other than the Leica name, service, and support? I've had four Panasonic cameras over the years that I used heavily, and never needed any service or support for them. They just worked. I already have Lightroom. The name ...

I know, the question is likely facetious. If I buy an FZ1000, there's enough in the budget to finally upgrade my ten year old Eye One Display 2 to the current model... But just on the off-chance that there is some hidden benefit to buying the V-Lux, I wanted to ask.

G
 

Amin

Active member
I think the only thing you didn't mention is resale value. If you're going to sell it down the line, the Leica will probably make up for all or most of the extra it costs you.

Processing from RAW there should be no difference in the images.

I recently went through this with the D-Lux vs LX100 and chose the latter because of the grip.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I think the only thing you didn't mention is resale value. If you're going to sell it down the line, the Leica will probably make up for all or most of the extra it costs you.

Processing from RAW there should be no difference in the images.

I recently went through this with the D-Lux vs LX100 and chose the latter because of the grip.
Thanks!

I never really worry too much about the resale value, unless I'm looking at things in the multi-thousand-dollar realm that have substantial intrinsic value. The FZ1000 is $900, the V-Lux is $1300 ... I figure the value I get out of either is in what I make with them, not in what I can sell them for afterwards. As devices, they're just consumer plastic-fantastic electronics stuff—I don't really expect either to retain much dollar value after three years; the FZ10000 and V-Lux typ 396 will likely have quantum-nano three dimensional imaging by then ... ];-)

The other thing I like about this kind of camera is that it's pretty much a "buy it, add batteries and storage, you're done" kind of purchase. A remote, a couple of batteries, a filter or two ... There's not much else to buy, you just use it.

G
 
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