Digital Camera News
Leica Settlement Results in Crucial Stock Offering
August 12, 2005 – Leica AG, the German camera manufacturer, has reached a settlement with four of its major shareholders that will allow the company to proceed with a crucial stock offering. The company announced earlier this week that such an offering will hopefully raise capital to help the company overcome its current loss and refocus its efforts on its digital camera line. After settling out of court with the major shareholders, among them Paris’s Hermès International SCA, Leica announced that it will proceed with an offering of 13.5 million new shares at a price of 1.7 euros a share ($2.11). The announcement comes as Leica struggles with a 15.5 million euro loss and decreasing sales of its high end digital cameras.
Leica has recently emerged from a restructuring that saw the installation of a new chairman in April, Dr. Josef Spichtig. Spearheaded by Spichtig, the company plans to trim its inventory and work on the development of new cameras in partnership with other companies rather than relying on in-house research and development. "As we all know, digital technologies have already been developed and are available on the market," Spichtig said.
Leica provides the optical technology included on some of Panasonic’s Lumix cameras, but in the announcement said that it would like to develop a new line of compact digital cameras to expand its offerings above the current M and R lines. The company also announced that following the restructuring, it plans to achieve a global sales volume of over 100 million euros. Sales last year fell 21 percent to 93.7 million euros.
Latest News
& Reviews
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10-Feb-2012
Nikon S9300 First Impressions Review
It’s not often that “18x optical zoom” and “compact” describe the same camera, but that’s the Nikon S9300 for you. We’ve taken the little devil for a spin here at CP+, read on for our full impressions of Nikon’s latest travel zoom camera. Read More...
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09-Feb-2012
Pentax K-01 First Impressions Review
We’ve gone hands-on with the Marc Newson designed K-01 from Pentax. Read on for our full impressions of this unique mirrorless camera as well as a full gallery of photos of the camera. Read More...
Top Rated Digital Cameras
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Digital SLRs
Point & Shoots
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$1,049.951Canon EOS 60D
The Canon EOS 60D is a top-notch camera in terms of performance, handling and flexibility. However, the performance of the kit lens leaves something to be desired. Read full 7-part review
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$459.991Panasonic Lumix FZ150
Excellent image quality, speedy performance, and a great design add up to the best superzoom that has ever graced our labs. That distinction seems to change hands every week, but trust us when we say that the FZ150 is a truly great camera. Read full 16-part review
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$589.952Nikon D5100
The D5100 is the latest entry-level DSLR from Nikon, with full 1080/30p video, an articulated LCD, and the same image sensor as the D7000. It lacks an internal focus motor, but we found it produced some of the most accurate colors we've seen yet. Read full 7-part review
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$378.892Canon PowerShot SX40 HS
Canon's SX30 got a CMOS makeover that resulted in the SX40 HS, an impressive ultrazoom that captures beautiful shots in almost any scenario. Read full 16-part review
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$1,239.953Canon EOS 7D
The 18-megapixel Canon 7D delivers high resolution stills and full HD video in a well-built camera designed for serious photographers without the desire (or budget) for a full-frame model. Read full 7-part review
$1,239.95
$427.953Sony Cyber-shot HX100V
This professionally-geared ultrazoom offers some of the best color accuracy we've ever seen. It's a shame the other scores weren't quite so strong. Read full 16-part review
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$1,199.004Nikon D7000
The Nikon D7000 is a powerhouse camera at an excellent price. It offers a huge range of features that will make shooting quicker and easier for the experienced shooter, with lots of customizable options and quick control access. Read full 7-part review
$1,199.00
$314.954Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ47
Panasonic resists the urge to cram more megapixels and more focal length into their latest ultrazoom. The FZ47 instead focuses on image quality and features, resulting in an incredibly strong camera that we loved shooting with. Read full 16-part review
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$569.995Sony Alpha SLT-A55V
The SLT-A55 is a well performing SLR, with a wide ISO range, good color and relatively low noise. . Read full 7-part review
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$417.005Canon PowerShot S100
Canon's PowerShot S100 improves on the popular S95 and takes its place at the top of the point-and-shoot food chain. Read full 16-part review
$417.00
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