Is Leica C Glorified Panasonic DMC-LF1 with a Premium Brand Name?

It's a common practice for auto manufacturers to create two different models out of a car with basically same guts, one under standard brand name and the other under a premium brand, to target two different crowds of buyers.

Ironically Leica C body is made by an automaker, Audi, wrapped around the same internals of Panasonic DMC-LF1.  Additionally, Leica added its own touch of elegance and craftsmanship to this point-and-shoot camera featuring 12 megapixel sensor and a bright f2 lens developed by Leica.

A Leica representative said the main difference between its camera and the Panasonic was the firmware, which handles the images differently than the Panasonic, although it was unclear in what way (if you shoot in RAW format, which is minimally processed data, it shouldn’t make a difference). The Leica also comes with a two-year warranty.

Another element that muddies the water is that the Leica comes with Adobe’s indispensable Lightroom 5 image-editing software, which lists for $140 (or as an $80 upgrade from an older version). That puts the difference in cost between the two cameras at a more manageable $60.

Both cameras come equipped with 3-inch LCD as well as a viewfinder which is not that high grade like the one found in Olympus OM-D series.