After spending an hour with the camera in my living room this evening, I am very impressed with how well it is designed for convenient use. Although the camera manual is over 100 pages long, I only had to check it two times to access all of the needed photographic controls. The lens zoom is controlled by a smoothly rotating mechanical ring, just like an SLR zoom lens. Autofocus, macro focus, and manual focus are switched with an easily accessible switch on lens barrel. There's also a focus button right below that switch to engage the autofocus even when in manual mode. This is terrifically useful.
All of the common settings are quickly accessible through the function button, and no matter what you're doing with settings or picture review, partially pressing the shutter release returns instantly to shooting mode. Again, it's very well thought out as a photographer's tool.
The image stabilization is very effective. I was able to hand hold shots in my living room at 1/5 of a second with little evident camera shake in the photograph. Of course it cannot overcome all shaking, and not all photos were free of some blur from shaking, but I was very pleased with the improvement.
The lens is remarkable. If you've ever used a 12x zoom on an SLR (like one of those Tamron or Sigma zooms) you might not expect much from such a lens design. Leica have lived up to their reputation, however, with this lens. It provides sharp, contrasty images with very little curvature of field (slight at the widest angle and gone quickly as you zoom in). There is no evident vignetting.
The body of the camera is sturdy with an actual, solid door over the connectors (not one of those flimsy pieces of rubber found on most cameras). The camera balances well, and with a hand under the lens for support it's easy to hold steady. The lens barrel is metal, and the provided lens hood fits securely (with the lens cap still useable while the hood is in place).
The fact that the LCD screen swivels down rather than to the side is another very well thought out design that is uncommon. The LCD screen remains more centered on the body when it's folded down, encouraging a more stable hold on the camera. It also more easily allows shooting from the waist than cameras with screens that fold out to the side. This can make it more easy to take candid photos, for example.
The two most common negative comments about the V-lux 1 are that the photos can be noisy and lose detail at ISO above 200, and that there is no reason to pay more for the Leica version of the camera compared to the Panasonic version (FZ-50).
The images taken above ISO 200 are better than I expected from the reviews, and the issue is really no different for other digital cameras with small sensors (e.g. almost everything that is not a full-sized SLR). The image sabilizer, however, allows using a lower, less noisy ISO in many situations when one would otherwise turn up the ISO. Also, it's important to remember that the online reviews tend to concentrate on the full-size appearance of photographs on screen. The actual printed photographs will look much better. If you really need noise-free images at high ISO then you'll get a full SLR. The V-lux is not trying to compete with that niche use. For taking indoor shots at family dinners for printing at normal sizes (up to 8x10, for example), the noise at higher ISO shouldn't be a big concern in my view. When I used film cameras (a Leica M6 for many years), I shot more than 80% of my photographs on ISO 100 slide film. The V-lux 1 provides excellent results at ISO 100 (essentially identical to a full SLR by objective measurement), and a lot more control and versatility than my old M6 (a traditional mechanical rangefinder camera with seriously good Leica lenses).
The other criticism made in reviews is that the Panasonic version is less expensive for the same camera. They certainly share the same lens and body, but Leica has adjusted the image processing to provide more smooth jpeg images, use less aggressive noise reduction (to retain more detail at ISO above 200), and to match the color and contrast characteristics of traditional film shot with Leica cameras. I miss the color palette of Leica lenses that I used to see in my photographs with my Leica M6, and I'm very glad that the V-lux is tuned to provide that. To me, this is a significant advantage since the rich but not cartoonish or unatural Leica color rendition is unique and beautiful. In addition, Leica includes an SD card that holds about 80 photographs at maximum resolution. I'll get a 2Gb card, but this is a very useable backup.
All in all I'm extremely pleased. The V-lux 1 is a real photographer's tool capable of producing results like a full SLR in over 80% of the situations that I would encounter. And in the other 20% it still performs quite well (as well as any non-SLR digital camera) for modest-sized prints and for use online and in e-mail. The tradeoffs, in my view, are minor.
Addendum: I just got the Lowepro Rezo TLZ 20 case and the camera fits perfectly inside (I don't use the camera strap). The top is a bit stiff, but otherwise the case has a soft interior, an unobtrusive storage flap for extra memory cards, and is about the most compact case there is for the camera (it seems comparable to the much more expensive Leica case).
