Leica V-Lux 2 vs. Panasonic FZ100

As an amateur photographer I'm always in search of the perfect camera. To me, that means compact, non-interchangeable lens with good zoom, and most important it has to have a viewfinder - I hate cameras without a viewfinder, especially when shooting in bright sunlight. In one of my camera hunting expeditions, I came across the Leica V-Lux 2. It looks great... fairly small, viewfinder equipped, and a lens that zooms all the way from 25mm to 600mm (equivalent)!!! The only problem is the price - almost $1000 that I don't have. So I did some more looking and it turns out I didn't have to look far to find another camera that's just as good as the V-Lux 2...

The Leica V-Lux 2 is a beautiful camera, and Leica has an excellent reputation for quality. I really like the specs of this camera too: bright 3" LCD (plus a viewfinder!!!), 24x zoom lens (25mm to 600mm equivalent), and fast continuous shooting mode (11 frames per second). Plus there's the coolness factor which doesn't mean much to me but might help the resale value if I ever wanted to sell it. The only problem is I can't afford to buy it in the first place...

The Lumix DMC-FZ100 by Panasonic is almost exactly the same as the Leica V-Lux 2 except it costs about $400. What are the differences? I'm sure the two cameras have some firmware differences being from two different makers. The FZ100 weighs a whole 19 grams more than the V-Lux 2. And, of course it's not a Leica so you don't get the "cool factor" of the V-Lux 2... OTOH it has the same sensor and exact same lens as the V-Lux... for $400 less. The question is, is it worth $400 just to look cool?

I love reading camera reviews because every once in awhile someone will leave a comment that is so true that it just makes you bust up laughing. I remember reading something like this (I'm paraphrasing) on a review comparing the Fuji X100 and the Leica X1:

The Leica is more expensive so obviously it's cooler. Every hipster should buy two or three.

So not being a hipster of course I got the X100 but it turns out even I fell for the hipster-style marketing hype. After doing a bit of coherent thinking, I realized that for what I'm going to use my X100 for, I'd have been better off (and about $1000 richer) if I'd bought an old Canonette. Such is life...