This little gem of a camera packs a mighty 10 times optical magnification into a small but sturdy case. The Leica lens is a marvel of design. It has good easy to read LCD screen and very intuative menus. I have now had the camera for a few weeks and it lives up to Panasonics claims. I wish I could have waited for the new models but I needed it for my vacation.My wife refused to entertain the idea of such a large magnification range because of the lens size she envisaged, based on past experience. she is now completely won over.