Leica hits the streets

The Leica team followed street trials rider Danny MacAskill on his journey of discovery through Cape Town to put the new V-LUX30 camera through its paces.

There may not be anything remarkable about shooting a video of a cyclists on the streets. But Leica is no ordinary camera brand and Danny MacAskill no ordinary cyclist. The iconic camera brand chose to use his ride through the streets of Cape Town to demonstrate the video as well as stills capability of the V-LUX30 camera.

Click here to see his breathtaking biking stunts and discover Cape Town in a new way.

The Leica V-Lux 30 is described by Leica as a great camera for anyone who travels the world with their eyes open looking to capture inspiration from their surroundings. Just as extreme sportsman Danny MacAskill transforms a city into his personal playground by mastering obstacles with his spectacular bike stunts, Leica says taking pictures with the Leica V-Lux 30 makes the world your playground too. It is the perfect camera for seeing the world with new perspectives.

Enormous capabilities

The photographic options offered by the Leica V-Lux 30 and its 16√ó optical-zoom range include everything from wide-angle and macro shots to telephoto shots of distant subjects. Extremely precise, spherical lenses in the construction of its Leica DC Vario-Elmar 1:3.3-5.9 4.3-68.8 mm ASPH zoom lens (24-384 mm, 35-mm equivalent) enable an enormous range of focal lengths from 24 to 384 mm – for video as well as still pictures. The camera is made even more versatile by a continuous shooting mode (burst mode), allowing the capture of an impressive ten images per second at full resolution (14.1 MP), and a 3D image-capture mode. Another highlight of the V-Lux 30 is its amazingly efficient video recording format: it records videos in 1920 √ó 1080i AVCHD full-HD including GPS data and, in contrast to the usual M-JPEG format, uses about 50% less memory – for the same brilliant image quality.

Easy handling

The LCD touch screen display of the Leica V-Lux 30 offers the ultimate in convenient handling. In addition to the familiar button menu, many features can be controlled simply by touching the screen with a fingertip. At the same time, it lets users conveniently leaf through captured images in playback mode and enlarge them with just a light tap of a fingertip. For an easy and fast starting of the video function, the video start button is located on the top of the camera, right next to the shutter-release button.

Integrated GPS function

The camera’s integrated GPS module records the geographical coordinates of the location and the local time of every picture taken, and stores the data in the EXIF data of the image files.

In conjunction with social networks, image portals and map services, such as Google Maps and Google Earth, these pictures can be sorted according to time and location and displayed in online slideshows or shown on maps at the exact location they were taken. In addition, the GPS function also shows sightseeing highlights and interesting places to visit in the immediate area. The Leica V-Lux 30 provides access to over one million points of interest.

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