Exposing a Leica to the elements of nature would typically be considered blasphemy but the company encourages you to do so with the new X-U. This rugged beauty can withstand dust, shock, rain, and snow thanks to its sealed body. The Leica X-U is available now for $2,950 (approximately Rs. 2,00,000).
The X-U packs in a 16.2-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and comes with a 23mm prime lens with a wide f/1.7 aperture. This gives you the equivalent of a 35mm lens on a full-frame camera. The lens also a protective glass for when shooting underwater. Since there's no viewfinder, you'll have to do all the framing on the 3-inch LCD display. The Leica X-U is also capable of full-HD video recording at 30fps. Another interesting design choice is the placement of the flash, which is mounted above the axis of the lens, which should help illuminate your subject better when shooting underwater.
Leica has also made it easier to snap pictures underwater by adding a dedicated button. When enabled, the camera automatically adjusts the parameters for ideal underwater capture. The body of the X-U was co-developed by Audi Design and features high-grade aluminium for the top plate while the rest of the body is coated with a thermoplastic elastomer material. The camera also supports saving in RAW files, up to 5fps burst mode, ISO range from 100-12500, and minimum focusing distance of 20cm. The camera is fairly compact and weighs about 635 grams.