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Breaking News - Leica is entering the Smartphone Market


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Since when have Leica been in the sensor business? It would be odd for them to buy in sensors for their main cameras but yet manufacture a sensor for a phone company!

 

I'm sure the Leica input on this product is the camera lens(es) design and in camera processing software settings. I very much doubt that Leica will actually manufacture any part of this product.

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  • 1 month later...

Dr Kauffman posted a photo of the new phone on his Facebook page the other day. No red dot, just 'Leica' in the modern script.

 

 

There is a double page spread ad for this new smartphone in this month's Vogue (UK) edition. I don't have it to hand but I think the Leica red dot is fairly prominent in the ad (if not on the phone). The ad didn't look out of place in the magazine and I can't help think that the tie-up will prove beneficial to Huawei who, until this year, I'd always thought were one of those faceless Chinese OEM manufacturers of 3G dongles and other techie kit. I'm not sure the partnership will do anything to boost or raise awareness of the Leica brand (either in China or here in the West) but I dare say Leica will have been paid quite handsomely for their involvement and use of the brand.

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Not knowing a thing about it, I dislike it instinctively and deeply, but that's just me.

 

 

I don't really understand this (and I'm not really picking on you, Al).

 

Most photography these days is by smartphone, and as ThighSlapper says above (I think it was ThighSlapper), the middle is being hollowed out.  Long term, we will continue to see a reasonably healthy top end photography market (Leica M, S & SL; PhaseOne; Hasselblad H6D; top end Caniksonys; and Zeiss providing excellent lenses) and smartphones - the middle is dead.

 

Leica designing, possibly supplying, and licensing cameras for a smartphone is very clever.  They're not competing in or confusing their own high end market, and it sounds as if this twin lens smartphone camera really is fabulous. I use the camera in my phone a lot (particularly if I don't have a camera with me) - it's photography I enjoy, not just the product, and sometimes the camera you have with you is the best one.  I always have my phone with me, and the images it provides are perfectly adequate for most purposes.  A friend with the Huawei P9 has posted images on FaceBook that are considerably better than adequate.

 

If Leica makes money from this venture, we all win.

 

Cheers

John

Edited by IkarusJohn
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[...] Most photography these days is by smartphone  [...] the middle is being hollowed out [...]

 

Pardon my editor's penchant for editing.

 

"Hollowed out" is so apt, poignant. Thank you for that. A camera as a shell containing nothing significant for the rest of us.

 

Edited by pico
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[...] Most photography these days is by smartphone  [...] the middle is being hollowed out [...]

 

Pardon my editor's penchant for editing.

 

"Hollowed out" is so apt, poignant. Thank you for that. A camera as a shell containing nothing significant for the rest of us.

 

 

 

Great for Holloween" -

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[...] Most photography these days is by smartphone  [...] the middle is being hollowed out [...]

 

Pardon my editor's penchant for editing.

 

"Hollowed out" is so apt, poignant. Thank you for that. A camera as a shell containing nothing significant for the rest of us.

 

 

 

 

"... the rest of us ..."

 

Who is that, Pico?  I doubt non-cellphone camera users are a significant number anywhere, unless you're claiming some superiority over the rest of humanity (moral, technical, artistic or otherwise).

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As an aside, I currently have a Huawei Mate P7 phone, precisely because it is dual sim and has a very large screen. All this for a precise purpose of mine. I have always been a phone cam detractor but have been forced to eat my words when I realized the images from the camera  are excellent quality and incidentally larger than from my Leica M9-P! It's still typically 'phone-cam' clutsy to handle and shoot, but if the subject is prepared to remain stationary in front of you, the chances of a capture are reasonable.

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  • 1 month later...

I can confirm what IkarusJohn is saying:

 

I admit that I have become a fan

 

the pictures are superb, 2x12 MP being merged to either RAW or JPG. Raw files are really good and can be refined even in LR, Jpg's come out perfect. Two cameras, one b&W withbout deepassfilter, the other one with Color are being merged. Rendering on the display is gorgeous and being rendered on the PC is awesome as well.

Of course the sensor is very small but yet the results are the best what I have ever seen by smartphones. That is why I use it very often now since a few weeks. For daylight shots, macro or landscape it can easily beat any of the small cameras 1". Therefore I think Leica did right waiting for a few years until they found an adequate partner which started as a network firm a few years back in China. Great job done!

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I can confirm what IkarusJohn is saying:

 

I admit that I have become a fan

 

the pictures are superb, 2x12 MP being merged to either RAW or JPG. Raw files are really good and can be refined even in LR, Jpg's come out perfect. Two cameras, one b&W withbout deepassfilter, the other one with Color are being merged. Rendering on the display is gorgeous and being rendered on the PC is awesome as well.

Of course the sensor is very small but yet the results are the best what I have ever seen by smartphones. That is why I use it very often now since a few weeks. For daylight shots, macro or landscape it can easily beat any of the small cameras 1". Therefore I think Leica did right waiting for a few years until they found an adequate partner which started as a network firm a few years back in China. Great job done!

In general good modern smartphones can take images with excellent IQ for prints of A4 size as long as the light is good. Where they fail is when they have to be cropped (because the only focal length option is wide angle), or as the light deteriorates. They are also better in the centre than the edges, which becomes more obvious in larger prints (IMO, edge performance is more critical with prints than digital images because our eye wanders over the print more than a digital image).

 

Which other phones are you able to compare this one with in non-favourable lighting? Have you tried prints?

 

Edit: And have you noticed any limitations to this phone as a smartphone rather than as a camera?

Edited by LocalHero1953
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Paul,

 

I did not yet try prints but I think they must be good enough in DIN A 4 because the 100% view is excellent. With cropping you are right, this is limited because of the wideangle lens and the small sensor. But knowing this your shots have to be different from those taken with a normal camera. Also with a normal camera I do not shoot to crop afterwards. If I do I  ckeck what I Need when I have to crop and use adequate parameters. Here is where the Huawei P 9 can show ist advantages. You can change exposure parameters. In jpg you can even shoot with focus that can be adapted afterwards! You can choose between different b&w modes, and zoom (only in jpg).

My old smartphone( 2 years old) is a Lenovo and still in use for internet and navigation.( That camera was a bore and I never used it for reasons of inferior quality...)

I have the chance now to compare with the current Lumia but handling is far from fun, it looks brilliant on the smartphone display but as files being transferred to PC there is a significant difference in the jpgs. As soon as if I will be able to tell more I'll come back to this thread.

 

So, as a first conclusion. Huawei P9 is one of the best in the market for now. Limitations are there, of course, caused by sensor size. If you know its limitations and know to use the wideangle lens creatively you can churn out of it amazing shots. If this development will show further products the days of the point and shoot cameras are limited.

 

To answer your question referring to the phone properties I can only say that it works very fast, I do not notice any slow performance as being claimed by insiders with reference to the Kirin processor. These are things only specialists can discuss. What I like is that you do can scan your fingerprints and work key funtions like unlocking, accepting phone calles with just your fingerprints. Nobody can fiddle around with your phone and sniff in your pictures etc. You have only to touch it slightly and there is no unnerving pecking and hammering to get the things done. This is a very good feature. The case itsel is metal and the feel is very good with its slim body and lightly round edges.

I have not noticed any spoilers so far on the contrary. It is a pleasure to have this thing in your hand. One spoiler could be that in Asia it is being delivered with an additional slot for further storage. But, well, files (32GB) are being transferred quickly via USB 3 cable ! Here you have to be careful if buying acessories because this standard is not yet mandatory and the plug is different and can be inserted left right upside down no matters with no more fumbling in the dark which is the right side.

 

I hope I could help in answering a few questions.

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Thanks, Iduna, that's very helpful. My Sony Xperia Z1 Compact takes excellent 20mp jpgs in good light, but there are too many aspects I can't control (e.g. auto sharpening, which is applied badly in low light) so I've been considering a smartphone with raw capability.

But you're right about compact cameras. I sold my Ricoh GRD4, because I found myself relying either on my Leica or on the phone: I didn't need anything in between.

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"... the rest of us ..."

 

Who is that, Pico?  I doubt non-cellphone camera users are a significant number anywhere, unless you're claiming some superiority over the rest of humanity (moral, technical, artistic or otherwise).

 

Humanity, no. I am a dog, after all.

Phones are difficult for me to use.

No opposed thumbs, you see.

Edited by pico
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Thanks, Iduna, that's very helpful. My Sony Xperia Z1 Compact takes excellent 20mp jpgs in good light, but there are too many aspects I can't control (e.g. auto sharpening, which is applied badly in low light) so I've been considering a smartphone with raw capability.

But you're right about compact cameras. I sold my Ricoh GRD4, because I found myself relying either on my Leica or on the phone: I didn't need anything in between.

Paul,

good if I could help a bit.

Yes, the Huawei P9 is very good at Raw files, No oversharpening when you view the Pictures in a converter. Generally you do not have to correct much but a little adaption in the shadows or darken the bright parts. Since you can modify the paramaters while shooting RAW the results in the converter are already very nice.

AF is nice and provides track sharp results. you can Change clarity in your RAW conveerter if you wnat to have a softer look).

 

Best regards

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  • 1 month later...

Hi folks :)

 

Don't know if this is to be considered as a breaking new ????

 

Brand new Leica camera so-called SOFORT... http://www.tomsguide.fr/actualite/appareil-photo-instantane-leica-sofort,53207.html

 

Lens Hektor

 

B&W or color films

 

Costs 300 bats in the USA.

 

Sales start on november, pre-order available from 15th september.

 

Quite a big toy !

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