Leica is now an app…

[Disappointed_Horse]

Leica LUX – iPhone app delivers iconic Leica Look | Leica Camera US

Well I guess it had to happen eventually. A camera manufacturer trying to distill its knowledge and technology into an iPhone app. This is an interesting idea. The app is priced on a "freemium" model with basic features for free and a premium "Pro" subscription priced at $70 per year. It also offers a two-week free trial of the "Pro" features.

Is Leica looking at this as a marketing effort and gateway drug into their cameras, or a new line of business and revenue stream? The pricing of the "Pro" subscription to me suggests the latter. And I guess it represents typical Leica pricing (3–5 times remotely reasonable).

I downloaded the app and it looks pretty good, but I generally avoid subscription-based software. For me personally, I don't see this app offering enough value to justify the rather exorbitant "Pro" subscription price.

Thoughts?

 

[raydm6]

Thanks for the heads-up.

I can understand their logic as you observed (why not), but it is more than what I am willing to pay.

I am happy with my iPhone 15 Pro’s output.

 

[Jonathan R]

The essence of Leica? Maybe they could bottle it.

I know it amounts to the same thing in the end, but I don't like paying by subscription. I bought a film Leica when circumstances were good for me, and now my slate stays clean.

 

[ddutchison2]

Revised promotional concept:

Wim Wenders, in immaculate black-tie, stands behind the windscreen of a mahogany speedboat slicing the glassy waters of Venice's Grand Canal at dusk. Moved by the beauty of the scene before him, and his own very great good fortune, he holds forth a phone to capture the decisive moment for eternity?

 

[JohnGellings]

Well, a gateway drug of course.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

LOL. Tough nut to crack for a luxury brand, right?

 

[rulnacco]

Leica LUX – iPhone app delivers iconic Leica Look | Leica Camera US

a premium "Pro" subscription priced at $70 per year. It also offers a two-week free trial of the "Pro" features.

Of course, given Leica's business model, this app is aimed at those individuals who wouldn't hesitate to drop that amount (or more) on a single glass of wine, or one cigar. This is not an app for those of us in the hoi polloi.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

I guess they are banking on the old principle that a luxury once sampled becomes a necessity

I am generally opposed to subscription pricing for software, but I did subscribe to Halide for a year. That was $12 per year, which isn’t unreasonable if you can swallow the subscription pricing. $70 per year is just nuts.

Interestingly, I searched for Halide on the App Store just now because I couldn’t remember what I paid for it and and ad for Leica Lux appeared at the top of the search results.

 

[seajak]

Unfortunately, it's not for me. I tried to load the free version, only to find that my refurbished Iphone 6s didn't have the right software. Looks like I'm stuck with my M6 and second-hand Leica and CV lenses. Seems I'll never be a good photographer.

Clay

 

[Gordon Moat]

It got a terrible review from The Verge, and the sample images were mostly not too special. I’m not sure this app will be profitable for Leica, though ,maybe they’re just doing it to raise brand awareness, and write it off as a marketing expense.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Leica is in stuck and forever with M. Even digital M have been made with firmware bugs.
For the rest LCAG is only successful due to outstanding design, good looking DNG.

Firmware, software side of LCAG is bad. They are hardware, not software company.

I'm have no regrets of ditching iPhone, my current Samsung is first phone where images good SOOC.
No need to install useless fetish on top of it.

 

[Freakscene]

I’m not buying it until it can simulate a monochrome ccd with a corroded sensor cover glass.

 

[luuca]

Leica LUX – iPhone app delivers iconic Leica Look | Leica Camera US

Well I guess it had to happen eventually. A camera manufacturer trying to distill its knowledge and technology into an iPhone app. This is an interesting idea. The app is priced on a "freemium" model with basic features for free and a premium "Pro" subscription priced at $70 per year. It also offers a two-week free trial of the "Pro" features.

Is Leica looking at this as a marketing effort and gateway drug into their cameras, or a new line of business and revenue stream? The pricing of the "Pro" subscription to me suggests the latter. And I guess it represents typical Leica pricing (3–5 times remotely reasonable).

I downloaded the app and it looks pretty good, but I generally avoid subscription-based software. For me personally, I don't see this app offering enough value to justify the rather exorbitant "Pro" subscription price.

Thoughts?

I'd buy it only with lifetime subscription.
1month or 1year subscription? no way.

 

[p.giannakis]

I hope they don't join Kodak as another company that lost sight of what they were good at.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

I've played with this app a bit more (still using free version and not trial subscription). I quite like the design and interface, but I'm not seeing anything in the output that would justify the astronomical subscription price.

I was a fairly early iPhone adopter (2008) and in the first five years or so tried pretty much every camera app that came out. What I learned was about 95% of camera and photography apps are crap, mostly created by developers who don't know anything about photography and are trying to make a quick buck. This has become even more true as Apple has added capability to the stock camera app over the last several years. There are only a few camera apps that offer any benefits over the stock camera app. Some, such as Halide and Reeflex, offer more control over exposure and focus, which can be helpful occasionally. (Although I generally don't find manual exposure and manual focus controls that helpful, as the ergonomics on most of them are terrible, and the computing power and HDR capabilities of the iPhone are such that the phone almost always does better in auto mode.) Some focus on the shooting experience, such as Hipstamatic, which is a completely silly app but fun nonetheless and offers many different (mostly "lo-fi") looks. Leica LUX seems to be trying to do both, but it seems they succeeded more on the shooting experience aspect of the app.

Probably my two favorite camera apps are Argentum, a black-and-white only app with an excellent UI that I actually prefer to the stock camera app, and Provoke Camera, a kind of one trick pony app that creates super high contract black-and-white images (Moriyama style). I'm also intrigued by a relatively new app called Shoot RAW, a camera app with a radically simplified UI that basically lets you select which camera to use and whether to shoot RAW, ProRAW, or HEIF and that's it. I also like and occasionally use Reeflex and their handheld long exposure app Reeheld. I'm not seeing much else in the camera app field worth even considering.

 

[Nitroplait]

So all it takes is an app to make my iPhone lens comparable to a Leica lens?
With that logic, my Nikon Z lenses should become Leica equivalent with a simple LR/PS plug-in?

How can that be in Leica’s own best interests to communicate this message?

Without a red dot sticker to put on your smartphone as part of the subscription - you don’t even get to show off your fanboy status.

 

[splitimageview]

I'm waiting for the Lenny Kravitz special edition...

 

[raydm6]

Then there's this - just released replacing the 2 🙂

Leitz Phone 3 | Leica Camera US

leica-camera.com

 

[JohnGellings]

I'm waiting for the Lenny Kravitz special edition...

Surely it’ll be someone famous from social media instead.

 

[Jonathan R]

Then there's this - just released replacing the 2 🙂

Leitz Phone 3 | Leica Camera US

leica-camera.com

To my eyes at least, the Leica was better in every case in this comparison. Quite surprising, but there it is. Interested to know whether you others think the same?