There’s no such thing as an inexpensive Leica, but if you own an iPhone, there might be a compromise of sorts with a special grip.
Owning a camera from one of the world’s most established camera brands — Leica — doesn’t typically come cheap, and there’s little wonder why: the cameras are excellent, the lens optical superb, and the results you get from them are often some of the best in the business.
It’s little wonder why Leica’s interchangeable lens cameras can cost close to $10,000 and higher body only — no lens — while the clever advanced point and shoot equivalents in the Q-series still command serious dollars even without the option to replace lenses.
Leica isn’t an inexpensive brand, but there have been some ways around getting the style and grade of its camera prowess in recent years. Nearly ten years ago, Leica started working with Huawei to create Leica phone cameras, and we’ve certainly seen similar from Panasonic in the past, as well.
These days, it’s Xiaomi doing the phone collaborations with Leica, but you can’t find those in Australia, at least not yet.
Fortunately, Australians looking for a Leica they can use in their phone may already have one, provided they have a recent iPhone. Kinda sorta.
The news comes courtesy of a $495 magnetic grip Leica has made out of research from its acquisition of Fjorden, a start-up that specialised in creating camera grips for the iPhone to turn the mobile camera experience into something a little more made for professionals.
Leica’s grip isn’t exactly a Fjorden, but it’s one that comes from that research, with a special MagSafe camera grip that uses magnets to hold to the iPhone and Bluetooth LE to talk to it.
When used with the Leica Lux app, the camera’s two-stage shutter release works to focus and fire, much like it would with a conventional camera, while extra controls provide options for zoom, aperture, shutter speed, and exposure controls.
Essentially, Leica’s Lux grip converts the iPhone camera experience into something more like a conventional camera, complete with filters to tweak the style of shots so that they resemble standard Leica styles, including the monochrome of Leica’s “monochrom” cameras.
Inside is a battery good for around a thousand shots and charged by USB-C, with the whole thing weighing 130 grams and able to be used regardless of if you’re a right-handed or someone shopping from The Leftorium.
The design almost suggests that Leica sees the specialised grip also working as a bit of a stand of sorts, complete with a tripod thread mount on the bottom and support for current and future MagSafe iPhones, too.
Priced at $495 in Australia, you’ll find it in stores shortly across the country.
