You May Pay Every Month Now

I'm doing my best to restrain myself. I'm chomping at the bit this morning. I had a sarcastic, snarky, and hopefully humorous post all planned out. But people are touchy lately—it's an election year, schools are no longer teaching students to read books, and the weather is now a charged partisan topic we can't agree on. There's too great a danger my post would come off not as funny but mean. I'm going to exercise restraint of pen and tongue.

The post would have been about this:

https://lfi-online.de/en/stories/leica-lux-20849.html

If you don't have time to read it, it's an announcement for an iPhone app that will enable users to take pictures with a smartphone that look just like Leica pictures taken with specific Leica lenses. The writers got carried away. There's all sorts of verbiage slathered through it that strikes me as utterly absurd and that I'm dying to make fun of. As a chunk of prose it's a bigger heap of horseshit than anything this side of the Mennonite horse-and-buggy parking places at the stores in town.

The bottom line is that you can now pay Leica (or somebody) 7.99 Euros every month and get special Leica pixie dust. You can be a pro and take pro pictures with your phone. For the first time ever, apparently. There's a sucker born every minute, as Phineas Taylor Barnum famously said.

I'll ask one simple question: if an app will allow you to take pictures that look like they were taken with Leica cameras and lenses, then why would anybody need to own Leica cameras and lenses?!

Bull ball leather and platitaniumite
The announcement made me think of something I honestly haven't thought of in quite a while now—it reminded me that Leica used to be a company that indulged in a whole lot of gimmicky, tacky, tasteless marketing. I once called Leica "the Franklin Mint of camera companies," which might have been funny back when people still knew what the Franklin Mint was. It sold readymade collectibles, mainly coins, plates, medals, and gewgaws of various sorts. There have been Leicas plated with gold or even platinum, and you could get special Leicas made of titanium so they could better withstand the rigors of sitting on a shelf never being touched. You could get awesome $90 plastic lenscaps, bags that looked like fishing baskets used in the 19th century by English aristocrats, and special lens-cleaning fluids made of angel spit and butterfly tears. Leicas were sold for thousands of dollars above market because they had different viewfinder magnifications or they'd had their leatherette replaced with ostrich or lizard skin or bull scrotum leather, and you could get "commemorative" models for all sorts of things, such as the birthday of King Fookinah of Wakanda, the 25th anniversary of The Leica Strap Collectors Society, or the centenary of the Stuffy White Persons Association (SWPA, pronounced swoopah).

Of course, these are only silly until you own one, at which time they instantly become cool.

I've probably already gone too far. I should shut up. As for that app, caveat emptor.

Mike

P.S. Anybody got any stories about Leica silliness or excess? I feel like I've forgotten half the good ones. That writeup for the app dredged up memories that have been buried in the muck at the bottom of the pond for a while.

Original contents copyright 2024 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Robert Fogt: "I'm sensing a cash cow here. Reverse snobbism. An app that will make your Leica pictures look like cell phone pictures. How brilliant is that?!"

Bryan Geyer: "A lot of this same nonsense pervades the audiophile world. Just consider the absurdity of exotic speaker wire that often sells for $50.00 or more per foot."

Mike replies: That's for pikers! I just checked, and the Nordost Tyr 2, which is third from the top of the line, costs $8,302.99 for a terminated two-meter pair. That's $632.67 per foot, and not even for the best they make.

Albert Smith: "I remember reading about a promotion from Leica in the '80s (pretty sure), for if you bought an SLR 800mm ƒ/6.3 lens for a measly $30,000, Leica would throw in a way to carry the lens...a brand new Volkswagen Fox car. All the photo magazines had blurbs about it, but I never saw any numbers about actual customers collecting on the deal."

lazaruz long: "Gonna take a contrarian view. I am using the app (in the free mode). Basically what I use it for in the free mode is a different and IMHO better color scheme to my iPhone images."

Mike replies: Fair enough.

Jack Mac: "I am a Leica fan-boy (you do know I have a Kevlar-covered Leica M that allows me to take much better photos than any other camera in a war zone). But even I thought the Leica iPhone app LUX PRO was truly jumping the shark.

"Yet a fellow Leica fan-boy actually got it and said that its user interface is easier to use than the competition. And while I do not believe there is a Leica look in 2024, Leica does 'get' simplicity well done. Looking at the free version, he may have a point. But it is also filled with prompts to get the pro version. I expect that the pricing on the pro version is aimed at early adopters for whom $5.83 a month is a cup of coffee. Note that that price is the 17% already-discounted price. A couple of years ago Leica tried to charge a monthly price for an iPad to do LeicaFotos and they converted to free after criticism."

Bill Tyler: "Leicas are status symbols for many or most owners, just like mechanical watches priced in four or five figures. Of course there are photographers who use Leicas because they suit their working style. The status seekers benefit these others by ensuring that the brand remains economically viable through their purchases."

XK50: "FYI, the bloke wot commissioned the Leica XK50 Jaguar M6, 26 years ago, remains a regular reader of TOP. Also, it was amusing to see, a couple of years ago, that a race horse, in Oz, had been named 'Leica Jaguar.' Dunno about its 'grace' and 'space,' but sincerely hope it had the necessary 'pace'! Best wishes, John (long retired!)."

Mike replies: Wow, that is great. Is that you, or someone you know? What a coincidence that I happened to pick that one to link to.

XK50: "It was me...in a former life. There’s a bit of background on CameraQuest. The then aim was as much non-automotive trademark use, for protection, as automotive promotional. All a long time ago!"

Mike: Well, I know I was making fun of Leica commemoratives, but I still think it's very cool that you're reading, and it's a nice coincidence that I picked that one to link to. I had never seen it before, actually. Don't think I didn't notice the green, either.  :-)

As I understand it, most of the Leica commemoratives were actually custom orders from customers who set the parameters for the issue. Then the overage would be sold to collectors or interested parties. That's why they were collectively such a motley.

Dale: "I personally liked the already beat-up ones, no need to wear the black off yourself when it could tastefully be done by a finish professional. This practice may have started with blue jeans but quickly found a home with electric guitars."

Mike replies: Many years ago I bought a new Olympus OM-4T that I couldn't really afford. Because I found myself treating it way too carefully, as I had a case of new-car syndrome, I took a nickel and scraped the paint off the titanium at all the hard edges, giving it instant wear. The idea was simply to make it so that I wasn't afraid to handle it normally. I ended up not keeping it (only because it was too expensive for me at the time), and when I explained to the buyer what I had done and why, he accepted the explanation and paid me a near-new price.

It was actually very pretty with its fake wear, which was carefully and artfully done if I do say so myself!

William Glokas: "It’s fun watching the guys at Leica store Miami justify the latest and greatest Leica. Only to change their tune when the next great Leica comes out. They lost me when Leica started hawking 15k watches."

Mike replies: I wrote a lampoon ages ago on the LUG about the "Leica Rules," and one of the rules was that every current Leica product had to be lauded as perfect in every way; flaws could only be discussed once that product had been superseded by a newer one. So when the 35mm Summicron ASPH came out, for instance, then and only then could the flaws in the pre-ASPH be acknowledged. It was tongue-in-cheek, but it really did seem to be the actual practice among enthusiasts.

Ken Tanaka: "I am an unashamed fan of many Leica photography products (and have the receipts to prove it!); I was even interviewed some years ago for Leica’s blog. But even I open-mouth laughed when I first saw the subscription Lux app offering. C’mon, man. No, not for me. Or anyone else I know. But ya know, I can’t be bitter against Leica for such nutty cash grabs. Harry B Houchins’a comment, in the Comments section, exemplifies why. 'I'm 80 years old and the days of street photography are behind me. But, I still "Jones" for my Leica days. Still cruise eBay and think about spending the huge amout for.... Well, I'm dreamin' here, aren't I….' I know I, too, will reminisce of countless days walking the streets with a Leica when I can no longer do so. What other camera brand tradition leaves such indelible impressions?"

Mike replies: I do as well, even though I will never do it again. Spending a few years with film M's when they were current is one of the many great experiences in my photographic life I'm grateful for. Not for nothing is "The Leica As Teacher" (and its follow-up, "Why It Has to be a Leica") one of the most popular articles I ever wrote anywhere for anyone. Hundreds of people from all over the world followed the prescription.

Comments

[Dan Khong]

You wrote, "...then why would anybody need to own Leica cameras and lenses?!"

It is quite obvious that many people own Leica for the bragging rights. For those with less deep pockets who have hand-phones only, for a small monthly fee, you can still have some bragging rights of producing "Leica" pictures.

[Michael]

Thanks for this, I needed a laugh. If this is you restraining yourself I’m pretty sure we’d all like to know what the un-restrained you was going to say.

[Stephen Cowdery]

"… you could get special Leicas made of titanium so they could better withstand the rigors of sitting on a shelf never being touched."

That inspired bit of prose made me laugh out loud.

[Dave]

geez, Mike, post your original post and let the chips fall where they may....

if someone gets offended, that's on them not you...

[Michael Fewster]

Samsung and Apple are racing to be the first to market with a new phone camera development designed for retro look camera aficionados.
The new device will add a film transport to a phone. It will have a rotary dial instead of a touchpad.
A Samsung representative has admitted that they badly underestimated the demand.He said, " Originally we thought this was just the usual Leica crowd. Then our pre-orders were inundated with Nikon zf owners and now Pentax owners are queuing up. We are beginning work on a pinhole model."

[Kye Wood]

You're a great writer Mike.
Not good. Not average.

Great writers don't have to be mean or negative. They're the cheap laughs of comedy.

I get that you're upset. Lie on the floor with Butters for a spell. It's cooler down there. And he'd like the company.

FOX et al want us to be angry and divided. Just be happy instead.

May you see a rainbow and a butterfly today.

[? I'm not upset about anything. --Mike]

[Jeff]

I can only imagine your comments if Leica made a camera with a “bokeh” setting on the top.

At least all the nonsense marketing, special editions, etc, that Leica engages in, results in profits that produce cameras that include some of cleanest control designs, simplest menus and best viewfinders available. Plus a bunch of monochrome versions, and some pretty good lenses, too. I hope there continues to be a lot of crazy folks who continue to fill the coffers.

[Jim R]

Yes suckers are always up for financial ruin by a thousand cuts, i.e., those monthly (less than $10!) subscriptions do add up. I downloaded the free app and like the interface and AE control. YMMV

[Dan B.]

I’m still trying to grasp if there really is such a thing as “Leica Colors” - I’ve seen a couple of preview videos on the new D-Lux8 and they said that unfortunately it does not have Leica Colors (Panasonic colors perhaps…). I get that every manufacturer has some of their own color science tweaks but do people really think they can pick out a sample photo as definitely being “Leica” or is it just wishful thinking/justification?

[Speed]

Mike wrote, " ... if an app will allow you to take pictures that look like they were taken with Leica cameras and lenses, then why would anybody need to own Leica cameras and lenses?!"

And many of today's AI tools will make the pictures without any camera at all. Anywhere in the world. In any weather. At any time of the night or day. Or they will "real soon now."

[darlene]

From Barbie dolls cherished as supermodels, complete with custom wardrobes and perfectly coiffed hair, fetching thousands at auctions, to Beanie Babies that once promised to fund your retirement, now selling for a dollar a piece alongside VHS tapes at garage sales, the world of collecting is filled with broken dreams and really poor investments. Oh, the Franklin Mint, with its limited edition collectibles, was supposed to skyrocket in value but now serves as nostalgic reminders that sometimes sentimental value is the real gold.

I once owned a Leica M7. While it felt wonderful in the hand, I had other issues with it. Primarily, I didn't see the value beyond using it to take pictures. Now, if I had shown up to photograph Barbie supermodels, maybe the Leica might have gotten me some creative recognition for being able to afford a camera that cost more than a semester of college tuition. Just maybe it would have been assumed I must be somebody.

[Can]

I agree with you about the app.
As for the rest of what you wrote about Leica, you made it easy for yourself.
I would have expected such determination and sarcasm about Adobe's recent terms of use controversy, for example.

[Calvin Amari]

https://gagosianshop.com/products/leica-cl-urban-jungle-by-jean-pigozzi-camera

[Rick Popham]

If the Leica "collectables" weren't bad enough, remember that Hasselblad stepped it up a notch in the 2010's with all their "de luxe" rebrands of Sony cameras.

As for the app, I can just imagine the sudden flood of images on social media, all supposedly taken with a Noctilux, all framed vertically.

[Yonatan Katznelson]

Tangentially related... What if anything do you think of the Alice camera? An actual m43 camera that attaches to and is controlled by your phone (via their app).

Perhaps Ctein should chime in on this one too.

[Kirk]

I especially liked the one I bought which features a leatherette made of Unicorn hide. It's so unique... I've been saving up for it since college...

[Gary Merken]

"Chomping" at the bit?

That was a typo, yes? For the term "champing" at the bit?

[PDLanum]

Well, Motorola tried to get people to buy in on a add on camera.
Look up the Motorola Z4 Hasselblad Moto Mod.

Huge failure as this will be too.

[William Lewis]

Thanks but I rather do like my Leica M Type 240 that took an inheritance, my savings, and a trip to the pawnshop after finding a reasonably priced on on Ebay. I know I'll never be able to afford another one.

But in the meantime I'm on day 173 of my picture a day project that I started on January 1 and having fun with it and the Nikkor 50/1.4 that's on it. That matters more to me than some mythical "Leica look" from the app.

[Not THAT Ross Cameron]

Just confirms the saying - there’s an app for that.
Aside - from a brief search apparently Apple started it.

How long before we can get the Fuji look, the Olympus look, the Nikon look? Maybe that doesn’t quite have the same ring.

[Stephen J]

I was reminded again this morning that my iPhone has reached its “use by” date, as happens seemingly every few days.

It works just as well as it did the day I first bought it. It is still one of the lightest and most pocketable products that the company has produced, and third party ‘phone bits’ companies still make new covers and protector screens for it. Having said that, my original Apple protector screen cracked years ago, and I never got around to replacing it. I just don’t throw it around, and this strategy has served me well, since it was around 18 months old.

So what Apple is really saying is… Come on squire, time you entered our store (five minutes walk away, as it happens) and bought yourself a shiny new model. We want your cash, and we want it now!

On the other hand, I can still get my 1932 Leica ii serviced, and it will perform as it did, when the original purchaser bought it all those years ago. I might be old (one year older than you Mike), but I am not that old.

Incidentally, I use that old Leica regularly, and it still works flawlessly. I suspect that this regular exercise, keeps the old thing sprightly.

I do agree that they make some daft “anniversary products” and I wish they didn’t, it makes a high quality product sound like something a bit tacky, but I do not have to buy them, and I do not get told that I am an old fuddy duddy, who needs to up his game and spend my spondoolicks in their store.

On the whole though, I prefer, this Leica sales model, to the Apple one any day.

Saying that, I still use my Apple Trashcan, and it still looks and works well, despite the fact that it has reached its use by date. In fact that machine, with its old, out of date iteration of the operating system…

System Version: macOS 12.7.5 (21H1222)
Kernel Version: Darwin 21.6.0
Boot Volume: Mac OSX
Boot Mode: Normal
Computer Name: xxxxxx’s Mac Pro
Username: xxxxxx
Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
System Integrity Protection: Enabled
Time since boot: 16 days 4:49

… does not keep reminding me of my lackadaisical approach.

I suppose it is possible that there is another reason that I am “required” to get a new phone, that is unrelated to Apple, but this might be considered to be ‘conspiracy theory’ related, and I am not one of those.

Oh, and as an aside, the same goes for my Leica Q2. I commented a few weeks back, that my daughter had taken it to Cannes for the film festival and her team of “pro’s” laughed at it, until they used it, and immediately fell in love with it.

Incidentally, the same goes for my Rolleiflex t 3.5, the only difference between that and the Leica, is that it is a bit unwieldy, and I can’t be bothered carrying it around.

[Luke]

"fishing baskets" - HAH!

So now we've moved beyond Film Masturbations, or, um, Discolorations, I mean Simulations, to Whole Camera Simulations.

[Peter Cameron]

A quick check of a local camera shop revealed a Disney Q2, a Ghost Q2, a Leica Salgado shopping bag along with $95 Leica-branded soft releases and lens storage cases. I’m sure there’s much more. If Leica can get enough people to pay eight Euros a month for the app, they won’t need to make as many cameras.

[Bob Johnston]

Genius - keep writing! Made me laugh anyway.

[Robert Hudyma]

Does anyone know if the felt on the Leica Lens Caps is really from a Hungarian Yak?

[JimF]

If there is anything the current era has taught me is that the rate of suckers being born is much higher than once per minute.
You have surely offended someone with this post already. Keep up the good work.

[Robert Roaldi]

The novella Unauthorized Bread by Cory Doctorow, from the book Radicalized, delves into the world of captive apps, hackers, and the "internet of things". I'm sure it was meant to be fiction but it reads a bit like documentary.

[Nick Reith]

Leica ZM2 monochrome wristwatch. Limited edition. Around $15,000.
Manual wind only.
Coming in at that price, Leica is competing with the long established, top tier Swiss brands.
Not sure how the market will respond to this but for 'Leicaman'(with apologies to Ken Rockwell) presumably just what he needs for the collection.

[Harry B Houchins]

While not to your point, I have a Leica story. I found a M6 TTL with a Summicron 50mm for sale for $2,000 on a local Craig's List. Pics looked good. Clean & in the boxes. I called and it was available. I meet the seller and I bought it. I had the cash, barely. For two years I wandered the streets of Eugene & Springfield with T-Max, developed my own film and scanned the negs. I was gob-smaked!
Then, six years ago, throat cancer struck! I had to sell the camera for funds for the treatment. I still have a copy of "Leica M Advanced Photo School." I break it out once in a while. The cancers (I've survived three bouts) are in remission. I'm 80 years old and the days of street photography are behind me. But, I still "Jones" for my Leica days. Still cruise eBay and think about spending the huge amout for... Well, I'm dreamin' here, aren't I...

[Omer]

I've bought 2 Leicas, a D-Lux 6, & 7, both priced about 25% above the Lumix versions that lack the famous red dot and the nice Leica designed 'wrap around.' The Lumix versions are 'mechanically' the same – including the lens – meaning I paid a premium for the chance to fool myself into believing the red dot was a ticket to doing great photography.

So it’s silly me. But sometimes silly is fun, and fun is not to be sneered at.

[Herman Krieger]

Can you picture yourself with the Leica app on a smart phone?

[Peter Wright]

I’m seriously beginning to worry about the future of humanity. There has no doubt, always been a tendency for humans to try to get other humans to believe something that is illogical, wrong, or simply absurd, but now it seems to have gotten to epidemic proportions. Not just with photography, or audio of course, but everything – just look at US politics for the most amazing examples (and other places are not far behind). But now we have a rapidly growing AI (soon it seems, to be hypercharged with quantum computers), that can read every book, see every political campaign, watch every TV commercial, and realize exactly how to make us humans believe what it needs us to believe. Then we are finished.

[Mike Plews]

Does the app have a "decisive moment" filter?.
By the way a few years back I read in Stereophile of a Swedish tonearm that cost $53,000. Must have been a misprint, had to be a misprint. If not I wonder how many they sold?
I have an android phone so I suppose the best I can hope for is a Diana app.

[Richard G]

Yeah. I passed on that in a nanosecond. I’d rather save for a glass bottle of genuine Lucas electric smoke. Much better value.

[Tom R. Halfhill]

Hey Mike, I don't know when you compared Leica to the Franklin Mint, but I did the same in a freelance manuscript submitted to Shutterbug magazine in the early 1990s. Then-editor Bob Shell called me and said he hesitated to print the comparison for fear of offending Leica.

I politely replied that he was the editor, so he could edit my manuscript as he pleased. (As a career journalist, I've learned to be flexible with editors.) He deleted the comparison in the published article. No objection on my part; it was a snarky comment.

[Chris H]

I really like Swoopah. Do they have a Grand Poobah of this Swoopah? ;)

[David Brown]

"app not available" at the link you posted.