The Leica Lux iPhone Camera App - Utterly Pointless

[@petermcginty3636]

I will take it for granted that Leica won't be offering you a sponsorship deal, any time soon. Nor would you accept one. Thanks for your video, very funny.

[@Andyhutchinson]

Haha - no I can't see that happening any time soon.

[@Mrus-jo1rh]

Aloha from Hawaii where the photographic light is astonishing! I love your no holds barred reviews. In this case, the Leica-supplied filters offered by the app looked like results one could easily and quickly obtain using almost any competent iPhone or iPad photo editor. A little off topic - the practice of offering monthly or annual license fees, which is becoming common, is off putting. I prefer to pay up front, with the option to pay upgrade fees later if desired. Leica’s annual fees seem outrageous for what you get. Considering the enormous power of modern tablets, a good photo editor should be jam packed with useful features.

[@Andyhutchinson]

Yea, it's a definite cash-grab. Had this app been $5 one-off I'd have gone a bit easier ...

[@markielinhart]

Why do people bang on about the price of Leica cameras? FYI the newly released Sony A9 lll 24.6MP and all costs, body only $10,499. Let that sink in…

[@Andyhutchinson]

lol - true - maybe it's just jealousy on my part!

[@Andyhutchinson]

lol - true - maybe it's just jealousy on my part!

[@NDakota79]

I see the criticism but I disagree that the app is totally pointless. I use the free version for its actually good black & white profiles straight out if camera. The standard iPhone app has horrible black & white profiles so that’s a use case for me.

[@Andyhutchinson]

Sure - the profiles might be ok for you - but at $10 per month? LR Mobile or VSCO both have incredible monochrome and straight B&W presets and represent vastly better value for money. :)

[@WhatTheFragrance]

Great video, I tested many photos against iPhone standard camera, nothing different. All I learnt was difference between heif vs jpeg

[@Andyhutchinson]

Yea, it's a strange app, all things considered.

[@PeterTodd]

Ripping Leica a new one, yep, completely warranted and well deserved. : )

[@Andyhutchinson]

Cheers Peter :)

[@konstantinestathis1994]

Why this app? Look around. “Subscriptions” are the new rent and the new old feudal system and a way to tax without being the taxman. Now rent TV via KZbin (record profits and share price for Google). Rent photo editing via Adobe (record profits and share price). Rent your home from the bank via a mortgage (record profits and share price) and when it is paid off, enter a reverse mortgage to keep the bank collecting rent as a growing interest in your home. (Will this comment get rejected from publishing - I’ll copy it first before I post it. It’ll appear elsewhere). And KZbinrs collect a portion of the rent that Google collects from my subscription to them. Like you. Not to criticise but it is the way of the world. Is this true in your experience Andy?

[@Andyhutchinson]

The old systems were failing and so they brought back something from the past - subscriptions. Back in the day parents would buy the Encyclopedia Britannica on a subscription basis - paying a couple of quid a week until they had all the volumes. The single maxim of business is 'growth' - single pricing outright purchases weren't enabling that - so they got rid of them. It's the new normal.

[@ArminSteiner]

I was laughing so hard at the habdjob and 15 sec. comment I almost dropped my phone 😂😂. I just love it when you are upset with a product. Keep it up Andy

[@Andyhutchinson]

Cheers Armin :)

[@TerryKontopoulos]

You can do a similar critique for their cameras too...

[@Andyhutchinson]

I'd have to try one first! :)

[@davidwoods80]

It's always a good day when you open KZbin, and find that Andy Hutchinson has shit all over some product.

[@Andyhutchinson]

Haha - cheers David :)

[@marcusnz232]

I’ve shot M series cameras since about 1997. I like the form factor and the simplicity. That app is indeed utterly pointless, I agree.

[@Andyhutchinson]

Did you move to Leica from another brand or step into digital photography with them?

[@marcusnz232]

Well I needed to move to digital for professional work in the early 2000’s and it did not look like Leica would ever make that step. So I sold the lot for about half what I’d get for it now (😭) and went to Nikon. Shot D3s for some time, then decided that that was just too bulky to lug around the world. Switched to Leica again (M240) but was no good for varied artistic/personal reasons. Went to Olympus EM1X. Very good but not quite good enough IQ. Then tried Fuji GFX 100. Fabulous IQ. Loved it. Just far too heavy/bulky. Then the M11 arrived with internal memory, electronic shutter to 16000th, triple resolution sensor options, long battery life, optional EVF etc and I’d scaled down professional work due to the effort/reward ratio being backwards (!!) so decided I could just shoot what I loved to use and if I got a work job that needed AF and 1000 fps I’d just hire a Sony A1! So that’s the long journey. Excluding the Kodak Instamatic I began with, the Canon AE-1 Program I used for years after that, the Canon A1 after that etc etc….!

[@marcusnz232]

@@Andyhutchinson I am sure that I answered this today but it seems I did not! Not exactly no. I was shooting M film cameras and then when Leica did not look like they were ever going to make an M digital I sold it all and moved to Nikon D3s. Shot those for ages then got fed up lugging them around the world and switched to Olympus M43 for a while. Then to Fuji GFX. Then the M11 came along and I felt Leica had really reached the point where I could use the M system again and just hire a faster AF camera on a per job basis if ever required.

[@jaxytvids]

So, I'm not really clear. Did you like it?

[@Andyhutchinson]

Kind of on-the-fence :)

[@alacazaba]

It's all rubbish! I do hope this SAAS paradigm is sent to a digital grave soon. And in the future, unlike the nostalgia we may have had for the first Mac, the flip phone, or the PC game Zelda, I think this trend of SAAS especially in apps will be seen more like the indentured servitude for users it really is and companies like Adobe (and Leica) will have to wrestle with a rather poor legacy. Dear digital behemoths, this "Ice Cream Shop" pricing - where we pay extra for the candy sprinkles, and then extra for an upgraded cone, and then extra for 2 flavours - is not the way forward in software development especially when we can get better results without you mucking it up. Great undressing of our digital betters, Andy!

[@Andyhutchinson]

Thanks mate - I miss the old days when you used to just buy an app and that was that. :)

[@GordonRunklePhoto]

Do they at least send you a red dot sticker to put on your phone? 🤔

[@Andyhutchinson]

They do not.

[@JeffBFranzen]

Very funny. Very accurate.

[@Andyhutchinson]

Cheers :)