Leica LUX - Pro Manual Camera

The latest versions of this app seem to have really addressed my biggest complaint of freezing while taking photos. I now use Lux nearly daily to take photos of my daughter. Yes, it’s expensive. If I didn’t have such a cute subject, I probably wouldn’t subscribe. However, the photos I’ve been able to create with Leica’s help have been nothing short of amazing and well worth the investment. I’ll probably never be able to afford physical, M-series Leica gear (see above-referenced child and associated costs) but as far as I can tell, this app comes really close to the indescribable, there-is-something-different look I achieve from the other Leica-branded lenses I own. I also appreciate the more traditional workflow of being forced to select a lens in advance and being stuck with it until you “change”. You can always edit later, but I do like being forced into thinking about the look I want to achieve instead of just snapping dozens of terrible photos with random zooms, etc. I don’t need histograms, focus peaking, or any of that other “pro” stuff the other camera apps promote. Neat gimmicks, but all you really need is an aperture and a shutter speed, and perhaps a camera to adjust one while you manage the other. If I could change just one thing, I’d move the shutter release button higher, maybe swapping the shutter button with the lens selection, to match the location in the default iOS camera. I’ve missed shots because I’m tapping at the wrong spot, where my muscle memory has trained me to hit after over a decade of iPhone use.

As far as I can tell this app does two things, and you can only choose one of the two features while taking photos: you can either (1) run a simulation of the field of view and out of focus blur you might get from a full frame lens, and to me this feature does work better than Apple’s portrait mode. They call this “A” mode but you are not controlling exposure with the aperture, just the simulated bokeh. Or you can have an exposure compensation dial. They call this “P” mode. That’s it. I sure wish you could have both controls at once but you can’t. I have always wanted a decent uncluttered camera app with an exposure comp dial, so this could have become my new camera app, except that there’s a monthly subscription fee! Argh. No thanks. The editing ability is very limited, they have a handful of color and black and white “looks” (filters), most of which are tasteful and usable, and definitely different from the options apple gives you, and you can adjust the simulated bokeh, but that’s about it.

As a professional cinematographer (and Leica owner), this is great. The lens emulations are spot on 90% of the time considering its using a supremely small sensor and lens to create these images. The bokeh could use some work sometimes, especially on lenses like the 50 1.2, but as an owner of the Sony 50 1.2GM i understand its a very hard look to emulate. Sometimes it unfocuses things that are on the same focal plane as the subject which essentially ruins the photo. That’s why I prefer the 35 lux or 28 lux for scenes where focus might be tough to distinguish. As a hiker this is great though, it eliminates my need to bring a mirrorless camera with me, and also gives me multiple lens options instead of just one zoom lens or one prime. I hope improvements continue to be made in terms of the bokeh/unfocusing things that should be focused, but I’m so impressed with this app that I can’t even use that as a reason to give this 4 stars because the look of a fast 50 is so hard to emulate