Leica’s new app lets your iPhone imitate its classic cameras and lenses

Leica wants to get in on the Fujifilm film simulation hype, so it’s bringing its own color profiles to iPhone users via a new Leica Lux app – complete with a paid subscription.

Leica Lux is a new camera app available in the App Store loaded with 11 color profiles (dubbed “Leica Looks”) designed to match current Leica cameras and classic film-inspired aesthetics. The Lux app can be used in full auto mode, like Apple’s own camera app, but it also has an “aperture mode” using software to mimic the style and bokeh of multimillion-dollar lenses like the Summilux-M 35mm f/1.4 ASPH and the classic Noctilux-M 50mm f/1.2 ASPH from 1966.

If you use the Leica Lux in free mode, you will receive five Leica Looks and a lens imitation. Unlocking all color profiles, software lenses, and pro-focused features like manual exposure controls costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year.

I had a brief chance to use a pre-release beta version of the Leica Lux on my iPhone 15 Pro and early results seem mixed at best. The interface is well-organized, with a streamlined menu system and lightly customizable controls that centralize cool features like exposure compensation and a live histogram. It’s elegant – and somewhat reminiscent of another popular third-party camera app for iOS, Halide. Leica Lux also sorts photos downloaded from Leica cameras, as I was greeted with some of my personal Leica Q2 images when I opened the app’s gallery.

Leica Looks add beautiful one-click-and-go drama to images, although some are a little heavy-handed with a “filtered” look that is sure to polarize. Portrait/lens mode simulations are also hit or miss and when they get it wrong they can get it wrong seriously.

Photos often have a very cropped look that seems a few generations behind the portrait modes you see from Apple and Google – and nothing quite hits Samsung at the moment. I’ve also seen it render some strange pixelated blocks at the edges of the subject in focus, but for now I’ll concede the app’s beta status.

Even when the lens simulation is done well, you have to deal with the fact that Apple’s software isn’t always friendly to third-party apps. The Leica Lux doesn’t let you reverse a portrait mode photo to get a normal-looking photo, unlike what you can do in Apple’s own camera app. In fact, viewing Leica Lux photos in your iOS Camera Roll allows you to add Apple Photos to have portrait and bokeh effects, which is a strange anachronism that is sure to destroy any photo.

This isn’t Leica’s first foray into trying to tap its loyal fan base for that sweet, sweet recurring revenue stream. Over a period of time, he changed features of his Leica Photos app behind a professional-grade paywall, forcing photographers who transfer images from real Leica cameras to their phones to pay for things like an Adobe Lightroom integration. Full disclosure: I was working for Leica Camera USA at the time of Fotos Pro’s launch and I can tell you that photographers were far from thrilled. It didn’t take long for Leica to reverse course and make all features of its Photos app free again.

The Leica Lux, on the other hand, is something entirely new – well, mostly. Leica Looks previously debuted in the Photos app for owners of newer cameras like the Q3 and SL3, allowing transferred images to have profiles applied to them on an iPhone or Android device. What’s really new about the Lux app are the lens bokeh simulations and the fact that you can modify your iPhone’s camera experience. There are some fun ideas and a nice design here for Leica fans, but it takes a bit of money to get the most out of it.