Your iPhone Can Now Take Pictures Like a $10,000 Camera — Thanks to Leica’s New Camera App

Over the years, phones have become synonymous with pocket cameras. Leica has only furthered this notion by partnering with Xiaomi for the Xiaomi 14 series. If you too, like me, had immense FOMO about missing Leica’s color science and unique filters on your iPhone — the wait is now over. Leica has just launched an iPhone app that allows you to experience a posh Leica camera right on your iPhone!

Just Leica Camera

I won’t lie — I was tempted to get my hands on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra when it was unveiled. Alas, I had already spent a bomb on my iPhone 15 Pro. Well, the Leica LUX app has ensured I don’t miss out on much. Let’s explore what happens when your iPhone’s camera meets Leica’s color science and eccentric filters.

The Leica Monochrome Magic

The feature I missed the most from the Xiaomi 14 series was Leica’s filters. Let me admit — I love experimenting with the black-and-white filter. In my mind, everything monochrome looks more appealing. After playing around with the B/W filters, here are my thoughts. Leica images are certainly more dramatic. Whereas, the iPhone emphasises details.

If you see the leftmost image shot on the iPhone, the scales on the elephant and even the inner triangles on the pot above have more depth. Whereas, the image from the Leica camera app and Xiaomi 14 Ultra bring out the raw grain and texture of the object.

No, we aren’t just going to talk about the monochromatic filters. Leica has a host of other filters for you. I did some trial and error with the vivid filter as well. Honest opinion — Leica fared better. The image on the right (Leica image) looks more natural. The way Leica has popped the red while balancing out the greens — hats off! On the other hand, the excessive warmth of the vivid filter on the iPhone took away from the beauty of the hibiscus. The iPhone filter’s overexposure has blown out the image.

The app has a total of eleven filters of which six are paid. Fret not, you aren’t missing out on much. The range of free filters is quite wide so you’re not missing much without the premium filters.

Authentic Leica Color Science

Leica’s color profile leans towards a contrast-heavy look. Thereby, enabling a natural output with an element of pop. Most users will appreciate the way Leica treats colors. Of course, even iPhone photos are natural-looking. But, they don’t necessarily stand out. When you click via the Leica app, you’ll notice photos having a certain dramatic look which automatically makes them more attractive.

It’s difficult to explain in words but there’s a charm to images shot via the Leica app. The cone on the right image (Leica app) leans closer to red which was the actual color of the subject. Whereas, the left image (iPhone camera app) leans more towards orange because of the warmth. At least to me, this makes Leica a natural fit while appreciating the true essence of color.

Portrait Lens: Blurs Better Than Stock Camera

Leica’s portrait lens is exemplary. Two ingredients — the blur and clear background separation make it so. For instance, the Xiaomi 14 has an artistic appeal to its blur. Leica’s algorithms blur the background in a manner that there’s a progression to the blur. If you see the image in the post below, the person in the background on the left appears less blurry than the other props behind him.

One of my favourite pictures yet from the Xiaomi 14 is this amazing portrait shot by @ShachiGambhir! Can't wait to see what the Ultra is capable of. pic.twitter.com/xvftOhfXqF

— Sumukh Rao (@RaoSumukh) March 15, 2024

Onto the separation between the subject and background. You would want a portrait camera to have distinctive background separation. That’s what Leica brings to the table. As you may observe, even single strands of hair in the below image have been separated from the background with immense precision.

Fresh branding on all social media apps sorted for the next 2 years courtesy @ShachiGambhir's knack for clicking awesome portraits and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra's stellar camera hardware! pic.twitter.com/P0dclUQfkW

— Sumukh Rao (@RaoSumukh) May 19, 2024

When I used the portrait lens on the Leica app, the depth of the blur stood out for me. On the left is my iPhone 15 Pro’s portrait camera, which, of course, has fine blurring capabilities. However, the level of blur on the image captured from the Leica LUX app is ethereal!

However, the background separation wasn’t all that magical when I compared my iPhone’s portrait shot with the Leica app’s image. When I zoom into the lock of hair on the subject, the Leica’s camera app has blurred this along with the background. Whereas, the iPhone has done a fabulous job separating the lock of hair from the background. Probably, the superior focus fall-off on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra is courtesy of the phone’s superior hardware rather than Leica’s software expertise.

Prima facie, my iPhone did better at capturing details of the subject. However, due to the vignetting on the image shot from the Leica LUX app, the photo looks more pleasing to the eye.

A Premium Freemium App?

The Leica LUX app is a good freemium camera application. It brings features of an expensive camera into your iPhone. However, the app leans more on the premium side, in my opinion. Leica is known for its filters. Alas, more than fifty percent of the filters are paid ones.

While you can capture pictures at varied focal lengths on the Leica app, this isn’t true for the portrait mode. You can only capture portraits on the 28mm lens using the free version. The access to other focal lengths for portrait mode needs a subscription.

Further, what I found slightly off-putting was the frequent glitching. Many times, the app would crash or get stuck while switching from one feature to another. Of course, we need to cut the app some slack as it is still in its nascent stages. All in all, I enjoyed the Leica LUX app. Every time I would want to use a filter I will surely head to the Leica app. Otherwise, the iPhone’s built-in camera app remains reliable for most use cases.