Home / Technology / Leica Phone Beats Mirrorless Camera in Portraits
Leica Phone Beats Mirrorless Camera in Portraits
4 Apr
Summary
- Leitzphone offers computational bokeh to mimic professional camera blur.
- Portrait depth of field on Leitzphone is sharper than mirrorless camera.
- Leica phone's image quality is surprisingly close to expensive camera gear.
The Leitzphone, Leica's first globally available phone outside the US, shares hardware with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. It features a triple-camera system with a 1-inch main sensor, a 3-4x optical zoom telephoto, and an ultra-wide lens, all powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip.
Leica has infused its signature design, including a mechanical control ring and a camera app UI that mirrors Leica digital cameras. The phone is priced at £1,700 / AU$2,299, approximately 20% more than the Xiaomi 17 Ultra.
In a direct comparison, the Leitzphone's telephoto camera produced portrait photos nearly indistinguishable from those taken with a Nikon Z6 II and a Viltrox 85mm f/1.4 Pro lens, which represents gear costing around $5,000 / £4,500 / AU$8,000.
Utilizing its portrait mode, the Leitzphone artificially enhances background blur (bokeh) via software, allowing users to select aperture effects like f/1.4. While the computational bokeh has minor artifacts in editing previews, the final saved images are remarkably convincing.
The Leitzphone offers a greater depth of field on the subject compared to a full-frame 85mm lens at f/1.4. This results in sharper detail throughout the subject, unlike the shallower depth of field from the mirrorless camera. The computational bokeh effect, especially when viewed on a smart device, is so impressive that it could make photographers think twice about bringing their professional camera gear on assignments.
