LEICA Barnack Berek Blog: LEICA LENS FOR SMARTPHONE

It had to happen. For quite a while now I have been jokingly saying that smartphones are starting to be cameras, so why not make a camera that can also make phone calls. As of Photokina 2014, the lines are more blurred than ever. Enter the Panasonic Lumix CM1 Smartphone. At first glance it doesn’t look much different than most other smartphones. But a closer look reveals a Leica 28mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.8 Leica DC Elmarit lens. The focal length obviously hints at a much larger sensor than what is common in smartphones and yes, this smartphone/camera is equipped with an unusually large 1 inch size sensor. Referred to as a ‘connected camera,’ the Lumix CM1 is capable of capturing 20-megapixel stills and 4K video. More camera features are settings for aperture, ISO and shutter speed all of which are controlled trough a manual lens ring. Another camera feature is the shutter release button on top of the device and the sliding switch to activate the camera or the phone function.

As a phone, the Lumix CM1 has fairly standard features like a 4.7” full-HD screen, a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, 2GB of internal RAM, 16GB of internal memory and a micro SD slot that can support cards up to 128GB in size. The device operates on Android 4.4 KitKat.

Unfortunately, this “camera that also makes calls”, for now will only be available in France and Germany, with the official launch set for the holiday season. This brings up two questions, when will this be available worldwide and could Leica possibly offer a Leica version of this?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------