Leica: "We have a partnership with Panasonic, we have a cooperation with Fujifilm, but you have to make a choice with whom you partner up"

During my trip to Leitz Park in Wetzlar, Germany, to test the Leica SL3, I had the opportunity to talk to the company's VP of photo and technology, Stefan Daniel.

We chewed the fat about a variety of topics, including the new camera, but I was particularly keen to ask him about Leica's policy of technology-sharing with companies like Panasonic and Fujifilm.

Following is my full chat with Stefan, and you can read my Leica SL3 review here.

A Leica product launch is very different. The other brands are like, here's a spec sheet, here's lots of science, statistics… with Leica it's, here's some photographs. Here's someone who takes photographs. It's very much art, not science.

Yes, it's not about the tool. Of course the tool needs to be good, needs to be state-of-the-art and perfect, but in the end what people wanted to do is to capture decisive moments, “witness the world” as our campaign says. And that's why we're here.

I always say Leica has like three important pillars: one is all the heritage and the story, and that we changed photography in the 20th Century. The second is that we create beautiful objects in itself, even if you don't take a single picture. But the third one is that you can create art with it. And that for me is so unique. In my opinion there are only very few comparable companies like this.

The L-Mount Alliance enables you to combine that uniqueness of Leica with the specialties of other companies – like Panasonic, with L² Technology. Could you explain a little bit of what the L² relationship entails?

We have had this partnership with Panasonic since 2001. First, it was like optical technology to Panasonic and some digital technology to Leica. But over time it evolved much more and we said, okay, we’re both not the biggest guys in the industry, so why don't we team up and share some technologies? And because our brand positionings are so different, we don't interfere so much [with one another].

But we can really benefit from one party creating technology A and giving to party B, and vice versa, so that we all benefit from it and have some synergies, have some money, be a bit faster and just team up. That's what it all is about.

I can't remember if it was you or Andreas [Pacella, VP global marketing and communication] who said that whenever two Leica users see each other in public, they have that mutual connection.

Andreas said that, but you can always, by personal experience, it always happens. It's at least a smile, or like a little nod.

What do you think characterizes a Leica photographer or a Leica enthusiast?

That's an interesting question. What comes to my mind is that we are in a minority, because the market share of Leica is very little. So the likelihood that two Nikon, Sony or Canon guys run into each other is higher than two Leica guys. So that might be one driver.

But in another respect, it is also because there is so much love in the brand, so much passion that the people automatically connect because they project their own behavior maybe to the other one as well. Also sometimes they have to defend it to their Nikon, Canon, Sony friends – why they spend so much more [money]. So that kind of creates a community.

Thinking forwards, L-Mount Alliance is a big thing, L² is a big thing. Are you open to other partnerships? For example, there's some common technology with Fujiflim, which also has a very proud heritage.

Yeah, we have a cooperation with Fujifilm on the Sofort, Sofort 2 business. We use their base technology and the camera’s even produced by Fujifilm, so it's no big secret. But you have to make a choice with whom you partner up, otherwise it becomes very difficult because every company has own development methods, and to do it with too many partners the synergies would get lost.

A lot of chefs in the kitchen.

Yes. And the food is bad!

Lastly, I asked you what characterizes a Leica photographer. What characterizes the Leica SL3?

I would say the most beautiful, the most usable, and the most well-built camera in the market, and with the best image quality you can imagine. It's like, it blows you away. So from that perspective, there is not just marketing blah blah – you can see it. But all the rest you can experience by taking it in your hand, up to your eye. You listen to it and you feel it.

This is more obvious than the image quality itself. And if you use it, you will discover also that it's a bit different from what you get elsewhere. The best is that you don't feel the camera any more when you're out and shooting. It's like the camera should disappear – invisible. As Cartier-Bresson said, "the extension of my eye."