Flashback: Huawei P9 and the beginning of partnership with Leica

22 September 2019
Huawei and Leica collaborated on hardware design, image processing and user interface to elevate smartphone photography.

Sort by:

  • S
  • Shui8
  • KZK
  • 24 Sep 2019

S Yu, 24 Sep 2019Your information on that is inaccurate and outdated. First... moreYour interpretation are differ from mine. In standard mode, P30 is no way as oversharp as Samsung & Sony does. Huawei make a good use of that bigger sensor. If the closest one in terms of details as actual camera, its Huawei.

Do u even know about that 'smooth' & 'vivid' color mode? Its a Leica tuning image processing, with less sharp & creamy in order to achieve that signature 'film' look. Of course its not as good as true CCD sensor, but its somewhat identical.

    • S
    • S Yu
    • tLG
    • 24 Sep 2019

    Shui8, 23 Sep 2019Obviously u know nothing about 'Leica color science'. I'm i... moreYour information on that is inaccurate and outdated.
    First of all new Leicas are accurate, in other words they look modern, much like Zeiss post-West Germany if only with somewhat lower contrast. This stands for all Leica made in at least the past 10 years. If any other Japanese manufacturer matches those colors, it's Sony-Minolta.
    Second, the RYYB looks nothing like M8's CCD look. Even larger CMOS couldn't replicate the CCD look, this RYYB does not come close, in fact the over the top sharpening and color loss pushes it in the opposite direction of the CCD look, since there's charge bleeding inherent to the operation of CCDs.

      Your first comment made sense so I took you for a serious person, but then on your second comment you start spewing nonsense. If you want to talk about spyware talk about Google services or about the IOS services already monitoring and recording every freaking tap you input into the phone, so why is Huawei the only one to be condemned for it? that's hypocrite.

        • S
        • Shui8
        • KZK
        • 23 Sep 2019

        S Yu, 23 Sep 2019Oh please. The RYYB goes against Leica colors, it makes col... moreObviously u know nothing about 'Leica color science'. I'm into Leica for a long time already (and own one), and their color is not suppose to be accurate/natural as you mention. Its the 'film' looks, with different color palette than natural (blue with purple hue, deeper red, light yellow & cyan, etc). From what i've seen, P30 RYYB sensors resembles older Leica M8, with that warm & yellowish tone, definitely got that Leica signature vibe. The RGGB device on previous Huawei, resembles as M9 looks with cooler tones. Put it into 'smooth' & 'vivid' color mode, makes it even more identical. Its not to everyone preferences, but as a film/vintage photography, all Huawei Leica's camera are spot on. The same goes to Ricoh, Fujifilm and actual Leica camera.

        To my eyes,

        - Sony & Iphone are natural/color accurate photography if u into it (better details on Sony, DR on iphone)
        - Film look in Huawei flagship
        - Modernized & cartoony (oversmoothing, oversaturate, most plasticky looking, dynamic range at unrealistic levels, shadows far brighter than reality) on Samsung, and its my least favourite.

        Every photographer preferences to each its own of course. Thats from my standpoint as i see it.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • amn
          • 23 Sep 2019

          Dont know if its due to this Huawei Leica partnership but Huawei is the only Chinese OEM that has cameras better than Google, Apple and Samsung, the rest are a below them. they pioneered things like Night Mode, Ai stabilisation and 7,000 fps slow mo.

            • S
            • S Yu
            • tLG
            • 23 Sep 2019

            MadMel, 22 Sep 2019RYYB sensor happened.Oh please. The RYYB goes against Leica colors, it makes colors dull and plasticky, like shot from a $100 kit lens. If "Leica color science" were adopted then they should be making thicker CFAs that block more light but yield higher color accuracy, not lighter muddy-looking CFAs to let more light through at the cost of color data.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • I@a
              • 23 Sep 2019

              Nick Tagataka, 23 Sep 2019Not trying to be offensive but I don't get you either. I ha... moreIt's okay. I just don't really like my phone's image quality. I looks natural at times but it just doesn't get the scene right while my brother's Pixel captures them really nicely a lo.t of times. Sharp, natural and pleasing looking on the Pixel while in my mate, I'm scratching my head tryna figure pro mode settings to get great and a lot better shots.

                AnonD-731363, 22 Sep 2019Well today everybody partnering with someone else. Huawei... moreThis has nothing to do with chargers; why are you mentioning what chargers apple has and their SoCs? Literally has nothing to do with camera partnerships.

                  • P
                  • Pajson89
                  • S9u
                  • 23 Sep 2019

                  AnonD-731363, 22 Sep 2019Well Huawei have Leica, Nookia have carl Zeiss and apples h... moreahahahhah best comment

                    Derase24, 22 Sep 2019I still use this Thing ;) I'm writing with Huawei P9

                      Anonymous, 23 Sep 2019I still cant understand how a reputable company such as Lei... moreoh look.... another person that think Huawei spy on him.... make some space for google, FB, Apple and samsung in that box my friend...

                      As for collaboration it self... How its possible that "premium" Leica that barely stay alive with their overpriced cameras partnership with Huawei that is third biggest phone company that produce range of high end and low end phones all over the world... hmmmm..... Try to guess why? :]

                        Anonymous, 22 Sep 2019I dont really get you here. I also have the Mate 10 Pro and... moreNot trying to be offensive but I don't get you either. I hate how Pixel processes its photos, they're over-contrasty regardless of the lighting conditions and always look like tons of dehaze filters have been applied to it. Probably you can get really good RAW images out of it but its default JPEG processing, ugh I can't stand it.

                          Anonymous, 23 Sep 2019I still cant understand how a reputable company such as Lei... moreBoth Huawei and Leica probably have their own reasons behind their relationship, but what I can say for sure is that it's none of your business.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • m5p
                            • 23 Sep 2019

                            I still cant understand how a reputable company such as Leica agreed to have its name paired with a no-name spying brand from china.

                            Just like Porsche and Ferrari did with some other no-name brands.

                            If you are a premium reputable company, you should only associate yourself with other trustworthy, premium, reputable brands. Definitely no brands from china, that’s for sure.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • fFC
                              • 23 Sep 2019

                              back when they still sold flagship at affordable price... leica come in and story goes on... see how pricier mate series are nowadays with leica branding still attached on the phones.

                                Panino Manino, 22 Sep 2019I wonder what happened with this partnership. The "color s... moreHi Manino. I have a P20 Pro at hand, pretty sure that color option is still with the camera. Simply click the "film" banner on top right, you'll be able to find them again.
                                I personally do not have an inclination to use that Leica tunning though.

                                  I'd like to share my true experience with Huawei P9 here. Back to 2016, I bought my P9 with delight. I happily took that brand-new phone to Greece, for my first full Marathon outside China. While I was impressed by the shot quality, I was deeply discouraged by this phone's durability -- it failed to give me 4.5 hours of up time, even with screen turning off most of the time... my peers, using half-new iPhone 6, had 30% or so juice left while finished running.

                                    Anonymous, 22 Sep 2019I'd love to see follow ups to this discussing how the partn... moreIndeed it should have way better tracking and spyware on it!

                                      The P9 was a bucket.

                                      The lack of support from Huawei was rubbish too. My P9 was well over 12 months old before i sold it, and it had no updates within that time - not even basic Android security updates..

                                      They promised Android 7 for Australian carriers, but it never arrived - I wasted many hours contacting my carrier and Huawei Aus over it, but both were pointing fingers at each other and giving excuses.. I'm not sure what they're like now but ill never buy Huawei ever again.

                                        what is this a memorial?