Dxomark Image Labs has tested the performance of the 26 MP APS-C sensor in the latest A1571-version of the Pixii and produced some remarkable figures. It is rated as the best-performing APS-C sensor on the market, ahead of the Nikon D7500. More impressively though, it narrowly beats Leica’s full-frame 24MP sensor in the M10.
With an overall sensor sensitivity rating of 90, the Pixii takes 28th place among all sensors, including medium format. The Pixii sensor is backlit, with electronics located behind the light-gathering pixels. It offers a native sensitivity range of ISO 160-12,800, extendable to 80-51,200. See the full test here.
These are extremely impressive results for the small, independent French startup. The Pixii is the only non-Leica digital camera with the M-mount on the market. It has an impressive specification, including an all-electronic shutter covering 2s to 1/32,000s, built-in memory (8-128GB) instead of SD-card storage, a rangefinder viewfinder with lines for 28, 35, 40 and 50mm lenses, and USB-C charging and data transfer.
The Pixii was announced in 2018 and is sold directly by the manufacturers. A manual-focus camera with a traditional (but enhanced) rangefinder and no back screen, it similar appeal to Leica’s now-discontinued M10-D. Yet it goes further, offering a software-controlled environment with a customisable settings screen on the top plate and projected data in the viewfinder. Camera functions can be updated instantly, Tesla-like, to offer a constantly evolving user experience.
Pixii’s creator, David Barth, designed the camera with a smartphone in mind. “A clear camera design is necessary to make it a good tool, he says, “one that lets you understand the basics and go beyond. This is the path I followed. Using a film camera with a light meter app on the phone. Then it all started to make sense.”
The new Pixii is available at a net price starting at €2,499 (for the basic 8GB storage) which currently translates to £2,095 or $2,755. Here in the UK it will attract 20% VAT, plus import fees and will probably work out at just over £2,500. The top model, with 128GB of storage sells for €2,950 net (£2,475, $3,250). The good bit is that most interested buyers will already own a stock of compatible lenses. According to the company’s website, delivery will take about two weeks.
Our German contributor Jörg-Peter Rau is trying to get his hands on a Pixii for review and, if successful, will share his experiences with Macfilos readers. Jörg-Peter has written extensively about non-Leica M-Mount cameras and lenses, so the Pixii is a natural contender. Unlike most of the products featured in The M Files, this French rangefinder is new and ready for action.
Images from the Pixii website
What do you think of the Pixii? Would you buy one? Let’s discuss the pros and cons of using M lenses on a cropped sensor.
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But the b&w DNG feature sounds very interesting 🧐
Oh yes !!!! Try #pixii or #teampixii in Facebook or Flickr
Just have to look the part 2 of this video. He change and apologize. À honest man.
Just have to look the part 2 of this video. He change …
There is a pretty interesting review on YouTube by somebody called “J.L. Williams”. Besides the (for most people I assume) obvious obstacle that the camera has no LCD screen he lists a number of other cons at the end of the video: can’t keep up with fast action, bad battery life and most importantly the need to use smaller M lenses (larger lenses will block the entire rangefinder window…). Still a very intriguing project and image quality seems really good.
Hello ! Some raw DNGs here :
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/32s60kh2tj0b4em/AABbWy4uWeJ44WPUltl-zJPCa?dl=0
Flickr group : https://www.flickr.com/groups/14783460@N20/
On Instagram and Facebook : #teampixii
138mm width seems small enough. I would like to see images and hear about viewfinder visibility. The minimum price in Euro seems to have gone up to €2999. The main concern, as with any digital camera, is long term sustainability, but the M mount will help in that regard.
My chances of seeing one ‘in the flesh’ are, of course very limited. It would be nice if Joerg-Peter could get one for test purposes.
William
Pixii like Hyppolyte Pixii
Not being facetious here but is Pixii pronounced Pixy or Pixeye?
Pixii vs Leica M10 vs Leica Q2 the complète test is here : https://www.dxomark.com/pixii-a1571-sensor-test/
Servicing might be a ( big ) problem?
Why? Because Pixii is on a human scale? Because you can communicate directly with your designers and even ask them for improvements? Have you ever called the director of major international brands recently? If the questions you are asking yourself are financial, then a minimum of research on the Internet will reassure you about the financial sustainability of the company.
About sustainability : Did you know the modular design of Pixii? Sensor, processor, memory are interchangeable and designed to be quickly changed. As i way above : Bad news for GAS victims 😉
I find the negative vibe this camera induces in some people very interesting. As if it is some sort of personal affront that this camera dare try to exist. Everyone says they wish there were more choices in rangefinder cameras, at better prices than Leica, and yet when one appears, it is immediately labeled as “compromised”, both in viewfinder and crop-sensor, as if the Leica viewfinder isn’t a compromise. And not to mention all the moaning about how Leica is “abandoning” APS-C…
Yes, it isn’t a Leica, but you could buy two of these for the price of a single M11. (Hey, you could give the other one to someone less fortunate than you)
A used M240? Please…this Pixii camera should run circles around the M240, which is now 10 digital-camera-years old, which is something like 100 human years.
You need a cell phone to use all the features?? OMG!! Remember the name of that Leica app that never, ever seemed to work right? Neither do I.
Come on folks, give the upstart a chance. Be happy that somebody out there actually thinks there is a future for semi-affordable rangefinder cameras. I would love to try one out, and my wife may be agreeable to this idea, too, as she is also French. National pride and all that…
Thank you Hank for your measured words. And if I can allow myself for an M11 you have 2 pixis and you have enough left to take a trip with your French wife to test it in an ideal situation.
I repeat as a Pixii’s user : no need a smartphone to use it !!! But if you want to use your phone to remote control pixii, change iso distance, speed, exposure metering mode… or check a previous picture it’s possible and… it works well!
Photography being an (expensive) hobby of mine, I value fun as much if not more than final results. And I happen to love the rangefinder experience and how small full-frame M lenses can be. I have a full Sony mirrorless kit, including some stunning GM lenses. It is extremely efficient at all kinds of photography, especially action, but I just don’t enjoy it as much, and almost never travel with it.
This is where I am not sure the Pixii ticks the right boxes.
On one hand it is quite a feat for a European start-up to produce a quality digital camera at an affordable price. On the other hand, the compromised rangefinder/viewfinder and the need to use a smartphone for some functions may not appeal to Leica M aficionados. Let’s not forget that for that kind of price, you can also get a very nice second hand M 240.
Yes, Brian.
You are right; many M glasses are excellent. I had a Titanium edition Summicron 50, sold time ago. I have now a Voigtlander Nokton 40 1.4 that I like much in the CL; very compact and sharp. And just an collapsible Elmar 50 for the M7 still working really fine.
What I mean is, other than how expensive they can be, there are really fantastic autofocus modern lenses out there to choose. I don’t see a great difference in rendering with M lenses. After having an M8 and later a Fuji XPro1 (still own one I bought again) I became realizing how powerful and easy going evf and auto glasses can be. And, even being rangefinders (Leica M’s) really good and bright to use, there’s no much point for me in thinking of manual lenses as well it as primary ones; nothing turns already around them. Just for ultra expensive digital Leica M users; dreaming now on Visoflex (disgusting). They seem to be the only ones, and obviously Leica people, wanting things still turning around M glasses. I would call it anachronism.
And now this camera.
That body is miles far from CL one. At the same price. Also for rangefinder believers that viewfinder is just a toy compared to an M one.
Other that that, Fiji’s do the work much more cheaply, ain’t.
In my opinion M lenses are just a fake dream of the past times
Hi George, I happen to love the magic pixel dust in my leica m glass. It has an incredible rendering. I love the rendering of my 21/3.8, 28/1.4 and so on. Also the size is a joy to carry. Have you actually tried m glass?
I guess Pixii didn’t read the there is no future in APS-C memo from Leica…
Chortle. One day, someone will write a book about Leica’s adventures with APS-C. So many false starts, so many lost opportunities, so many about turns, too much meddling. If only they had continued to develop the X1, as Ricoh has developed the GR, things might have been different. It feels very much like their design department has the attention span of a gnat.
On the Pixii, I was not impressed with the first version but the second one is looking a lot better. Very tempted to try one… That being said and as pointed out the challenge is with wider focal lengths, if you prefer 35mm or wider (FF equivalent) there are not that many options available…
But there are many Voigtländer very wide lenses ..many of them screw-fit, but with a screw-to-M adapter they’d all fit: I have a 12mm, a 15mm, a 21mm all in screw-fit, and a 9mm in M-fit!
The APS equivalent views are 18mm, 22.5mm, 31.5mm ..and 13.5mm!
To quote: “..there are not that many options available..” ..?!
There are options but respectfully, not that many. If you eg. are looking for a 35mm equivalent, well neither Voigtlander nor Leica currently offer a 24mm… (although Zeiss does have a 25mm).
B-but I’m holding a Leica 24mm f1.4 in my hand right now!
There’s also the LEICA Elmarit-M 24mm f/2.8, and the Leica 24mm Elmar-M F/3.8. And the Voigtlander Color Skopar 25mm f/4 ..which is near enough the same as a 24mm.
Yes, and both the Summilux and the Elmar-M were discontinued 2 years ago which kind of proves my point, there currently are not that many options readily available in the store… The Elmarit-M was discontinued already more than a decade ago… which leaves only 2 25mm lenses (Zeiss and Voigtlander) that you can easily buy online, the others are available only on the used market…
But I buy most of my lenses on “..the used market..” and so I supposed that most, or many, other people do, too.
Why would one not buy lenses on the used market? Lenses don’t suddenly stop working – to the best of my knowledge, anyway – when a different, or newer, lens is brought out. I did buy the 24mm f1.4 new, but I was going away on holiday, wanted one quickly, and didn’t want to wait for an eBay delivery, so I went to Ivor’s ‘Red Dot’ and bought one. But almost all other lenses I own were bought 2nd, or 3rd, or – for all I know – 5th or 8th hand.
They all work perfectly.
(As soon as you buy any lens, it effectively becomes ‘used’ or ‘2nd hand’ if you ever want to sell it. I don’t see the distinction between new and used lenses ..but maybe I’m peculiar!)
Nothing wrong with buying used, I do it all the time, but when something is only available used on eBay I personally would not say that there are many options… but perhaps that is just me… Have a nice weekend David!
On that book, I would love to read that book, I would love to know who made the T (apparently a 3rd party according to some), who manufactured the lenses (certainly not Leica), why there even was a TL2 if the CL was under development at the same time, why after the XV and T they again opted to not include an EVF in the TL2, when exactly the TL2 was killed, whether during Photokina 2018 Leica deliberately lied to the world about the future of the TL2, when exactly the CL was killed, whether Stefan Daniel lied when he said that APS-C was a continuing part of the Leica product range, etc etc. So many questions, so many doubts…
Definitely a murky saga to enjoy in the future. Someone now independent must have the inside story…
It’s a pity Leica could not have arranged a licensing deal with Pixii to use the sensor in the CL2
I’ve followed the Pixii adventure for a while in France. It’s main flaw is that it’s an aps-c sensor. It’s a pity they didn’t have a frameline for 24 or 21mm as it sort of kills the camera from the start if you want to enter the rangefinder experience. As Mike pointed out it may be a complement to a M10 or M11. I imagine the camera must be pretty reliable as their production unit is in Besançon, the French capital for finewatch making. As a Frenchman I’m happy that a French company produce a camera, something which has not happened since Foca closed their factory.
You will no doubt be even more delighted to learn that Pixii is produced in the former premises of LIP!
Concerning the frame of the 24 I answered a little above and for my part it has replaced both M10 and MM1 for 3 months with its double DNG system (see also above) and a colorimetry / global rendering better integrated with the 907 x thanks to the post-processing potential of its files.
So, a crop-sensor camera with an M-mount; not an L-mount. A bit like the M8 in optical terms. The concept looks interesting, but not as a CL replacement. I wonder who is in the target market?
There’s an M adaptor for all other lens systems, as far as I am aware. And using M glass on Fuji cameras, in particular, has long been popular. For all I know, M lenses are now being used on Nikon, Canon and other APS-C cameras and are proving popular. But, as Jono Slack has pointed out on many occasions, M lenses work best on M cameras, but also on the CL/TL and SL mirrorless cameras. As far as I can see, the Pixii has also been designed to perfectly complement M lenses, so it is likely to be a better bet than, say, a Fuji. Furthermore, no adapter is needed, so the full benefit of small M lenses can be enjoyed. Couple this with the rangefinder experience — which many people prefer when focusing manual lenses — and I can see many attractions of the Pixii.
I would certainly like to try a Pixii and I suspect I could be persuaded to buy one. The projected data inside the rangefinder has great potential and, arguably, it is something Leica should have considered years ago. Yes, the Pixii deserves to succeed. My only serious concern would be in the robustness of the rangefinder mechanism and its ability to stay adjusted. As we call know, this is the Achilles heel of the M and adjustment involves a costly return to Wetzlar. I’ve often seen it mentioned that the rangefinder, which requires the skill of a craftsman, represents over £1,000 of the cost of an M camera. So, with the Pixii costing around a third of the M11, for instance, is the rangefinder going to stand up to time?
Overall, however, I rather like this camera and look forward to handling one. It’s a pity it isn’t marketed through dealers so we could call in and try one, but I suppose a distribution network would invariably add to the price.
As usual on the forums we talk about Pixii with a critical eye at the risk of writing a lot of fake news. Thank you, Mike, for answering the questions, but some contributors don’t question but criticize… without ever having had the object of their criticism in hand.
For the choice of M mount + rangefinder at 1/3 the price of the M11 (at 1/3 of its qualities?) it is a question of strategic positioning (which suits me perfectly). Who would seriously think that a startup entering an industrial market of this size could afford the L mount, a full or medium format sensor, a Z9-style autofocus…?
For the question of distribution I know (just read the pixii site) that Pixii makes “special” distributor offers. Any trader of photographic equipment can send an email to the sales department and receive information to become a Pixii distributor. I personally know several of them in France
I’ve owned the Pixii 26MB since November and it fits in a stream with 907x, M Mono and M10. I don’t know where to start but… let’s talk about lenses. I use it DAILY with lenses like: CV 15 4.5 (excellent in landscape with very sharp angles) , Biogon 21 2.8 , Elmar 3.8 24 (the base of the combo), Apoqualia 2.0 28 (a marvel under urban night lights to 2.0), CV Apo Lanthar 2.0 35 (the other pillar of the combo … not far from big brother APO Leica), CV Nokton 1.2 50 (portraits…), CV Heliar 75 2.5 (rather average on my M mounts, here very well in tight portrait). I also use screw mounts for fun: an elmar 3.5 cm, a collapsible elmar 50 and a canon 105 (I aim in the patch ah ah ah)
For the 24… I called David (have you already called the CEO of Leica or Fuji?) who confirmed that the 24 frame would be from the next release. In the meantime, I have installed an SBOOI with the most beautiful aesthetic effect. And I advise any photographer to experience clear and limpid aiming in an SBOOI at least once!
All this to say that the reviews based on the rangefinder are not very real (yes we are deprived of noctilux, summilux 24, canon 0.95…)
When we mention the M9 as a competitor (which I really liked for its CCD at the time, but not for its sensor or its dead shutter after 25,000 shots!!!) or the fat and unsurprisingly M240 how is this possible ? Did you read the title of the article and the DXOmark ranking? They are so difficult to interpret the colorimetry and dynamic curves where leica Q, M10 and Pixii ????? As on other forums I propose a dropbox with raw DNG files from Pixii (and some mono to compare) it’s the best way to realize the processing potential of these files under Camera Raw ( Adobe supports Pixii). It allowed me to make new friends, it’s nice!
Among these DNGs you will find some special ones indeed I discovered after the purchase that Pixii offers two recording modes of its sensor: Bayer (classic) and Monochrome which interprets the light with a specific signal processing which “cancels” Bayer’s matrix. This is not a black and white JPEG degradation but a different recording of each pixel. It is the only camera to offer this and with a sensor of such quality these DNGs are formidable to post process. Thank you Davis for selling me 2 cameras in one
The need to have a smartphone? fake news! Personally I don’t use “live” viewing screens but just occasionally to check a framing, with pixii it’s the same! You absolutely do not need a smartphone to use it!
Did I tell you about the modular design of Pixii? Sensor, processor, memory are interchangeable and designed to be quickly changed. Bad news for GAS victims, good news for everyone else! Especially since the body is robust!
Here, I can also tell you about USB-C on the go, the electronic shutter with two modes: Fast (30 fps so goodbye rolling shutter & banding even with different LED lights on show) and Fine (5 fps well in landscape and on tripod). very good noise management up to 6400 iso, its size, its weight…
To form a real opinion: test DNGs (I’ll put the address of the dropbox if Mike agrees), go see the youtube videos of JL Williams Part I (he criticizes the Pixii a lot) and part II (here very honestly he reconsiders his judgment after new firmware) and Mattias Burling (being… teased on his youtube channel), and check out the Range finder forum post “Pixii 26” with the very high quality interventions of “Ranger9”. For me on Instagram or Facebook or Flickr with the hashtags #pixii and #teampixii
On the other question of the crop sensor, I have had a lot of experience in using M lenses on Fuji and Leica T cameras and generally enjoy having an alternative focal length from the same lens. As with the APS-H sensor in the M8 (1.33 crop), the APS-C (1.5 crop) offers new opportunities for good old faithful lenses. So an APS-C body is a good complement for a full-frame body such as the M10 or M11. All you need is a couple of lenses and you have four different focal lengths. The wonderful 50mm Apo-Summicron makes a great 75mm portrait lens when used on the Pixii or TL. And the 35mm Summicron becomes a very useful Nifty Fiftyish. The main problem comes at the wider end, unless you happen to own a 21mm M lens, for instance. Even the 28mm Elmarit loses its wide-angle chops when it becomes 42mm.
I list the above, which is familiar to most readers, to stimulate the discussion.
Mike, I understand how the Pixii might appeal to owners of M-lenses. But for anyone seriously into L-mount will be scuppered trying to adapt them to an M-mount. That was my point. It is a camera limited to M-mount lenses.
I agree with that, you are quite right. But there is a market for a camera designed to work with M lenses. Apart from other considerations, there wouldn’t be a Pixii if the designers had wanted to use the L-mount. Presumably, they would have had to apply to join the LMA and I think it unlikely the other participants would have countenanced a startup of this nature. And, too, the Pixii would have lost its raison d’etre if it had had an L-mount. It would have been a fairly run-of-the-mill mirrorless offering and M lenses would have had to be an afterthought (used via the adapter). Rangefinder coupling would have been out of the question. So I don’t think the L-mount argument is relevant; I rather like the fact that the Pixii is a niche product appealing to niche people!
PS: Presumably there is a hefty licence fee to use the L bayonet when the M is out of copyright or whatever it is for patents (I believe).
Don’t forget the Ricoh GXR..
Thanks, I had. It’s part of the history book when it is written, and it’s a pity it didn’t continue.
Hi Mike,
Yes, you would get different focal length from the same lens. But Leica can just kill it with one feature of saving DNG on M11 with the cropped mode (currently the cropped mode/digital zoom is saved only as JPEG). i dont remember if SL has the crop mode but Nikon had it many years back.
Best
Kannan