The Leica Sofort 2 is introduced today, the second generation of the company’s instant camera. According to Leica, the hybrid device “seamlessly combines fleeting digital moments with the enduring analogue world”.
The new features of the Leica Sofort 2 primarily include the option to permanently save digital images and choose the best shots before printing them. Essentially, this includes all photos on your smartphone and those taken with other Leica cameras, which are already stored in the gallery of the Leica Fotos app and can be transferred to the camera to be printed as instant photos.
Pull the manual printing lever on the camera, and seconds later, you will have the print on Instax Mini-format photo paper, with either a warm-white or gold frame.
Minimalist design
The modern, minimalist, and elegant look of the Leica Sofort 2 is a testament to the expertise of the company in industrial design, the company says. The handling of the new camera is consistent with the Leica brand experience, its user-friendly menu structure and button layout aligning with those of other digital Leica cameras.
The new Leica Sofort 2 is available in black, red, and white. Leica says the Sofort “presents itself as a camera that will quickly find a permanent place in the family, at events, and during travels, creating special shared experiences”.
Additional features further assist in creatively capturing moments. They include a selfie mode with a separate shutter button, landscape mode with a wide-angle character, macro mode for close-ups from up to 10cm, as well as ten lens and ten film effects.
The accessories are as versatile as the camera itself. They include stylish wooden picture frames, wrist straps, carrying straps, and bags.
The Leica Sofort 2 will be available globally at all Leica Stores, the Leica Online Store and authorised dealers from 9 November 2023. The recommended retail price in the UK will be £350, including VAT.
More on the Leica Sofort series
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This looks good enpugh to have on a shelf without even using it, the red one anyway!
Just buy a Canon Selphy like I did and you can wirelessly print out 4 by 6 inch prints from the camera or phone you already have, and they are sharp lab quality prints.
This is a complete mystery to me. I am aware that Fuji has experienced a new interest in instant photography, but why in the world would Leica go there? I see instant photos as a sort of fad thing for young people who never knew Polaroid back in the glory days. I just cannot see young people forking over $425 when you can buy a Fuji Instax camera for less than $100.
This looks likes very much in line with the Instax Mini Evo (https://instax.co.uk/cameras/mini-evo/) – both are hybrid instant cameras with pretty much identical specs and functionality. Leica’s version costs £350 and $400, whilst Fujifilm’s is priced £175 and (I think) $199. Whether many people will the Leica one is worth the mark-up, I wouldn’t like to guess but there is a huge global market for these type of cameras.
I wouldn’t say that Fujifilm has experienced a new interest in photography, it’s been selling Instax for 25 years now and they really took off in the late-2000s. For approximately a decade, the cameras and related products like film and portable cameras have been a cash cow for the company and subsidised its digital cameras; Fujifilm has talked about how this revenue has funded R&D for the the digital offerings and pretty sure that the GFX line was given as an example. Last year, the Consumer Imaging group (Instax camera, film and portable printers) accounted for 65% of the Imaging Business division, which it’s part of – that division provided 14% of Fujifilm’s sales and 24% of its profits. This isn’t an outlier but a reflection of how things have been for years – a couple of years ago, I was doing a Master’s and looked some research that underline how that without the Consumer Imaging group, it wouldn’t be feasible for Fujifilm.
Initially, the main buyers were women and young people (largely girls), Fujifilm did a very effective job in broadening the appeal. This is going back a while, but DPReview had a interesting article about younger users in the US and a big reason for the growth was in reaction to social media, like Instagram – people were fed up with carefully posed, artificial images and wanted to get away with it. In my own case, I know a lot people whose children have them and have quite a few friends my own age who used them (sadly, I can’t be described as young!).
“I wouldn’t say that Fujifilm has experienced a new interest in photography, it’s been selling Instax for 25 years now and they really took off in the late-2000s”
I think you are reinforcing my point. I said new interest in instant photography, and late 2000s is new interest compared to the long history of instant going back to late 1940s, and seeing Kodak lose to Polaroid on patent infringement, then Polaroid itself dying.
Thank you. Excellent input.
Thank you. Tim and Martin. Excellent input.
I hope it has a more substantial build quality than the first version. Mine had a lens issue and other assorted things wrong with it. It still takes pictures but cannot use self-mode or change the lens to landscape mode.