There’s a truism that’s grown
painfully popular since the rise of the smartphone: The best camera is the one
that’s with you. But when it comes to street and travel photography, one phone
makes a strong case for being the best camera even in the presence of larger,
dedicated imaging devices. That’s the Huawei P20 Pro, with its three camera
modules that were co-engineered with Leica, the world’s most storied camera
brand, especially when it comes to street photography.
It’s no secret that we are already
fans of the P20 Pro — DT’s Andy Boxall called it the
best Android phone we’ve used this year in his review. Huawei’s
partnership with Leica also isn’t anything new; the German camera company has
been lending its knowledge to the Chinese smartphone manufacturer for a couple
of years now. But it is in the P20 Pro and its
remarkable camera that everything seems to have come together. On a
recent trip to Leica HQ in Wetzlar, Germany, we learned more about how this
came to be — and had the chance to shoot beautiful photos across Europe, from
Milan to Paris, along the way. (We were guests of Huawei, but all opinions are
our own.)
PASSION FOR THE PRODUCT
Leica is known as a company that
always stresses the details. As we witnessed, many stages of its camera and
lens production line are done by hand. Even seemingly basic tasks like gluing
the red mount alignment indicator onto the lens barrel requires a human touch.
It is this obsessive dedication to quality craftsmanship that has earned Leica
such a loyal following, elevating the brand to a level of fandom that few other
camera companies experience.
While visiting its Leitz-Park
campus, one gets the feeling that “good enough” is never really good enough for
Leica. Rather than simply move into some vacant warehouses and office
buildings, Leica built the campus from the ground up to resemble its products.
One building is shaped like a lens, another a pair of binoculars, while an
expansive strip of windows wraps around them both like an unwound roll of film.
A window on an adjacent building is shaped like the viewfinder on an M-series
rangefinder camera. Even the Leitz Café is unique, with elegant lines indoor
and out and ample natural light that bounces off the white tables and chairs.
(It’s an Instagrammer’s dream location, whether Leica would appreciate that
designation or not.)
Entering into the main production
building reveals a gallery of historical photos shot on Leica cameras. Nearly
all are recognizable, from the Che Guevara portrait your college roommate wore
on a t-shirt, to the haunting “napalm girl” photo that opened the public’s eyes
to the horrors of the Vietnam War (and
continues to stir up controversy to this day). Across from the gallery is a
collection of Leica cameras, from antique screw-mount rangefinders to
medium-format digital heavyweights. Standing in the middle, holding a
smartphone you used not 10 minutes ago to snap a picture of your latte leaves
you feeling rather underdressed and outclassed. If Leica could pour even a
fraction of a percent of the passion on display here into a smartphone camera,
well, that would truly be something.
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