Xiaomi 12S Ultra: Are you happy to see me or is that a Leica M lens?
Voted by you as the camera smartphone of 2022 and rated by me with only 3.5 stars in the detailed review? The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is divisive enough. But now, the Chinese brand is taking the "cameraphone" concept to a whole new level. The flagship smartphone received a prototype with a second 1-inch image sensor and a mount for a Leica M lens. What is behind the concept and what it is capable of: keep reading to find out.
TL;DR
- Xiaomi 12S Ultra shows itself with a Leica M lens.
- Smartphone mutates into an SLR camera for the first time.
- The concept smartphone has a second 1-inch image sensor installed
Xiaomi 12S Ultra with Leica M lens officially unveiled
Before you immediately start looking for the price and a store page for the Xiaomi 12S Ultra pictured here with the Leica M lens mount: it is only a concept smartphone. So, you could say that Xiaomi is playing hard to get, which somehow also fits my headline. But enough of my flat humor, which probably not everyone is receptive to. On the social network Sina Weibo, the Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has presented the prototype of a modified Xiaomi 12S Ultra including test shots.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra already takes the best camera photos in 2022 by default. Our friends from DXOMARK have a different opinion, but the Huawei Mate 50 Pro has not yet been able to participate in our blind test either. In contrast, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept leaves no questions unanswered. According to Xiaomi, it was manufactured at the same time as the well-known series model. It has a second 1-inch Sony IMX989 image sensor instead of a telephoto camera.
Furthermore, the protection of the large and circular camera array was equipped with sapphire glass and an additional Leica M-mount. Xiaomi screwed a $6,000 Leica Summilux-M with a 35-millimeter focal length and an aperture of f/1.4 onto it for the test shots. And those who are now wondering how that is supposed to hold on the slim Android smartphone: the frame of the Xiaomi X12S was specially reinforced.
First test shots inspire
The company has also published the first test pictures on its Sina Weibo channel, which are certainly impressive, as the following picture gallery shows. Luckily for this concept, the Leica M lenses are already very compact by design. Nevertheless, the bayonet requires a rather large adapter ring, since the distance between the Leica lens and the Sony image sensor has to be exactly 2.78 centimeters.
Furthermore, the 1-inch sensor of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is not comparable to that of a full-frame sensor of a Leica M. Thus, only a section of the Leica M lens can be used. Nevertheless, the shooting ring for expensive lenses shows where smartphone photography could go.
What do you think of the implementation? Would such an optional add-on convince you to buy a Xiaomi smartphone?
Source: Xiaomi
If there were an industry standard for the mount and lens to use across different smart phone brands, yes. But not as a proprietary device that may not be supported in the next phone iteration. Especially not as a one-off device.
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Admin
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Staff
Nov 4, 2022 Link to commentMaybe we could have the return of camera mounts for small sensors, like Samsung NX-mini mount, or that Nikon 1.
As long as we don't need thousand dollars lenses...