The Leica Sofort 2 caught my eye as soon as I heard about its launch. Not that I was a big fan of Instax before, but somehow I connected the release of the camera with the expected addition to the family and I thought that it wouldn't be out of place to take, in addition to the classic photos, also those that we can simply print and change on the fridge just about every day. I've had the Sofort for about two weeks and in that time I've managed to take it out with friends a few times and have a lot of fun with it. So come and see what the Leica Sofort 2 can do and why I think it's the most fun camera in the world.
As for the workmanship itself, it's at a great level and even though it's the cheapest Leica you can buy, with the second cheapest being 15 times more expensive, Leica still maintains its quality here and you can see that they didn't want to release something for she should be ashamed. The whole body is solid and really very well made. On the front of the camera, in addition to the rotating lens to activate the filters, you will also find the power button, the flash, the mirror for taking selfies and the flash. Included in the package is a lens cap with a magnetic attachment. The lower part of the camera offers a classic tripod thread, and on the side you will find an opening from which print photos come out. The top part then offers a shutter button with focus and push, a rotary wheel for activating film filters and a special lever that you print photos with that has mechanical feedback that makes you feel as if you are actually a printer.
On the back of the body you will find a TFT LCD display with a resolution of 460 pixels, which is personally the weakest part of the camera for me. The colors on it look much worse than in the resulting photo and it is difficult to read in direct sunlight. For navigating the menu and other controls, there are four buttons and a circular control next to the display. As for the software, it has the same design as the Leica Q and carries the typical Leica minimalism. You can view photos, print them, rotate them, crop them, change filters and everything else you need. The controls are simple and intuitive.
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Leica Sofort 2 offers a 1/5 inch CMOS sensor and takes photos in a resolution of 2560 x 1920 Pixel (4,9MP) with a photo size of approximately 1,2 MB. As for the lens, it is a Designation Leica Summar 1:2/2.4 – 28 mm (35 mm equiv.), with which you can focus from 10 cm toonečna. The shutter speed is from 1/4 to 1/8000 sec and is set automatically. There is also a flash, which is effective at about 1,5 meters. If the resolution seems small at first glance, then believe that you print photos in size 62 x 46mm and the resolution is really sufficient. Of course, no one expects that you will use photos from Sofort as a background on your 6K monitor, but that you will print them in a frame, maxYou can simply drag it to your phone via Bluetooth and use it as a background on it. You can store about 45 photos on the internal memory or you can use a micro-sd card.
What makes the Leica Sofort most interesting from a photography perspective is its ten film filters and ten lens filters. While the film filters are set by turning the dial on top of the camera, the lens filters can be changed by turning the lens. In total, thanks to the 10 x 10 combinations, you have 100 filters with which you can enhance your photos, but of course you don't have to use any of them. The lens filters are called Normal, Vignette, Soft Focus, Blur, Fisheye, Color Shift, Light Leak, Mirror, Double Exposure, Half-Frame and film filters then Normal, Vivid, Pale, Canvas, Monochrome, Sepia, Yellow, Red, Blue and Retro. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of filters, but I understand that they're part of the fun of photography. So if you love filters, you'll love them. On the other hand, you need to keep in mind that they are preset and cannot be edited further.
As far as battery life is concerned, the one for printing photos will be essential for you, and it is necessary to tip your hat here. A fully charged Leica Sofort 2 can print an incredible 100 photos, and believe me, you definitely won't spend 2500 CZK per evening just for photos, usually a tenth will be enough for you. Battery life is definitely not a problem, and charging is done via USB-C, so it's very easy and fast.
The most important thing that the Leica Sofort 2 offers is direct printing of photos from the camera body. It works on the principle of Instax photos, where you insert a special cartridge and it is then possible to print ten pictures in the size of 62 x 46mm. These are full-color, glossy photos in excellent quality. By the way, you can see what the printed pictures look like in the gallery below. The photos are created by exposing the picture to cartridge, so there is no printer or ink in the camera and so it can print nekonea large number of photos, you only need to change the film itself, i.e. Instax. Once you have cartridge, just bend the upper lever for printing and within a few seconds the photo comes out, which is first completely white and within tens of seconds changes to a real photo. The photo then reaches one hundred percent quality after approximately 30 minutes, but after the first 3 to 5 minutes the photo is very good, but for all the colors to turn out as they should, you really have to wait about 30 minutes.
As for the quality of the photos, or rather the printing, no one can complain about anything. The photos are printed absolutely perfectly and the quality corresponds to photos printed in a photo lab. Of course, the higher the quality of the photo you print, the ones taken on the iPhone 15 Pro or equivalent, the better the quality of the photo itself, but even those taken directly on Sofort are definitely not bad, on the contrary, you will see how great the photos you have printed. You may think over time that the printer itself would be enough, but here you have everything in one package and with the Leica logo, which gives it all a slightly different touch.
Leica is not exactly a charitable company, so they did something you might not like. You have the option to connect your Leica Sofort 2 and iPhone using the Leica Photos app. This makes it possible to transfer photos from the camera to iPhone or vice versa, print photos from iPhone. That's cool because you can take any photo in iPhone and it doesn't matter if you took a picture of it iPhone or on some other Leica like Q and print it just by selecting the print option in the application. The photo then looks absolutely perfect and honestly its quality is if for example from iPhone 15 Pro, is incomparable to a photo taken with Sofort after printing. What you won't like, however, is the fact that you can't print photos taken with Sofort. iPhone transfer, but only those that you have printed. Don't ask me why this is the case, it simply is the case and if you manage to capture something on Sofort that you want to have on your phone, you have to print it. It's a big shame because the display of the Sofort itself is, as I already mentioned, no miracle and so you can't view the photo taken on the Sofort in detail on the phone before printing it. iPhone.
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Price of printing photos via Leica Sofort 2
As for the price of the photos themselves, you can buy either original films in a package called LEICA Sofort color film pack, where 10 photos cost 250 CZK, i.e. 25 CZK per photo, or you can buy classic Instax Mini films from Fujifilm. The only difference is the logo on the packaging, but you usually can't buy Fujifilms themselves much cheaper and the price for a pack of 10 varies maxat least by 10-20 CZK. However, in the case of Instax mini from Fuji you can find, for example, a pack of 40 pieces for 799 CZK and similar promotions. So it's up to you what you want variaYou choose, but there is really no difference here. Whether 25 CZK is a lot or a little depends on everyone. However, you definitely do not print photo after photo and print a few photos per month so that you can change the photos in your album or so that you can give them to friends.
So for me, the price of printing 10 photos for friends in an evening for 250 CZK is definitely acceptable and I don't see any problem with it. The films are available in two variaAs for the ones with the Leica logo, and so that you don't have to spend an hour trying to figure out the difference, like I did, one has a white frame around the photo and the other has a yellow one. The price for the camera itself is 9500 CZK, which again doesn't seem like a huge amount to me and it's definitely worth the fun.
Lots of interesting accessories to make Leica even more fun
Leica is known for offering a significant amount of interesting accessories for all of its products. Leather covers from world-famous designers and much more are no exception. It is no different in the case of Sofort, where you can buy directly from Leica, for example, magnetic frames for printed photos, which you can attach, for example, to the refrigerator, and then wooden frames, from which you can create an interesting collage or, for example, photo boxes, and many another one. The price of magnetic frames is around 750 CZK for 3 pieces, and wooden frames for creating a collage on the wall will cost you 1250 CZK, given that it is a set of three interesting frames in which you can put a total of five photos. The prices are quite reasonable and the accessories are what make the Sofort what it is to some extent. In short, you print the photo, put it in a frame, pin it on the fridge and enjoy it.
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Summary
The Leica Sofort won't make you a better photographer, and you won't take it to capture the most important moments in your life. You'll take it with your friends to a restaurant, for a walk, or to a party, where you can instantly print out a photo for everyone, and believe me, it's completely different than sending photos from iPhone over AirDrop. Last weekend we were having a steak with friends and even though we are all over 30, the Leica Sofort 2 was perfect fun and we tried to take as many cool photos as possible that would be worth printing and putting on the fridge. Plus, you don't have to limit yourself to just friends. Imagine you are going out with your kids, you let them take an interesting photo and you print it right away at home or while you are out, at home they put it in a frame themselves and if they choose the magnetic frame, they can have it on the fridge right away. That is exactly what the Leica Sofort is about, it is just great fun. The Leica Sofort is available from authorized Leica partners, but I bought my camera specifically from swp.sk
There used to be a problem with these bazmenka that the photo lasted for a couple of weeks and then the colors faded...
Any idea how it is now?
Ad CMOS sensor 1/5 zoll ... that's about 1/5 of an inch, right? ;) ... but the German somehow belongs to Leica ...
instax mini we are about 2 years old and all the photos are still the same