After almost two years of radio silence, the innovative Pixii camera has finally arrived: a rangefinder with an APS-C sensor and Leica M lens mount, which eschews a rear LCD screen and memory cards in favor of internal memory and beaming your images to be viewed on your phone.
"Who seriously needs a fixed function computer and a bad LCD at the back of a camera?" says Pixii, explaining the modus operandi of the company and its bold new camera system.
"Photographers just aren’t interested in old cameras anymore. This is the end of the line for the digital camera designed in the 80s: a sensor, a CPU and a screen. All of these components were necessary back then. Because computers were rare and hard to use. Except it's 2020 now."
Pixii believes that the only part of traditional cameras that can still beat the best camera phones are the lenses – the software and screen on most cameras are eclipsed by what you already have in your pocket, on your smartphone. Hence, Pixii has liberated its camera from those restrictions.
"The camera software now evolves at the speed of an app. The camera body is updated directly from the Cloud. And when you upgrade your phone, you get a better screen and a better processor for your photos. Keeping safe those hard earned lenses, and now your camera too."
So, the Pixii (or Pixii Camera A1112, to give its full name) is an APS-C rangefinder camera that uses an M-compatible lens mount (which also supports M39 / LTM lenses via an adapter). And yes, it is a true rangefinder, meaning that it's a manual focus system.
We don't know who makes the approximately 11.1MP sensor, though its specs include 5.5µm pixel pitch, electronic global shutter, 12-bit sampling, high dynamic range mode (60-90dB), native gain ISO320, and an optical stack with IR filter < 1.0mm and no low-pass filter.
With both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5, the Pixii sends JPEGs to your phone to check colors and exposure, and can also send the raw DNG files if you want a more detailed interrogation. Where file transfer on other cameras and apps is notoriously labored, Pixii insists that "the picture is on your phone before you take it out of your pocket".
It all sounds very intriguing, and we're very keen to get the camera into our lab for some proper testing to see how well it performs. The Pixii is on sale now via the official website with 8GB internal memory for €2,900 ($3,275 / £2,622 / AU$4,4695) and 4GB memory for €2,700 ($3,049 / £2,441 / AU$4,372). Both versions come in Space Gray or Black Matte.
Read more:
The best APS-C compact cameras
The best camera phone: which is the best smartphone for photography?
The best Leica cameras: from classic rangefinders to modern mirrorless
