The Leica Q3 is an excellent camera and has the type and efficiency that Leica fanatics love. Nevertheless, the digicam’s grip has pissed off some, and a photographer and architect have teamed as much as clear up the issue.
Photographer Hugh Brownstone, additionally recognized for his manufacturing firm, Three Blind Men and An Elephant, has labored for the previous yr along with his expensive buddy and fellow photographer, architect Ed Palisoc, on the He3 Handgrip for Leica Q3. PetaPixel chatted with Brownstone, a longtime trade buddy, and Palisoc about their Helium Design Lab challenge, their shared love of images, and the way they constructed their new Leica Q3 grip, which they (very pretty) describe as the perfect exterior digicam grip ever made.
At a look, the Helium Design Labs He3 Grip for the Leica Q3 is an all-in-one entrance grip, thumb relaxation, and tripod plate for the Leica Q3, machined from a single piece of aluminum. In contrast to Leica’s official Q3 grip and thumb relaxation — that are two separate merchandise — the He3 doesn’t block the battery and reminiscence card slots or forestall using the digicam’s scorching shoe. Additional, it really works with Leica’s Finger Loop, securely and secretly shops an Apple AirTag, has a backside anchor lug for various strap configurations, is Peak Design appropriate, and has a built-in Arca-Swiss tripod mount.
How Two Passionate Photographers Turned ‘What Would We Need in a Leica Q3 Grip?’ Right into a Actual Product
Though Brownstone, an expert photographer, educator, and content material creator, and Palisoc, an architect, have very completely different careers, their shared love for images led to them beginning Helium Design Lab, and making the brand new He3 grip.
Palisoc, who has been captivated with images since his grandmother purchased him a Canon movie digicam when he was 12, met Brownstone by YouTube. They acquired to speaking, and Palisoc occasion went to one in every of Brownstone’s workshops. They grew to become quick associates and after chatting about their expertise with the Q3, started engaged on the He3 grip. After a few yr and greater than 100 design prototypes, the product is lastly out there to order.
Every individual brings distinctive and uncommon complementary expertise. Brownstone has spent many years working with quite a lot of cameras, and he is aware of what he — and different photographers — like and dislike about digicam designs. He has an acute consideration to element. Palisoc understands kind, perform, and physics and may create the 3D fashions required for a challenge like this.
“Ed is good. He’s good about doing issues that individuals don’t see. Even the internals of the grip are distinctive,” Brownstone says.
“The time I’ve spent with you going over this challenge has set the bar of what it means to actually work effectively with somebody,” Palisoc says of working with Brownstone.
Unsurprisingly, the He3 grip challenge was instigated by Brownstone and Palisoc discovering the Q3’s normal grip design a bit missing. Additional, whereas Leica has an optional grip for the Q3, it blocks the reminiscence card and battery compartments. It helps wi-fi charging, but when a photographer needs to simply swap the battery out within the area, they need to fully take away the grip. It’s not preferrred from a workflow perspective.
The He3 grip addresses these points, and does a lot extra. Each single facet of its design, usability, and flexibility has been thought of — and regarded once more.
Palisoc has 3D modeling expertise from his structure profession and entry to a 3D printer at residence, so he was in a position to continually make revisions, print them, and check them out in his fingers. One of the best of those prototypes had been shipped to Brownstone so they might work collectively on additional refinements primarily based on his hands-on expertise.
Design variations ranged from a centimeter right here or there to a millimeter to a tenth of a millimeter.
Why get so exact with each curve and angle?
No Element Is Insignificant When You Use One thing All of the Time
“Even the smallest sensation on the palm of your hand issues,” Palisoc explains.
Brownstone provides that good design ought to demand little consideration from the person. If somebody notices one thing that’s off by the tiniest quantity, it issues as a result of these minor frustrations develop into one thing extra vital whenever you use a product for years and reside with it.
Brownstone and Palisoc know full effectively that Leica is extremely considerate about the way it designs its merchandise. No element is just too small for the legendary German digicam maker. So, it’s straightforward to dismiss some complaints on-line about sure points of the Q3’s design as overly nit-picky or distinctive to a selected individual’s hand or workflow.
Nevertheless, when sufficient folks choose up on sure issues or simply want a digicam felt a bit completely different within the hand, it’s arduous to not discover. Whereas some love the Q3 for its svelte, compact design, others want they might really feel extra buy within the physique and maintain it extra confidently whereas capturing.
As Brownstone typically emphasizes, the perfect digicam doesn’t add hurdles between the photographer’s thought and their photograph. A digicam should fade into the background to scale back any friction when creating pictures. Positive, the Q3 can do this for some folks straight out of the field, however not everybody. Leica is aware of as a lot, on condition that it presents an OEM hand grip for the digicam.
What Makes the He3 Grip Totally different
Past addressing shortcomings with the OEM add-on grip regarding battery and reminiscence card slot entry — customers can simply entry these with the He3 grip hooked up to the Q3 — the grip presents a big quantity of options.
There’s a modular, detachable thumb grip that attaches to the He3 grip, including a snug place to place one’s thumb whereas capturing. This doesn’t block any of the Q3’s controls. In contrast to some thumb grip add-ons, such as Leica’s own $230 thumb rest, it additionally doesn’t block the Q3’s scorching shoe.
The grip has a slot to connect Leica’s finger loop accent and works with Peak Design’s Seize Clip and Journey Tripod plate. The He3 grip additionally has a backside anchor lug, permitting photographers to simply use a wrist strap relatively than a extra typical neck strap to carry the Q3.
The He3 grip, which additionally features a backside plate for the Q3 for a bit extra grip area, is Arca-Swiss mount appropriate, too, which means that photographers don’t want a separate tripod plate or adapter for his or her Q3. There’s additionally an extra 1/4-20 screw mount to connect equipment to the digicam.
The Leica Q3 is an costly digicam — $6,295, to be exact — so folks rightfully wish to shield it in opposition to theft. Whereas an Apple AirTag received’t cease a digicam from being stolen, it is going to make it simpler to trace, and the He3 grip has an anti-tamper slot inside for the AirTag. The AirTag can’t be accessed with out eradicating the grip, and the grip has an anti-tamper screw.
Though it’s not seen from the product pictures, the AirTag is slotted securely into the entrance grip of the He3. The exact inner design for the AirTag location is one in every of a number of patent-pending points of the He3 grip, and Brownstone and Palisoc are enjoying it very near the vest and wouldn’t present the 3D mannequin construction.
Additional, the He3 grip is constructed utilizing totally CNC-machined 6061-T6 aluminum, which makes it sturdy and light-weight.
Brownstone and Palisoc thought having the grip manufactured in the US was crucial, because it’s good to make issues domestically when potential. Discovering an operation that might deal with a comparatively low-volume order requiring sub-millimeter precision was tough, however they did it. The grip is machined from a single piece of aluminum.
The hassle and care they’ve put into the He3 grip for the Q3 will probably be concurrently apparent and invisible to everybody who makes use of it. On the one hand, that the grip is so versatile and makes capturing with the Q3 a greater expertise will probably be instantly obvious, however the immense quantity of labor required to make a product that merely works is unimaginable to see from the surface. There’s an inverse relationship between the precision with which one thing is made and the quantity of consideration it calls for in use, particularly when it’s a product an individual holds and makes use of to realize one thing else — like taking a photograph.
“We’ve got profound respect for one another and belief one another,” Palisoc remarks. “It’s a really uncommon factor.”
Due to their belief and talent to work collectively, Brownstone and Palisoc have created what seems to be to be the perfect third-party digicam grip ever.
Pricing and Availability
For these lucky sufficient to personal a Leica Q3, the Helium He3 Leica Q3 Grip is available to preorder now for $480. Whereas that is greater than Leica’s OEM grip, remember that Leica not solely works at a a lot bigger manufacturing scale, however when one purchases the grip, the wi-fi charger, and thumb relaxation attachment that blocks the new shoe, the worth provides as much as $600.
Picture credit: Helium Design Lab (Hugh Brownstone / Ed Palisoc
