Shooting from a different perspective – where the industrialization of photography meets premium quality, paving new pathways for growth. Spring brings two significant innovations to Hyphen-Group, deeply interconnected.
On one hand, Leica joins our partner ecosystem in a shared pursuit of quality. On the other, the MK3 version makes its debut across the Hyphen Shooting Line sets. This upgrade ensures enhanced color performance, more dynamic lighting – also beneficial for video content production – and improved comfort within production environments.
The goal: to more effectively address both technical and creative shooting needs for brands, combining ever-higher quality standards with the growing demand for process optimization in content production.
The partnership with Leica
The partnership with Leica is rooted not only in technological compatibility, but also in a shared vision for product photography. Specifically, this collaboration has made it possible to:
- Develop a new Leica hardware kit, available from summer in the Hyphen catalog, compatible with HSL Hilp and Elements sets.
- Launch the first Digital Content Factory powered by Leica, hosted at our new Milan headquarters – an additional production space alongside our sites in Affi (VR) and Bergamo, as well as an open lab for clients to test new technologies and production methods.
- Establish a new Hyphen-Academy training module in collaboration with Leica Akademie Italy, aimed at maximizing the synergy between our two technologies. It also offers an opportunity to explore photography in depth, decoding what gives meaning to an image.
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Mutual enhancement
The spherical and apochromatic lenses of Leica cameras simplify high-performance color management. Thanks to exceptional sensor quality, high sensitivity values can be used without compromising image integrity. The cameras also display metric focusing distances, simplifying and speeding up setup times when switching between product categories. In turn, the characteristics of the Hyphen Shooting Line allow Leica cameras to fully express their potential – qualities that would risk being lost in a traditional setup.
A mutual enhancement. “This collaboration gives us the opportunity to integrate our cameras into a modern, professional, and industrialized photographic process,” explains Andrea Pacella, VP Global Marketing at Leica. “Hyphen’s lighting and systems enhance Leica’s ability to make a difference, highlighting the quality of every element, subject, and stage of the process. A good photo is a cornerstone of product value – seen through the eye of a photographer and achieved using a highly sophisticated technical system.”
Tangible advantages during shooting
In an industry where detail truly makes the difference, integrating Leica SL3 24-70 mm cameras into Hyphen’s sets brings several technical benefits:
- Live parameters for distance and focal length: these simplify proportion and scale management already during the setup phase.
- Low-noise performance: continuous lighting demands high sensitivity without quality loss, supporting depth of field and motion blur reduction.
- High-quality DNG files: in post-production, especially under demanding conditions, the quality of the RAW format significantly impacts the final result.
This integration also enables optimized photo and video management in a consistent environment, delivering uniform results and reducing adaptation costs. “The SL3 combines two devices in one body,” says Pacella, “allowing an easy switch between photography and video settings, maintaining the respective configurations. The result? Native excellence in resolution, rendering, color, and tone – improving both the ergonomics and the photographer’s workflow.”
MK3: new features, greater performance
The partnership with Leica is matched by the debut of Hyphen-Group’s new MK3 technology. The evolution of the HSL line builds on the strengths of its MK2 predecessor while introducing important innovations, including:
- Improved light color quality
A higher CRI value enables richer colors and more accurate interpretations of hues like teal and cinnamon. - Enhanced front light distribution
With the new Hilp MK3, lighting zones increase from 5 to 7, offering vertical light redistribution. - Dynamic light control
Each light can now be managed with fade-in and fade-out effects, allowing scenario changes for video or adaptation to channel-specific style guides.
The new lighting configuration also improves comfort and safety within shooting areas. The system now runs at 0 dB, significantly reducing noise pollution and offering major advantages for capturing video with live audio. In line with this approach, we’ve brought the system down to 0 dB, significantly improving its acoustic impact. This level of silence offers major advantages when capturing video with live audio, ensuring a cleaner and more professional sound environment.
A sustainable evolution
The new HSL Hilp MK3 features updated automation and power technologies, achieving a 25% reduction in overall energy consumption thanks to next-generation power supplies and fewer energy-intensive components.
Auto shut-off and intelligent light panel dimming further enhance energy efficiency.
A redesigned volume layout allows the MK3 set to be positioned flush against the wall, reclaiming 40 centimeters in length. In terms of width, each set takes up 30% less floor space. Concealed wheels make it easy to move the set from one room to another.
In short, an evolution – but a sustainable one. An upgrade kit will allow Hyphen clients to convert existing MK2 sets to the latest version by replacing only the lighting components, preserving almost the entire structure and requiring just one day of downtime.
Why (and how) to industrialize product photography
The introduction of the new MK3 technology and the partnership with Leica strengthen the production effort we’ve long been pursuing to address the ongoing tension between quality and the industrialization of the shooting process.
The challenge lies in devising new strategies and solutions to optimize shooting workflows – combining quality with productivity.
Current and future market dynamics demand it: on one side, a delicate global economic landscape; on the other, the constant expansion of omnichannel marketing and sales platforms, along with an ever-increasing demand for personalized content.
Organizations are therefore urged to reflect more urgently on how to balance content production efficiency with uncompromised quality.
At Hyphen-Group, this has long been a key focus. We’ve developed operating models and tools to industrialize product photography, while preserving the creative integrity of each shot and the central role of the authorial vision.
The principle is to manage a production process that merges industrial needs with the brand’s creative aspirations.
What’s the key? It lies in the concept of the creative template and in the ability to adopt a systemic approach to production. By mastering the production phase, it becomes possible to ensure project consistency while reducing time and costs in post-production.
