Helium | Design Lab Announces First Patent; HeSL3 for Leica’s Flagship SL3 Series

Añadido: 2026-05-06

[00:00:04]Hey everybody, I'm Hugh Brownstone for Three Blind Men and an elephant. And along with my dear friend, business partner, and co-founder Ed Palasok of Helium Design Lab, makers of what PetaPixel called the world's best camera grip, we've got some news we're excited to share with you.

[00:00:20]Two pieces of news.

[00:00:22]Actually.

[00:00:23]One.

[00:00:24]We are pleased to announce a completely new product in our lineup with a level of modularity we've never attempted before. Hold that thought for another video.

[00:00:34]This time for Leica's most advanced and versatile workhorse system camera, the SL3 series.

[00:00:40]Which, as you might imagine, we're calling the Helium SL3.

[00:00:46]Anti-theft, anti-tamper, no futs.

[00:00:49]Arca-Swiss compatible, no QR plate required. Peak Design Capture Clip compatible, no QR plate required.

[00:00:57]Apple AirTag compatible.

[00:00:58]>> [music] >> Custom right lower lug equipped.

[00:01:01]Improved handling. For the first time, QD [music] quick detach disconnect compatible for bigger, heavier lenses. Thoroughly considered and beautifully executed. Not that we're biased or [music] anything.

[00:01:13]Five-axis CNC machine from a single block of aluminum. Hand assembled and individually inspected all here in the US.

[00:01:21]Designed exclusively [music] for Leica's SL3 series. Priced at $320 and now available for pre-order.

[00:01:29]Man, I do love me that kind of b-roll.

[00:01:32]Moving on. Two.

[00:01:34]The US Patent Office has now granted a patent on our very first filing with more IP in the pipeline.

[00:01:41]But hold that thought while I first return to our Helium SL3 for the what, why, and how.

[00:01:51]For those of you new to our story, Ed and I formed Helium Design Lab in 2024 to do something very specific. Now, it began as a lark, but it became an actual business. Less a line of accessories than an ambition to create a more perfect union between photographer and camera when in motion.

[00:02:09]Before we ever thought about a business, Ed and I were good friends who shot the heck out of our Leica Q3s on the street.

[00:02:16]And just for grins, started playing with the idea of building a better grip for them than we could find anywhere else.

[00:02:23]Now, Ed has been a registered architect for more than 25 years and has a highly successful practice. While those of you who know me, know I was already task saturated with YouTube, our street photography workshops, which I lead with Claudia around the world, the joy of our own street work for ourselves. But man, did Ed and I have fun.

[00:02:45]His 3D printer, my modeling clay, and the joy of thinking deeply about what we wanted. Peace of mind while traveling.

[00:02:53]Shortening the distance between intent and execution. Minimizing futzing and schlepping.

[00:02:59]Increasing the joy in hand.

[00:03:02]You know what else?

[00:03:04]We had a blast in the dialogue, the exchange of ideas, the problem solving, the whole greater than the sum of its parts.

[00:03:14]It's a wonderful partnership.

[00:03:16]Over many iterations and many months before we ever formed a company, before we ever thought about it, we began designing an anti-theft, anti-tamper, no futs grip with the expectation that we'd eventually commission two very expensive, fully finished production units, one for each of us.

[00:03:33]But by our what, 10th, 20th prototype, we began to realize that other Q3 owners might like what we were doing, too. And it turns out they do. We have been bowled over by the market response, but even more than that, by our customers individually.

[00:03:50]Not only for their support, enthusiasm, and generosity, but for their suggestions.

[00:03:56]We actually listen.

[00:03:58]Thank you, guys. You help make our products better.

[00:04:01]Turns out Q2 owners also wanted a version for their cameras, so we developed and released our Helium 2.

[00:04:09]This required real tweaking because the two cameras are not identical. And everything we do is designed exclusively for each new project we take on.

[00:04:18]Next, we turned our attention to M11 owners because they wanted one, too, and I could relate. I'd always wanted that same functionality for my M11, but we'd been too busy for it.

[00:04:31]Not to state the obvious, but an M is not a Q, and our Helium 11 required entirely new componentry save for a screw or three.

[00:04:40]We insisted on retaining all of the functionality, all of the DNA of our original Helium 3, and the M11 offered some challenges. When Sigma came out with their limited edition BF camera, we were so struck by its industrial design, finish, and ambition that we did a limited edition Helium BF grip for it. Truly a labor of love because we knew from the outset we might quite possibly never break even.

[00:05:04]Still, once again, what a blast. What a wonderful challenge. The BF required an even deeper rethink of what was possible and what tradeoffs made sense because of its size. We employed an entirely different design vocabulary to complement and pay homage to the BF's designers. And we are so proud of what we accomplished.

[00:05:23]But we also confirmed that labors of love alone are no way to run a business. Hold that thought.

[00:05:33]So, why the SL3 and why now? The truth of it is that my own SL3 started to feel a little left out after we launched our other grips and saw that all three of its siblings here in the Batcave, Q3, Q343, M11, and BF, were particularly elegantly attired.

[00:05:51]Okay, fine. Non-anthropomorphized, I started to feel that the SL3 was missing something compared to my Q3s, M11, and Sigma BF.

[00:06:00]More specifically, I'd been traveling with my SL3 more often, shooting the heck out of it overseas, too.

[00:06:07]And I began to miss the peace of mind of our anti-tamper AirTag compatibility.

[00:06:12]The hours-long load relief off my neck and shoulders courtesy of our Peak Design Capture Clip compatibility, allowing me to carry on my belt, no QR plate required.

[00:06:23]Less felt load and quicker access. Oh, baby.

[00:06:28]Maybe more importantly, as much as I adore Leica's APO SL series, the 90 F2 I bought for it along with the 35, both pinnacle reference standard lenses, I came to realize I'd begun to leave them at home in favor, in the case of the 90, of the much smaller and lighter Sigma 90 F2.8. And you know what? This was the same reason the Q343 replaced my SL3 with APO-Summicron 35 F2.

[00:06:52]Weight, center of gravity, strain over hours, most especially on my wrist. It was just so much easier and less tiring to go from at the ready to camera up to my eye.

[00:07:03]This, in spite of the fact that, as I said moments ago, the SL3 already had an exceptional grip conceived from the ground up by the extraordinary industrial design team at Leica for what is the company's most ambitious interchangeable lens system camera ever built.

[00:07:20]And we wanted to do better?

[00:07:24]No pressure.

[00:07:26]That's when Ed and I decided to move the SL3 to the top of our priorities queue.

[00:07:31]Which meant, as always, returning to first principles. How, over time, the hand actually closes. Where tension builds. Where other parts of the body tire or strain. Neck, shoulders, the wrist, fingers. What stability really feels like.

[00:07:48]We ran through our usual iterative process, software design, 3D prints, pre-production precision 3D print, in the metal pre-production prototype, and worked through the economics.

[00:08:00]But that's when we took a pause.

[00:08:03]Because the SL3 simply doesn't demand the kind of ergonomic remediation the Q and M series do for some of us. Not for what we do and the way we do it.

[00:08:15]And there are already nicely done accessories out there for the SL3.

[00:08:20]L brackets in particular, ranging in price from as little as $28 to almost 300.

[00:08:26]We know because we bought and tried the best of them.

[00:08:30]But none of them gave us what Ed and I wanted.

[00:08:35]They weren't designed for what we wanted. Not the feel in hand under motion.

[00:08:41]Not our functionality.

[00:08:43]Not the level of precision we insist upon from fit to finish, color matching, and design vocabulary. Not the functionality per gram.

[00:08:53]Not the customer service. Not the sense of community, the interaction with our community.

[00:08:58]Not a couple of other things we have up our sleeves I mentioned obliquely at the outset.

[00:09:04]That will happen in another video.

[00:09:08]Which is why we took that breath and asked ourselves, will other people value what we do the same way we do? Is it economically feasible to bring a Helium product designed specifically for the SL3 to market our way?

[00:09:22]But you know what?

[00:09:24]The answer that we came up with is yes.

[00:09:27]And yes, as long as we didn't try to be everything in the kitchen sink. We simply won't do it that way. What we want to do, as I said earlier, is to build a more perfect union between photographer and camera in motion.

[00:09:39]And we want to do precisely that better than anyone else.

[00:09:44]This meant our solution for the SL3 was not going to look like anything we'd done before. But the goal was exactly the same.

[00:09:54]Make the camera feel even better in your hand.

[00:09:58]Let it disappear just a little bit more when you're working.

[00:10:03]Help you arrive at the moment a little sooner.

[00:10:06]Stay there a little longer. And to do it all just a bit more comfortably because that adds up notably over shooting day.

[00:10:17]Not a grip.

[00:10:19]Not a base plate.

[00:10:21]An interface for a specific set of use cases, the heart of a modular system already loaded for bear, offering tremendous functionality straight out of the gate, yet unlike anything we've ever built, but imagine it, model it, want to build it?

[00:10:39]Oh, yeah.

[00:10:45]So, this is where we need your help.

[00:10:48]We really don't know what the demand for the Helium SL3 will be, but we think that if a sufficient number of pre-orders coming, we can bring it to market at $320.

[00:11:00]But like the BFN particular, this is a real risk. So, here's how we get there.

[00:11:08]Starting today, we're opening a 30-day window for pre-orders. If at the end of 30 days, we do have a sufficient number of pre-orders to hit that target price, we will begin production. As always with our fabrication partners right here in the US.

[00:11:23]We figure about 4 weeks from the close of that window to production, hand inspection, and assembly.

[00:11:30]If we don't receive sufficient pre-orders, well, we'll refund 100% of your money, sigh heavily at what could have been, and move on.

[00:11:43]Although that has never happened before.

[00:11:46]In other words, if you're shooting with the SL3 system, or thinking about it, and if this level of care and thinking about the functionality, durability, aesthetics, and kinetics of the relationship between you and your camera resonates with you, please hop over to heliumlab.design and pre-order now.

[00:12:06]And with that, let's return to our patent for just a moment and why it matters so much to Ed and to me.

[00:12:19]When the US Patent and Trademark Office examined our application, they came to two conclusions. One, our work was new.

[00:12:29]And two, our work was not obvious.

[00:12:34]That's why they granted the patent.

[00:12:36]That's what patents are all about.

[00:12:39]But I'll tell you why we're so chuffed about it, and it might not be what you think.

[00:12:45]It's less because we've seen other products come onto the market that have clearly borrowed from what we've done.

[00:12:51]That kind of stuff invariably happens when you put something new out into the world.

[00:12:56]The truly satisfying thing about it is that our authorship of those ideas is now a matter of public record.

[00:13:04]And that recognition, no one can ever take that away from us.

[00:13:09]All of which is a very long way of saying, for those of you who've been asking for this for a while now, for those of you who are already part of the Helium Design Lab family, for those of you learning about us for the very first time, welcome back, guys. Welcome to Helium Design Lab and our latest expression of a more perfect union between photographer and camera in motion.

[00:13:35]Not just refined, original.

[00:13:47]>> [music]