Helium Design Lab’s HeSL3 Interface Plate Promises To Be the Perfect Pairing for the New Leica SL3-P

Hot on the heels of Leica announcing its best SL-series camera to date, the Leica SL3-P, the fine folks over at Helium Design Lab have a new HeSL3 Interface Plate for the SL3 series cameras, including the SL3, SL3-S, and new SL3-P.

Available now for preorder for $320, the HeSL3 Interface Plate extends the bottom of SL3 cameras in meaningful, practical ways.

“The newest addition to our Helium Design Lab portfolio, our most modular and most challenging design yet, because it’s hard to improve upon the SL3’s ergos, Helium SL3 system plate and upcoming optional palm swell with integrated Leica finger loop connection point,” says Hugh Brownstone, photographer, YouTube creator, and co-founder of Helium Design Lab alongside architect and passionate photographer Ed Palisoc.

While the company’s other very carefully designed and precisely engineered grips for cameras like the Leica Q3 and Leica M11 add a comfortable front grip to an otherwise flat camera, enhancing their comfort and usability, the SL3 series cameras have no such need — they already include a large front grip.

So instead of being a full-blown camera grip, the HeSL3 is technically an “interface plate.” In this case, it extends the bottom of the camera, providing a bit more purchase for the user’s pinky. It’s more than an extension plate, though, as it also incorporates an Arca-Swiss mount compatible shape, Peak Design Capture Clip and Travel Trip compatibility, a hidden slot for an Apple AirTag, an additional 1/4-20 screw mount for accessories, anchor lugs for Leica CL style camera straps and Peak Design anchors, and connection points for “future Helium Design Lab accessories.” It also doesn’t block access to the battery compartment or memory card slot.

Like Helium Design Lab’s other grips and plates, the HeSL3 is built from a CNC’d aluminum block, and the black anodization ensures it perfectly matches the look and feel of SL3 series bodies. Each unit is hand-assembled and machined in the U.S.

While there are only a few preorder units left of the initial HeSL3 run, Brownstone says that if there’s sufficient demand, there will be another one. As for the promised upcoming optional palm swell, that will add a comfortable bump to the SL3’s grip, ensuring better balance when using longer, heavier lenses on the camera. More information on that will be coming very soon.

Image credits: Helium Design Lab