“Distinguished by an exquisite design and premium quality materials in order to echo the ethos of the Leica brand.”

— Leica Fotografie International Magazine

SUB13 is the brainchild of artist Matt Draper. A personal project, eight years in the making, driven by Draper's desire and commitment to fuse the Leica rangefinder with his fine art practice, forcing the design of his own fully functional underwater housing. As Draper's vision gained momentum, it evolved into a partnership with engineer Matt Hipsley, now extending to creatives and collectors alike.

  • The name SUB13 is drawn from 'Subversive,' reflecting our unique approach, and 'Submarine,' honouring DOER Marine, founded by Dr Sylvia Earle as Deep Ocean Exploration and Research. Their ongoing contributions continue to play an important role in our evolution. 13 symbolises M.

    With an unwavering pursuit of perfection, Draper and Hipsley spare no detail, personally investing their time and expertise in SUB13. Our small in-house team, including Matt, Matt, Toby, and Kate, manages all design, engineering, machining, and assembly. What truly sets us apart is our dedication to crafting underwater housings that we ourselves use for the camera systems we own. This direct connection ensures the highest standards and places every SUB13 owner at the heart of our story.

    SUB13 is gaining notable recognition while expanding our audience, supporting distinguished artists such as Leica Oskar Barnack Award winner Narelle Autio. Our builds include the M Series, Q cameras, and the development of our next project, still influenced by the intersection of art, innovation, and the ocean, as we continue to evolve as an industrial design team.

    Production runs are limited. Enquiries are processed in the order they are received.

FEATURED

Honouring 70 Years of Leica M Through the M6

Designed for the Leica M6, this underwater housing features a fully functional film advance lever, machined from solid titanium, hand-polished, and finished in bronze PVD-coated titanium. The detailed internal actuator sits behind a curved viewing window sculpted from optical crystal glass, enabling owners to observe the full motion of their film advance. The external lever on top precisely mirrors the radius of the viewing window below, seamlessly blending form and function.

Over a year of dedicated design, engineering, and prototyping preceded final machining to achieve our exacting standards.