Leica Q3 43

“The best camera is the one you have with you“

When I got my first Leica - it was a Q2, my passion for photography sort of rekindled. It was a small compact camera, full frame sensor and a Leica lens. This was the promise for which I was sold for, but the best thing started just after receiving the package. Great design, easy to work with, reliable, a great lens that delivered sharp images for a 47 mpx sensor, I was sold! So that brought me to say the following:

”If Leica is bringing another Q with a 50mm one day, I’m selling all my other cameras and just keep the Q with the 28 and the one with the 50.”

Well, time has passed, and that dream is almost happening. One mention though, they can become a daily setup, but I’m not selling my M line and my SL line (I hope you can understand… :P )

The people from Wetzlar outdid themselves, again. Putting a 60 mp sensor in the same form factor as the Q 28, while keeping the reduced dimensions makes this camera that daily companion that is always at the ready. With a 43mm lens that is not too wide, yet not too tele, and with a wide open aperture of f2, this lens can bail you out from a lot of situations. I don’t know when to bring up the fact that this lens is Apochromatic, but I’ll show you some images later in this post.

In terms of design, one of the things that the Q3 brings to the table different from the Q2 is the display, that now is enjoying a bit of freedom:

I know that a lot of people are not really enjoying this, but, from a professional perspective, it brings you more options for shooting. The design is not really suffering, but I could get some moments when it was a bit in the way - but I’m comparing this to the Q2 where everything is very well kept together. However, the moments when I need a shot from the ground level, or the ones where I find myself in a crowd really put this display in a good light.

Design related, the changes from the Q2 to Q3 are the display and the buttons moved from the left side of the camera to the right side. To be honest, I will miss my FN button (FN - Flavius Neamciuc :)) ), but other than that I find this move to be very practical.

Enough chit chat, let’s see images:

Colors:

If you are unfamiliar with Leica colors, they are very nice straight out of the camera, but, if you also like to shoot raw and edit after, you can get a lot from that 70-80 mb file.
And yes, if you ask yourself if these files were shot raw, the answer is always yes when you are reading this blog. To have a better idea about the files, I had one RAW file that I had it exported with different settings as following:

No edit - raw exported

edited

… and so I would not forget, the 4 files above were shot in Macro mode - yes this 43mm APO has a macro mode!

And since we brought this up, some of you may be familiar with my #eyeseries on instagram, Nico was kind enough to let me try this macro feature on his own eye (seemed logical, since he was the first person in that series…)

Aberrations:

Purple fringing - well, let’s just say that on this lens that is nowhere to be found. The image above was shot in direct opposition to the sun, wide open. The details are amazing, no PF and no loss of contrast or resolution. I will add some other examples down the road, but this should tell you more than enough.

Since this is a 43mm and an f2, we also expect some separation:

The separation is superb, unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to have some portraits in my short time with the camera, but the images above can make you understand a bit about the way this lens is working. Me for one, I’m crazy about this out of focus rendering that the Leica lenses are having…

Geometry:

For people shooting architecture, if you have the space to shoot 43mm, this camera is a delight: lines are straight, no visible deformation, dynamic range is looking great and you have a great deal of detail from those 60mp.

Low light and high ISO:

Even though high ISO may not be something that Leica is praised a lot for enough, the fact that the file retains so much detail even when grainy, gives me exactly what I need. For the last 3 - 4 years I’ve been shooting nightlife photography with Q2 and SL2, so this should tell you about my opinion on high ISO for Leica, and this Q3 seems even better than before.

Leica FOTOS

There is this not so new thing about cameras where you can have a good photo from your camera into your phone in minutes, and from there on social media. Leica Fotos (the application) is something that opened so many ways of using photography for me. From having content delivered fast, to being able to send nice pictures in real time to the ones that I love. Well, Leica Q3 43 is doing this even better than before, and to be more specific, just watch how much time was needed to download a full RAW file:

This is not fast forward, it is just the speed this moves now, I know, jaw dropping!

To sum it up:

compact camera - you cannot change the lens
60mp full frame sensor
43mm APO auto focus with macro
great lens with very low deformation and almost nonexistent chromatic aberrations
90 degrees display
your daily best friend in terms of creating images

You want one…

Well, aren’t we all… Unfortunately at the moment, it is sold out and there is a waiting list. If you want to have one though, I recommend following the Leica store Berlin instagram page, or even better, drop by (google maps location), and ask for Nico. You will find the right answers, and the guys will know how to guide you to find the right fit for your needs.

Good to know:

all the files here were resized a lot - imagine a jpg being reduced from 20-40mb to approx. 100-400 kb
I can provide the sample files through a wetransfer link so you can check them better, just give a comment or send me a DM on Instagram - link at the bottom of this page
if you have any questions, let’s have a chat

Until next time