Leica Q video-modus

[Rob de Jong]

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I need some help. Eversinds today the display of my Leica Q shows constantly the symbol of a filmcamera. I don't know how to get back to the foto-modus.

Who can help me?

[Bart van Hofwegen]

Press the center button of the directional pad. (also called the "set button") Pressing that button will cycle through the different view modes. See page 162/163 of the German/English user manual...

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[ashlee52]

I lost a day of shooting at 12,000 feet today on a hike with my family due to this stupid problem. I have my mode lock setting set to lock the camera in still camera mode and still it sets itself to video. Obviously the set button is easily hit... and this defeats my intentions. Why in the world would you activate video filming with a display option?

 

I have shot Leica cameras since 1968... and never have had one as poorly designed as my Q.

 

Leica please give us an update to do away with the bothersome video function altogether.

 

Also this camera seems to overexpose highlights constantly.

[Bart van Hofwegen]

Leica please give us an update to do away with the bothersome video function altogether.

 

I agree. Make it such that the video mode can only be switched on deliberately. Disabling video somewhere in the menu is fine with me. Most photographers do not use it anyway.

 

That said, I personally would like to see a usable video mode. Right now, it is not. Usable means at least full manual exposure control. Log encoding would be very nice, at a bitrate as high as possible given the current hardware.

[David Dennis]

Ashlee, I'm really curious.  The only video mode I know of in my Q simply changes the display so it shows video-related information. The camera still shoots still pictures just fine, including the standard magnification (which does not work when shooting video).  So how could having the camera in video mode ruin your pictures?

 

I did the experiment.  I turned on my Q, punched the Set button until I saw the little video icon, and took a picture.  Focus peaking and magnification worked just fine.  My picture came out great.

 

So what is the problem?

 

I'd like to defy convention here and defend the Q's video mode.  It creates really gorgeous video, even under tough low-light conditions.  The smooth manual focus with focus peaking really helps me a lot and makes it much easier for me to successfully pull focus when shooting moving subjects.  I really love it, actually.  Better than any true video camera I've owned.  

 

For example, check out my video here:

 

(The underwater shots were taken with my Leica X-U; the rest were taken with the Q.)

 

Now, I do feel your pain about exposure.  There definitely needs to be a manual-exposure video mode.  I find it curious that Canon and Nikon have the same problem, so there must be some sort of engineering challenge here.  Anyone know why it's technically difficult to enable a camera to change exposure during video or set manual exposure while shooting?

[Digitom]

Hello,

very nice video! I like to have the possibility to take a little video, even I am no video-enthusiast.

 

Just one question: when I film and make a panning shot, the video is some choppy/jerky, changing with some seconds of smooth picture. I am not the reason :-) but at playback in the cam and also on the PC the phenomen occurs. Is it possible that my SD card is too slow? Other question: which card did you use for taking the video?

Greetings

Thomas

[lucerne]

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Ashlee and Bart.

Your recent comments about the external Video button on the top plate truly enabled or disabled in this forum thread prompted me to check my Q.  First, I'm assuming that you have updated the firmware, because the possibility of unintentionally triggering and maintaining video mode via the top button was very real on the original firmware.  I was involved in the user-testing of various proposed operational modifications via firmware and one particular function which was addressed was the top button.   I have checked again, and there is no doubt that providing you have switched off video mode in the menu, then that button will not start a video session.  However, if you have been in a video session and you use the menu option to switch back to still mode (thus disabling video), the video icon may continue to appear on the top bar.  It does not indicate that your video button is active and will disappear as soon as you toggle through the view options.   

 

If, however, you choose to leave the menu option with stills and video both enabled, then there will be a risk of unintentionally triggering full video capture.  (or you can intentionally shoot a mix of video and stills.)  

 

Can you replicate that process and confirm?

 

Ashlee:  As for losing the whole day's activity, I can only imagine that your video was not disabled and unknown to you,  your camera started to shoot and only stopped when the card was full or battery exhausted.      I'm sorry that you find the Q so badly designed.   Even before the latest upgrade, this Leica model was achieving critical acclaim.      I don't think you can compare the design,  philosophy, logical controls and functioning of a Q to a 1960's manual camera.    

Edited September 7, 2016 by lucerne

[Bart van Hofwegen]

Lucerne,

 

There is no real way to disable video in the updated software, but is even worse than that. My feeling is that the "Mode lock Photo/Video" is not thought through well enough at all in the update.

 

When this setting is "Off", then the record button (red) will start recording video, and the shutter release will take a photo, regardless of which preview screen is shown.

 

When this setting is "On", in any preview screen but the video preview, the record button is disabled and the shutter release takes a picture. So far, so good. The record button will start a video recording when the preview screen is active, but so does the shutter release in that case !!

 

So there is no real way to "disable" video. In fact, the new function makes it worse when the video preview is shown, that way you could certainly ruin a couple of photo's... The shutter release will simply start the recording. This makes the whole term "Mode lock" more logical, but only in syntax, otherwise it is utterly useless. 

 

You are better off leaving this "off" really. You have to watch out not to press the video record button accidentally, but the shutter release always takes a picture.

When Mode lock is "on", there is a real danger of starting a video when in the video preview by pressing the shutter release.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Bart van Hofwegen

[David Dennis]

Hello,

very nice video! I like to have the possibility to take a little video, even I am no video-enthusiast.

 

Just one question: when I film and make a panning shot, the video is some choppy/jerky, changing with some seconds of smooth picture. I am not the reason :-) but at playback in the cam and also on the PC the phenomen occurs. Is it possible that my SD card is too slow? Other question: which card did you use for taking the video?

Greetings

Thomas

 

 

Glad you liked it!  There are a few more in the channel if you want to check them out.  All three Miami videos were done mainly with the Q, with the first two also featuring X-U footage.

 

That sounds to me like an artifact of image stabilization.  If stabilization is on it may try to hold your position even when you are moving deliberately.  This would be especially likely if you are trying to move the camera gradually.  Try switching off video stabilization under the video menu and please report back and let us know what happens.

 

My memory card is a Sandisk Extreme Plus 90mb/s 64 GB card.  I think it cost about $100 at Best Buy but it might have been on sale for under that.  I have not noticed any video problems using this card, and as you can see I've used video quite extensively, both in the Q and the X-U.

[LarryLeica]

Can you hook an external microphone to the Q for use in shooting video? I looked through the manual and I think the answer is no but I'm not sure.

 

Nice video, by the way. I would like to use the camera to record myself playing the classical guitar. I suppose I could just record the audio separately and synch it later.

[Digitom]

Glad you liked it!  There are a few more in the channel if you want to check them out.  All three Miami videos were done mainly with the Q, with the first two also featuring X-U footage.

 

That sounds to me like an artifact of image stabilization.  If stabilization is on it may try to hold your position even when you are moving deliberately.  This would be especially likely if you are trying to move the camera gradually.  Try switching off video stabilization under the video menu and please report back and let us know what happens.

 

My memory card is a Sandisk Extreme Plus 90mb/s 64 GB card.  I think it cost about $100 at Best Buy but it might have been on sale for under that.  I have not noticed any video problems using this card, and as you can see I've used video quite extensively, both in the Q and the X-U.

 

 

Hello David,

thanks for respond.

I know which effect you describe - long time ago I made video with SONY HI8 System and the Stabilizer worked as you pointed out - when I began move the cam the pic stands still 1st and then suddenly makes a quick move - because the image went out of the "stabilizer frame". To avoid tis I had to move the video recorder very slowly at beginning.

 

My SD card is a Sundisk with 8 GB and 40mbit/s. It is the one given to me as a "gimmick" when I bought the Q at Leica Store.

 

I just made some video recordings in my home just right a few minutes ago - the effect had gone!

OIS on or off, and Frame rate 30 or 60 frames/s, there is no problem any more! All is very smooth and soft.

I will take some videos tomorrow when the sun is outside^^.

 

The only thing I know is that - when I got the card in Wetzlar Leica Shop - I put it in the cam and made format 1 time.

After that I used it for taking photos, and some example videos, when I recognised the problem.

 

But some days ago I transferred the pics and the videos to my PC. Also I made Format of the SD card in the PC.

I put it in the cam, made Format again (I did this just with no reason, just want to check how long it takes to format the card.

And just today I made the test videos with your advices.

 

Sometimes SD card behaviour is strange...

But I will make some Video more and tell here.

Have a nice day!

Thomas

Edited September 11, 2016 by Digitom

[David Dennis]

I just made some video recordings in my home just right a few minutes ago - the effect had gone!

OIS on or off, and Frame rate 30 or 60 frames/s, there is no problem any more! All is very smooth and soft.

I will take some videos tomorrow when the sun is outside^^.

 

 

Based on your description, I think the problem may be that your card was fragmented.  Once you add and delete a lot of stuff from the card, its performance can decline.  Reformatting it reset it and caused its performance to recover.  So if you do see that again, reformat the card again and the problem should go away.

 

Also I wonder if you came close to running out of space on the card.  An 8gb card is pretty small in today's day and age.  Get a 64GB card and I don't think you'll regret it.

[David Dennis]

Can you hook an external microphone to the Q for use in shooting video? I looked through the manual and I think the answer is no but I'm not sure.

 

Nice video, by the way. I would like to use the camera to record myself playing the classical guitar. I suppose I could just record the audio separately and synch it later.

 

Glad you liked the video!  It was a lot of fun to make.  I definitely enjoy using the Q as my video camera.

 

Alas, there is no audio input jack in the Q.  Perhaps they can put that into the Q's eventual replacement. On the other hand, hooking up a bulky external microphone or diversity microphone receiver to the Q would probably ruin the basic small and light ethos that makes the camera so wonderful.  So using the old style dual system sound with an external audio recorder might actually be the best idea.  

 

If you have Final Cut Pro, working with double system audio is a snap.  Make your sound recording with a separate external recorder. Just import your sound recording and video into the project, right click on both and select the synchronize option.  It will take the scratch track recorded by the camera and match it with the separate audio track.  Most of the time it's worked very well for me.

 

My video was taken using the standard Q microphone.  It's not that bad, although of course it's not that great, either.

 

While I'm here, I should give you a hint for recording yourself, because I notice it's not entirely obvious for most people.  Use your iPhone or Android smartphone and the Leica Q app to view the video as you are recording.  Use the WiFi network  to hook them up and change your autofocus mode to tap to focus.  Then face the camera, frame yourself and tap on your face to focus.  You will probably want to use a somewhat higher f-stop so you can get larger depth of field, depending on how much you are moving forward and backward within the frame.  The manual says that the camera respects that setting when you make it before starting the camera. I found that trying face detection or tracking autofocus didn't work as well as finding a single focus point and sticking to it.

 

Alas, if you want 4K video, you need to buy a SL.  It looks like the SL is not that much larger and heavier than the Q if you use Leica M-style lenses, but it's a bit of a beast with the typically promoted 24-90 lens.  I have a feeling I would love the SL if I gave it a chance, but it and typically used lenses are ghastly expensive, no getting around it ...

 

Hope that helps, I look forward to seeing your creations!

[LarryLeica]

Glad you liked the video!  It was a lot of fun to make.  I definitely enjoy using the Q as my video camera.

 

Alas, there is no audio input jack in the Q.  Perhaps they can put that into the Q's eventual replacement. On the other hand, hooking up a bulky external microphone or diversity microphone receiver to the Q would probably ruin the basic small and light ethos that makes the camera so wonderful.  So using the old style dual system sound with an external audio recorder might actually be the best idea.  

 

If you have Final Cut Pro, working with double system audio is a snap.  Make your sound recording with a separate external recorder. Just import your sound recording and video into the project, right click on both and select the synchronize option.  It will take the scratch track recorded by the camera and match it with the separate audio track.  Most of the time it's worked very well for me.

 

My video was taken using the standard Q microphone.  It's not that bad, although of course it's not that great, either.

 

While I'm here, I should give you a hint for recording yourself, because I notice it's not entirely obvious for most people.  Use your iPhone or Android smartphone and the Leica Q app to view the video as you are recording.  Use the WiFi network  to hook them up and change your autofocus mode to tap to focus.  Then face the camera, frame yourself and tap on your face to focus.  You will probably want to use a somewhat higher f-stop so you can get larger depth of field, depending on how much you are moving forward and backward within the frame.  The manual says that the camera respects that setting when you make it before starting the camera. I found that trying face detection or tracking autofocus didn't work as well as finding a single focus point and sticking to it.

 

Alas, if you want 4K video, you need to buy a SL.  It looks like the SL is not that much larger and heavier than the Q if you use Leica M-style lenses, but it's a bit of a beast with the typically promoted 24-90 lens.  I have a feeling I would love the SL if I gave it a chance, but it and typically used lenses are ghastly expensive, no getting around it ...

 

Hope that helps, I look forward to seeing your creations!

 

 

  Thanks for your post! I'm interested in using the Q to videotape myself playing the classical guitar. It seems like the 28mm lens would be perfect for the job because I don't have a lot of room to put a camera out in front of me when playing. 

[David Dennis]

Thanks for your post! I'm interested in using the Q to videotape myself playing the classical guitar. It seems like the 28mm lens would be perfect for the job because I don't have a lot of room to put a camera out in front of me when playing.

 

I think this would work,great, let's see the results!