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Leica Q -general-


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I will bet my left nut that its "Q" for "Quintessential" and we will see a new M-60 class/style camera. Or at the very least we will be assaulted by marketing material referring to the Quintessential Photographic Experience ;-)

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M-like design, the same FF sensor than the M240, new mount with AF, integrated viewfinder, controls like the X Vario and the new X, R adapter with auto aperture stop down....

 

Easy to build your own dream Leica camera, Leica has so many wonderful components for your own mix-and-match camera :)

 

The problem is if that model will sell...

And Blasckstone seems to have different ideas for the product line than the actual Leica managers. Hope they have not seen the new Q yet :eek:

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It's called Q because there's a chain saw and a bike integrated in the camera. The hovercraft comes as an option, at a price, of course.

Ding-di-di-ding-ding … di-ding.

Ding-di-di-ding-ding … diing-ding.

Ding-ding-Dee-Dooooo.

 

Pete.:D

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  • 1 month later...

Birth of new twins...?

 

About the rumored Leica-Q and Panasonic GX8 - some Leica (purist) users will not like this article, but here goes.

 

Just to set things up before hand, I am an M240 user for some time now (started with an M8) and I am not ready to trade my current camera just yet but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in what's happening in the Leica world. And, in my camera bag, I also host a Lumix GX-7 I use for video purposes, for snappy fast pictures I couldn't take with my M240, and yes, on occasions, as a lighter sustitute for my M. What follows are personal thoughts and, of course in some manner, a personal wish, but mainly, it's just speculation on Leica-Q rumors.

 

Alongside the much spoken of but not seen yet Lumix GX-8, there is also a recent rumor about a new Leica Q and in reading forums and other comments, some advance the possibility of the Leica-Q being the Leica version of Panasonic's camera-phone Lumix CM1. If this were to be the case, I guess they would have named it Leica Q-Lux, though the name doesn't sound nice, in the same line as the Leica-Panasonic fixed lens zoom cameras such as the D-Lux or the V-Lux. Though they didn't add the "Lux" suffix on the Leica-C, which I guess stands for "Compact", I don't see Leica entering the Android phone market with the Lumix CM1, specially with the Leica-T's Wifi software exclusively compatible with only Apple IOS.

 

If you take into consideration Leica's model lettering and numbering, Leica Q typ 116 without a "Lux" suffix would in this case seem to logically be in between the M-System and the T-System. A whole new system camera with interchangeable lenses? ... unless Q would stand for a 007-gadget-spy-like camera :-)

 

Based on the highly rumored and announced Lumix GX-8, an MFT interchangeable lens camera with WIFI capabilities, to be announced by Panasonic, probably in May 2015. The announcement of a Leica-Q, also in May (?) coincides with Panasonic's GX-8 dates. The announcement of the Lumix GX-8, expected at the MP+ Camera & Photo Imaging Show 2015, which took place in mid-February in Japan, has been delayed. Could it have been because Panasonic and Leica were still negociating and coordinating their respective announcements ?

 

Just for reminder, Leica had a good Panasonic based interchangeable lens 4/3 DSLR - the Digilux 3 - same as Panasonic's DMC L1 and represented an affordable interchangeable lens camera entry to the Leica name along with the much appreciated Leica Digilux 2 (I still own one) - see Thorsten Overgaard's review on http://www.overgaard.dk/leica_digilux2.html. Since then, Leica has continued marketing Lumix equivalent Leica compact cameras but has not entered the MFT market with a camera despite their cooperation with Panasonic to continue Leica branded MFT optics, very much used on Lumix and other MFT cameras.

 

So will Leica (finally) re-enter the MFT (Micro 4/3) conglomerate with a new camera? I personally would hope so. After all, there are quite a few Lumix-made Leica-branded MFT (Micro 4/3) primes already on the market, among which a fantastic 25mm/F1.4, a great 45mm/F2.8 Macro, a new 15mm/F1.7 ASPH, and especially, a personal favourite, a wonderful bokehlicious-creamy 42.5mm/F1.2 ASPH. Don't these lenses deserve a matching Leica-branded camera as well? So why not a GX-8 based Leica-Q ? The GX-7 has great features, the GX-8 could represent GX-7's "age of maturity". This could be of some interest to both Leica and Panasonic for obvious marketing reasons, not to mention that Leica M optics are MFT compatible via an M/MFT lens adapter.

 

Years ago, eagerly wanting to own a Leica and wanting to try digital, I switched from film (Contax-Yashica) to digital via the Leica Digilux system because, at that time, I couldn't afford any "M"s whatsoever. A few years later, I entered the M world with a second hand M8 and today, I am a happy owner of an M240, acquiring along the way, and within years, a few prime lenses as well as a Tri-Elmar WATE. But by entering the Leica M world, I came to miss the "Auto-Focus / Snapshot Handling / Image Quality / Interchangeable Lenses" cocktail compromise of the Digilux 3, and also wanted a good quality Full HD video that my then M8 or compact camera couldn't offer - explaining why I then also joined the happy community of Lumix GX-7 users.

 

So today, why not attract potential M users through a cheaper, more affordable Leica branded system? The Leica T? A real German (or rather Germano-Portuguese) Leica made camera, agreed, but the lenses remain quite expensive for most potential day to day users and the ratio Image Quality/Price so high. So why not an MFT? OK OK, I know, current MFT Leica branded glasses are not really Leica, and purist Leica users will despise me for saying this but some nice lenses bear the name as stated earlier and using a (Panasonic made) Leica can lead to eventually stepping into the real M system like I did.

 

It could be a hit on the market and would be in a reasonable and understandable marketing line that could bring Leica some very much wanted and needed new markets, and cash. And for Panasonic, an opportunity to make more cameras for those who wouldn't imagine buying a Lumix but would be ready to own a Leica-named camera. This could also be an opening for Leica to brand other Panasonic MFT interchangeable cameras such as the GM-5, and of course, for Panasonic to again make and sell more cameras - even though Leica branded. After all, doesn't Leica Camera have a new CEO with targets, and Panasonic aim to be a more proeminent player in the camera world vs Canon, Nikon, Olympus or Sony ?

 

But this is all speculation, isn't it? ....

 

Albert

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The D-Lux 109 is almost a micro four third camera already so another PanaLeica with interchangeable lenses would not be surprising at all. 

 

 

The D-Lux Typ 109 has a 4/3 sensor.

 

Panasonic's equivalent to the Leica D-Lux 109, the Lumix LX-100 has a fixed zoom lens and has almost the same technical data as the Lumix GM-5, with the difference of the latter using interchangeable MFT lenses. Both being 4/3 sensor cameras.

 

The new pocketable GM-5, the GX-7 and it's "supposedly rumored future big brother" GX-8 all have integrated EVF and WIFI capabilities along with interchangeable lenses, which makes me guess the new Leica-Q could be in the Leica-Panasonic partnership line as a new Micro Four-Thirds camera.

 

But as I said before, this is all speculation and the new Q could be any of the following (pick one) :  GM-5 or GX-8 clone, a new DSLR to replace the R-System (after all Q is not so far from R in the alphabet :lol: ), a Go-Pro like sports camera (actually, this idea isn't so bad), a gadget camera with phone capabilities (Lumix CM-1), an air-drone camera to take quality spy pictures :ph34r:, etc.

 

:rolleyes:Any guess is as good as mine.

At this point, as a Leica affectionado, it's just exciting to know there will soon be a new Leica Q... whatever it may be.

Edited by Archer809
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