38wadcutter Posted February 11, 2016 Share #1 Posted February 11, 2016 Advertisement (gone after registration) What are your thoughts on Leica bringing to market a Q with a 50mm lens or an interchangeable lens system retaining the great features of the 28mm Q? I'm very interested in your thoughts. Thanks, Mitch Wainer Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 Hi 38wadcutter, Take a look here What are the odds we will see a Q with a 50mm lens?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wda Posted February 11, 2016 Share #2 Posted February 11, 2016 Mitch, welcome to the forum. I think it is more likely that a 35mm fixed lens would be a candidate if the Q is to become a range of variants. It is widely believed that the 35mm focal length is the most universally popular for general photography. I like the idea of a 50mm version, but for those already in possession of that focal length in prime lenses, I cannot see that variant a very convincing candidate to Leica marketing specialists. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herve5 Posted February 12, 2016 Share #3 Posted February 12, 2016 I remember an interview in a french newspaper from the two designers of the Q, saying the 28mm has been selected to maintain compacity, which explicitly rebutted 50 and longer. When asked about the future, they basically evaded any detailed answer, but maybe the 'less evaded' question was about a folding screen (like 'you should leave us something for the future' instead of 'I won't say anything on that') Clearly during the interview, the Q was considered a fixed-lens design from day 1. Sorry for not finding back the (french) url -if I track it back this evening I'll upgrade this post. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
@McLeica Posted February 12, 2016 Share #4 Posted February 12, 2016 I remember an interview in a french newspaper from the two designers of the Q, saying the 28mm has been selected to maintain compacity, which explicitly rebutted 50 and longer. When asked about the future, they basically evaded any detailed answer, but maybe the 'less evaded' question was about a folding screen (like 'you should leave us something for the future' instead of 'I won't say anything on that') Clearly during the interview, the Q was considered a fixed-lens design from day 1. Sorry for not finding back the (french) url -if I track it back this evening I'll upgrade this post. I thought the issue was the size of lens and reducing a 35mm 'lux to a fixed AF lens with all the gubbins needed for that. In other words, a tech issue. As for the OP's original question, the idea of the Q having interchangeable lenses brings it too close to the M wishlist which I think will be covered off to some extent in the new iteration of the M. An AF lens interchangable Q, with a manual mode feature would kill the M stone dead, not to mention the cost of additional lenses driving kit prices up into M/SL territory. RF M's would become even more niche'. My view: maybe further focal length Q's when technology allows or perhaps the new M will address this requirement with a new range of AF lenses yet backwards compatible with current M primes. I'm sure the techies on here will be able to debate the merits of combined RF/EVF, optical etc.... technology. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ecaton Posted February 12, 2016 Share #5 Posted February 12, 2016 1:250 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted February 12, 2016 Share #6 Posted February 12, 2016 (edited) I don't know if Leica will bring out a Q with a 50mm lens but if they did it would be an amazing camera. The implementation of the Q is close to perfect in my opinion, and if it were available with the more popular FL of 50mm it would be a very successful product. From this point of view I think Leica would consider it a good move. I think that for them to have got it so right they must have invested very heavily in its design which if it were to be restricted to 28mm would be a wasted opportunity. I know that the choice of 28mm was justified on the basis of compactness which could be interpreted as a hint that no other FL would tick all the boxes but my gut feeling is that a 35mm or 50mm version could tick all or most of the boxes. A 35 or 50mm Q would sell in huge numbers and the only potential obstacle I can think of is that of cannibalising sales of the M system. I don't believe it would cannibalise sales of the M system as this has the advantage of an OVF (which some people still prefer) and interchangeable lenses. The M system also has the advantage that you can keep the same lenses and update the body every 3 years or so giving you the latest sensor technology and improvements to electronics and other aspects of functionality. I also think there will be an EVF only version of the M (essentially an interchangeable lens version of the Q) with no autofocus. This would be very different to the existing M as its EVF would be built-in, but it would benefit from the compactness of the M and would thus be differentiated from the SL in a positive way (I know the increased size of the SL has advantages for larger lenses). Edited February 12, 2016 by cliffp Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herve5 Posted February 12, 2016 Share #7 Posted February 12, 2016 (edited) Advertisement (gone after registration) It seems I cannot edit my previous post any more; here is the url I was talking about, the french interview of the two engineers/designers of the Q that (somehow) talk about why not 50mm etc. Edited February 12, 2016 by Herve5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brentb Posted February 13, 2016 Share #8 Posted February 13, 2016 What I'd like to see is a higher megapixel sensor. The Q already has a 35 and 50 mm crop mode, but the resulting photos are 15 and 8 megapixels--15 is OK, 8 is getting pretty small by today's standards. If Leica was to go to a 42MP sensor like Sony or a 50 like Canon/Nikon, the resulting cropped photo sizes would be much higher in MP, and thus much more useful. You could conceivably get a cropped 35 of 30MP and a cropped 50 of 16MP. I don't know how much engineering it would take to do this, but it would take the cropped modes to a whole new level of usefulness. Many of the crop sensor competitor cameras are moving to higher MP sensors. There are 24MP APS-C Fujis out now, and even 20MP Micro 4/3rds like the new Olympus Cameras. The Olympus even utilizes its in-body stabilization to generate 50/80 MP photos by shifting the sensor I believe and stitching together the image. This would somewhat negate the need for Leica to have a 35 or 50mm model. With higher MP, maybe they could even add a 75 or 90 mm crop mode. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS Posted February 13, 2016 Share #9 Posted February 13, 2016 Personally I think they have nailed it with the 28mm lens....................perfect for a compact camera Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest VVJ Posted February 13, 2016 Share #10 Posted February 13, 2016 Personally I think they have nailed it with the 28mm lens....................perfect for a compact camera +1. And the 28mm is the new 35mm which some people do not seem to have realized yet... 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted February 13, 2016 Share #11 Posted February 13, 2016 I wonder what the ratio of sales are of the Sigma DP Merrill and Quatro ranges where they have fixed-lens bodies equivalent in full-frame terms to 28, 45 & 75mm? Presumably their market research led them to believe there was sufficient justification sales-wise. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iduna Posted February 13, 2016 Share #12 Posted February 13, 2016 Mitch, welcome to the forum. The more I work wih the "Q", i do not miss a 50 mm lens. I admit I was concerned also at first. But then with getting accustomed to all the potential of 28 mm I am fully satisfied with the fl. Close-ups can be cropped, The IQ is good enough, bokeh is lovely, the sensor can capture much more contrast than all my other cameras. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NEIL-D-WILLIAMS Posted February 14, 2016 Share #13 Posted February 14, 2016 I also think that due to the 24 MP sensor that there is no need to have a 50mm leica Q. Also the 50mm would be restrictive IMOO Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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