Q sensor and lens

[Tonkerdog]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Having just bought a Q, I was trawling the web for trivia etc and came across this..

 

""I join a camera & lens review talk group in China, there is a guy who have been working in Sony semiconductor told us Leica Q`s structure & looking is designed by Leica, its electronic system came from Panasonic, the Summilux lens was designed by Konica Minolta and produced by Panasonic. The CMOS is designed by Tower-Jazz Panasonic an new Israeli semiconductor company with 49% Panasonic share, and the foundry is STMicroelectronics same foundry with Leica M 240."

 

Now I'm aware there are many armchair experts on the web, but is there any truth in this?

 

Regards

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Peter L]

Well, with all these high quality companies involved, how can it be anything,  but excellent.

[Iduna]

well, it is known that one company alone cannot develop and produce all elements of a camera in its own production floor.

To get the best from partners and to bring those elements together in order to to churn out of the lens the best result is the art. The lens is the most important elememt and it needs a perfect match in the sensor. The Panasonic Leica lenses are being manufactured in Japan. Yet they are Leica lenses and as excellent as they should be and they are affordable. This makes Leica products affordable to more people and more popular. This is a wise decision in terms of survival on difficult market. A small company like Leica is being regarded with respect and also with a bit of envy.

[earleygallery]

Having just bought a Q, I was trawling the web for trivia etc and came across this..

 

""I join a camera & lens review talk group in China, there is a guy who have been working in Sony semiconductor told us Leica Q`s structure & looking is designed by Leica, its electronic system came from Panasonic, the Summilux lens was designed by Konica Minolta and produced by Panasonic. The CMOS is designed by Tower-Jazz Panasonic an new Israeli semiconductor company with 49% Panasonic share, and the foundry is STMicroelectronics same foundry with Leica M 240."

 

Now I'm aware there are many armchair experts on the web, but is there any truth in this?

 

Regards

 

Sounds about right, although I suspect they mean Kyocera not Konica Minolta and I would expect the lens design was the work of Leica's people. 

[Tonkerdog]

Thanks, it doesn't bother me at all.

 

I fly Boeing 737's for a living, and I would struggle to tell you which bit is actually made by Boeing. Still a Boeing though.

 

Love the Q and wouldn't want anything else on the planet. I wish Leica would make another smaller X2 type camera. Pocketable, up to date and a bit more affordable. But not a rebadged Panasonic!

 

Thanks again

[Peter L]

Wel,l I used to fly small  100 % American  built aircraft here in the mountains of  Alberta and British Columbia and in my earlier years in the Canadian Arctic.

 

I would love to fly one of those German Grob 120 (http://www.grob-aircraft.com/index.php/basic-information.html) aircraft that I am sure is manufactured from parts sourced or manufactured to their specs from all around the world, I have no problem with that as long as there is stringent quality control, as I am sure Leica exercises.

[sumolux]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

This is the exact story as reported by Leica Rumors last year August, who in turn evidently got it from photozone.de....

If it's true the same applies to the SL as it has the same sensor as the Q 

 

For what it is worth I agree with earleygallery; it seems hard to believe that the lens design would be by anyone other than Leica even if Leica and Minolta (as well as Sigma) were collaborating during the heyday of the Leica R. Where and by whom produced is another issue entirely, 

 

If a company makes parts to Leica's exact specs, and these parts undergo Leica quality control, I don't really care, as the Q is amazing.

 

Nonetheless, you will have to pry my Wetzlar BP M4 from my dead hands as a great camera and a memento of other, older manufacturing processes

(that did not make any revenue, yikes!) 

Edited June 19, 2016 by sumolux

[Jared]

Keep in mind "lens design" and "optical design" could be completely different, so "lens design" by Kyocera becomes much more credible (at least to me) if you are including the AF electronics, the motors, the IS (assuming it's in the lens rather than the chip--don't know), etc..  

 

- Jared

[Adalsteinn S.H.]

Unbelievably sharp lens and fantastic sensor in a perfect camera. Outsourced or not the Q is a gem! 

[tyler]

Thanks, it doesn't bother me at all.

 

I fly Boeing 737's for a living, and I would struggle to tell you which bit is actually made by Boeing. Still a Boeing though.

 

Love the Q and wouldn't want anything else on the planet. I wish Leica would make another smaller X2 type camera. Pocketable, up to date and a bit more affordable. But not a rebadged Panasonic!

 

Thanks again

 

I fly the Airbus A320--it is built from items all over the world!

[Bjiork]

Besides Panasonic parts it has also some Samsung memory but who cares if the final product has the Leica DNA

[TinovanDyke1]

Leica Q1 Sensor is designed by CMOSIS in Belgium and produced by STMicroelectronics, Grenoble, France.