Thoughts on the Q2 and the big picture of Leica ownership and usage

[Marley]

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Just the Q2. 😎 

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

[Herr Barnack]

"Just?"  Au contraire!

Prepare to have your socks knocked off - the Q2 is an extraordinary photographic instrument!

Edited November 29, 2019 by Herr Barnack

[Marley]

Sorry not to mean It that way. This is going to be the most expensive gadget that I am about to purchase. Not to mention additional cases bags computers and storage. But I hope to make beautiful memories of my growing family with this tool. And learning a new skill is always better than nothing. 😉 

hope to be part of this club soon. Thank you! 

[Leica Guy]

15 hours ago, Marley said:

Sorry not to mean It that way. This is going to be the most expensive gadget that I am about to purchase. Not to mention additional cases bags computers and storage. But I hope to make beautiful memories of my growing family with this tool. And learning a new skill is always better than nothing. 😉 

hope to be part of this club soon. Thank you! 

The advice given is right on. The Q2 is a terrific travel and family capturing machine. Add an SF-40 flash for darker inside pics and you’re done except for bags, cases, extra battery, filters, tripod, strap, Nitecore charger, Arca-Swiss tripod plate, ....  I have it all and am settled in for at least a few years until the Q3 comes out then I’ll be tempted again. 😁

[danielmfrank]

18 hours ago, Marley said:

Sorry not to mean It that way. This is going to be the most expensive gadget that I am about to purchase. Not to mention additional cases bags computers and storage. But I hope to make beautiful memories of my growing family with this tool. And learning a new skill is always better than nothing. 😉 

hope to be part of this club soon. Thank you! 

I think you will really enjoy it. When I first got the Q2, I found all the things wrong with it (and I have quite a long list.) The more I shoot with it, the more it feels fluid, natural, and beautifully designed for its purpose. It makes spectacular images, and the files are a delight to work with in post.

[PhotoCruiser]

Am 29.11.2019 um 12:47 schrieb Leica Guy:

The Q2 is a terrific travel and family capturing machine.

I would add tha the Q2 is a terrific allround camera IF the 28 lens makes sense, but it's the wrong camera for birding for example.
However, Leica Guy posted a example with his totally awesome Moon Photo what make clear the the Q/Q2 and a telescope can produce also high quality tele photos.

Am 29.11.2019 um 15:49 schrieb danielmfrank:

I found all the things wrong with it (and I have quite a long list.) The more I shoot with it, the more it feels fluid, natural, and beautifully designed for its purpose. It makes spectacular images, and the files are a delight to work with in post.

I started to photograph with a 50mm fix lens Leica approx 1974 when i had about 10 years but then i had always SLR/DSLR or e bunch of compact cameras for daily underwater photography. Even beeing used to use fixed lens it took me some pictures to get used again to use my brain to choose my best position and eventually my feet to walk there.
What comes handy is the high resolution of the Q2, this gives you/us the possibility to crop if you either missed the shooting position or could not walk further to the motiv.

However Marley, you will make it to "learn" how to work with the 28mm and once you figure it out you will fall in love with it.

Regrading the computer you mentioned:
Keep in mind that each DNG photo is 80 MB big sou the computer to view and edit the photos must have
a) a big Hard Disk or better a SSD disk
b) 16-32 GB of memory
c) last generation processor
if you are a Apple Guy then go ahead with a recent IMac, otherwise you may opt for a PC for gaming purposes, they usually work fast with Photography.
Hey, it's cyber week, so you may pull the trigger now...
As i am always on the run i use a Laptop, but i believe from my experience that a fast laptop is more expensive and less fast with the same hardware than a desk PC.
For viewing, catergorizing and editing your photos, Adobe Lightroom is usually a good and not too expensive choice, but there are other similar solutions for less or free.
I have boring problem on my 4K Monitors Adobe is aware of but not able to fix it and that bothers me so i may switch to a other software.
Start from the beginning with putting tags on your photos, this will greatly improve finding them some years later and use a folder/file system like photos/year/location/date
This is how i have order in my approx 50K photos on my laptop and usually i find my photos within a reasonable time as i remember where/when i took the photo.

Chris

Edited December 1, 2019 by PhotoCruiser

[jaapv]

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The processor is not really the limiting factor in postprocessing. Just get enough RAM and disk space. I use a 10 year old MacPro quad-core with upgraded Video card, 16 MB RAM and 4 TB of SSD,  two Eizo CG monitors  (which I vastly prefer to the Apple offerings)  and it is more than fast enough on Photoshop CC 2020.

[Marley]

13 hours ago, PhotoCruiser said:

I would add tha the Q2 is a terrific allround camera IF the 28 lens makes sense, but it's the wrong camera for birding for example.
However, Leica Guy posted a example with his totally awesome Moon Photo what make clear the the Q/Q2 and a telescope can produce also high quality tele photos.

I started to photograph with a 50mm fix lens Leica approx 1974 when i had about 10 years but then i had always SLR/DSLR or e bunch of compact cameras for daily underwater photography. Even beeing used to use fixed lens it took me some pictures to get used again to use my brain to choose my best position and eventually my feet to walk there.
What comes handy is the high resolution of the Q2, this gives you/us the possibility to crop if you either missed the shooting position or could not walk further to the motiv.

However Marley, you will make it to "learn" how to work with the 28mm and once you figure it out you will fall in love with it.

Regrading the computer you mentioned:
Keep in mind that each DNG photo is 80 MB big sou the computer to view and edit the photos must have
a) a big Hard Disk or better a SSD disk
b) 16-32 GB of memory
c) last generation processor
if you are a Apple Guy then go ahead with a recent IMac, otherwise you may opt for a PC for gaming purposes, they usually work fast with Photography.
Hey, it's cyber week, so you may pull the trigger now...
As i am always on the run i use a Laptop, but i believe from my experience that a fast laptop is more expensive and less fast with the same hardware than a desk PC.
For viewing, catergorizing and editing your photos, Adobe Lightroom is usually a good and not too expensive choice, but there are other similar solutions for less or free.
I have boring problem on my 4K Monitors Adobe is aware of but not able to fix it and that bothers me so i may switch to a other software.
Start from the beginning with putting tags on your photos, this will greatly improve finding them some years later and use a folder/file system like photos/year/location/date
This is how i have order in my approx 50K photos on my laptop and usually i find my photos within a reasonable time as i remember where/when i took the photo.

Chris

Hi Chris,

Thanks for the wonderful tips and suggestions. I don't concern much about the 28mm lens since I am fine with using a wide lens. I think this is going to be perfect as I like shooting landscapes every time we travel. As for computers, I am planning to upgrade my Imac and I believe it is more than enough for post processing. I would follow advise here and max out the RAM memory 16GB and opt for the SSD. 4k monitor also. Am looking for the imac 21.5" retina 4k as upgrade. Thanks for all the suggestions. I am constantly taking note. 😃

 

Cheers! 

[jaapv]

For a 4K monitor you will need Photoshop CC Older versions of PS do not scale the image to the higher resolution automatically. 

[T25UFO]

19 hours ago, PhotoCruiser said:

I would add that the Q2 is a terrific allround camera IF the 28 lens makes sense, but it's the wrong camera for birding for example.

 

Oh, I'm not sure I agree with that.  Original photo and crop taken with the Q2 😀

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Edited December 2, 2019 by T25UFO

[T25UFO]

Same photo, better resolution . . .

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Edited December 2, 2019 by T25UFO

[PhotoCruiser]

Well, on your picture you where not very far from the man and the bird and then the high resolution and very sharp lens works well as can seen in my photo below as well.

What i meant is that it's not the right camera for birding of shy birds (and whatever other small wildlife) beeing more than maybe more than 50 meters/yards away.
This "backdraw" of the 28mm lens can be overcome with a digiscope adapter and a spotting telescope, this works very well but it's a big setup to haul around.
It is my experience that far distance wildlife photography benefit of one of this 200+ Tele lenses, for this reason they are made for.

Chris

The photo below is a Q2 crop of approx 1/4 of total photo size and distance was about 10 meters/yards
Nazarè - Portugal
f9 @ 1/250sec 100iso

Quality is low due downsampling to fit the 500k barrier

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Edited December 2, 2019 by PhotoCruiser

[PhotoCruiser]

vor 9 Stunden schrieb Marley:

I think this is going to be perfect as I like shooting landscapes every time we travel.

It will!

The IMac you described will be a good choice, i am a PC guy and have no experience with Apple products, but they are fast

Chris

[Leica Guy]

5 hours ago, T25UFO said:

Oh, I'm not sure I agree with that.  Original photo and crop taken with the Q2 😀

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Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Is that a captive falcon? Beautiful bird and certainly a beautiful photograph of it. I’ve done a lot of bird photography mostly using 600mm f/4 Canon lens. The Q2 may not be nearly as optimal, but the fact that the lens and sensor combo are so sharp allows cropping fairly significantly and still retaining decent pixel dimensions still has value. Most birds are shy thus a long lens really helps. 

[Leica Guy]

5 hours ago, T25UFO said:

Oh, I'm not sure I agree with that.  Original photo and crop taken with the Q2 😀

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Is that a captive falcon? Beautiful bird and certainly a beautiful photograph of it. I’ve done a lot of bird photography mostly using 600mm f/4 Canon lens. The Q2 may not be nearly as optimal, but the fact that the lens and sensor combo are so sharp allows cropping fairly significantly and still retaining decent pixel dimensions still has value. Most birds are shy thus a long lens really helps. 

[T25UFO]

3 hours ago, PhotoCruiser said:

 

What i meant is that it's not the right camera for birding of shy birds (and whatever other small wildlife) being more than maybe more than 50 meters/yards away.

 

Yes, of course you are right.  It was just a fun day out at a local owl sanctuary.  

1 hour ago, Leica Guy said:

Is that a captive falcon? Beautiful bird and certainly a beautiful photograph of it. I’ve done a lot of bird photography mostly using 600mm f/4 Canon lens. The Q2 may not be nearly as optimal, but the fact that the lens and sensor combo are so sharp allows cropping fairly significantly and still retaining decent pixel dimensions still has value. Most birds are shy thus a long lens really helps. 

They were semi-captive birds that also do flying demonstrations.  

The photo shoot was organised and it was rather amusing standing alongside several photographers with 400mm lenses attached to their Nikon and Canon cameras.  I still laugh when remembering the looks on their faces.  My other camera on the day was M10-D with 90mm APO lens - I've posted a photo of Barney the Barn Owl in the M10 forum.  When I told the other photographers I was using a digital camera with no rear screen there was even more shaking of heads.

Have to admit I couldn't compete when the birds were in flight.

[Leica Guy]

1 hour ago, T25UFO said:

Yes, of course you are right.  It was just a fun day out at a local owl sanctuary.  

They were semi-captive birds that also do flying demonstrations.  

The photo shoot was organised and it was rather amusing standing alongside several photographers with 400mm lenses attached to their Nikon and Canon cameras.  I still laugh when remembering the looks on their faces.  My other camera on the day was M10-D with 90mm APO lens - I've posted a photo of Barney the Barn Owl in the M10 forum.  When I told the other photographers I was using a digital camera with no rear screen there was even more shaking of heads.

Have to admit I couldn't compete when the birds were in flight.

LOL. Yes, I can see how they would view the M-10D. Honestly, at one time I might have been somewhat guilty of that reaction too, but I would not have said anything. I was completely ignorant of Leica magic then. I will certainly acknowledge that Leica cameras in general are not the best for birds, but it really depends on what you ultimately want to do with the images. Birds in flight using long lenses is a very specialized endeavor. Fun too. Captive birds or zoos are still great for Leica’s with modest telephotos. Keep at it. All fun and challenging. I like doing photos with Leica’s just to prove I can in-spite of the cameras limitations. 

[prk60091]

On 12/1/2019 at 1:42 PM, jaapv said:

The processor is not really the limiting factor in postprocessing. Just get enough RAM and disk space. I use a 10 year old MacPro quad-core with upgraded Video card, 16 MB RAM and 4 TB of SSD,  two Eizo CG monitors  (which I vastly prefer to the Apple offerings)  and it is more than fast enough on Photoshop CC 2020.

what OS are you able to run?  Isn't that considered an "obsolete" computer by Apple.... do you use it for general computing? Aren't you concerned about security updates (or lack thereof)?

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[jaapv]

At the moment I am running Mojave, considering going to Catalina. The problem was the graphics card, but that is easily replaced. I do use it for general computing, although my 2019 Macbook Air is quite capable. Security? No worries. It updates regularly.

[danielmfrank]

I had a chance to shoot today with the SL2 and the 24-90 zoom on a photowalk sponsored by Leica Store SF. A few observations vis a vis the Q2:

• My goodness the SL2 is heavy. The Q2 is weightless by comparison. I am not sure I could travel with the SL2, even with smaller lenses.
• The SL2 handles really well, but the basic photography controls on the Q2 are much more to my liking. I miss the aperture ring, the easy access to an ISO dial, and the ability to change from autofocus to manual focus by touch. It also doesn't appear you can see the f/stop display in the viewfinder unless you half-press the shutter button. Awkward, setting f/stop with your right thumb while you half-press the button with your right index finger. Maybe it's a menu setting.
• Subjectively, the SL2 back screen functions feel a little snappier and more responsive than the Q2, which may be due to the upgraded processor
• I really like the button for setting EVF mode, right next to the viewfinder. On the Q2 it's a menu item. (I use it frequently enough that have it on my quick menu.)
• The graphic touch screen you get with one press of the Menu button is excellent and intuitive. Much of what it offers is easily accessed via other controls on the Q2, so it's not as big a deal as you would think, but it's still really nice. And the screen feels huge.
• I love love love the joystick. So much better than the directional pad on the Q2.
• The EVF is extraordinary, much better than the one on the Q2
• The Q2 shutter is much quieter than the one in the SL2, of course
• The IBIS seems excellent, probably less artifact-y than the IS in the Q2
• The 24-90 zoom lens is enormous, but optically very impressive
• SL2 files look like Q2 files, no surprise
• Battery life doesn't seem amazing. I think the Q2 may put a lighter load on the same battery
• I used the long end of the zoom a lot, way more than I would have thought. It makes me think even more about getting a used SL and a longer prime, maybe the Sigma 45mm f/2.8 to start. As optically impressive and versatile as it is, the 24-90 is too heavy for me, and the Sigma has some manual controls on it that help overcome some of my handling objections.

It's amazing to me that Leica has priced the SL2 at only about $1000 more than a Q2. Of course that's without a lens, but still. I think it hits the right price point for what it is.