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Family life with just the Q2?


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I'm a longtime Fuji shooter who has just moved to the Q2. I couldn't be happier with the new camera—I love everything about it. I haven't yet sold my old camera gear—a Fuji X100V and X-Pro3 with primes ranging from 24mm to 85mm equivalent—but am planning to do so to retrospectively fund the new purchase.

I'm a hobby photographer who takes pictures of my family, and I'm most comfortable in the normal focal-length range. One of the reasons I moved to the Q2 was that the vast majority of my pictures are taken between 28mm and 50mm. I figured that I could eliminate all lens-swapping by just using the Q2 and its crop modes, and so far I've been right. But I'm having a little trouble fully committing to just the Q2. I keep asking myself: What if I want a long zoom for when my son (who's now three) plays soccer? What if I want an 85mm lens for portraits? What if, what if, what if? The Fuji kit is currently sitting on its shelf, unsold.

It's possible for me to keep the X-Pro3 and a lens or two, just for the occasional times when I want to use one a focal length outside of the Q2's range. On the other hand, simplicity is a big part of the reason I decided to move to Leica. I was tired of asking myself what equipment to bring. So I want to sell my old gear—but I"m also questioning whether that would be a wise decision.

How have other amateur photographers fared, over the long term, documenting their families with just the Q / Q2, or the equivalent lenses—say a 28mm and 50mm? Have you found yourselves missing longer lenses and buying cameras to support them? Or have you found that, at the end of the day, normal focal lengths are perfectly rewarding? I know this is more about expectations and preferences than equipment, but I'd be curious to hear subjective thoughts!

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I use my M with 28 AND 50, and I have another camera where I also own Zooms, for soccer games of the kids for example. Howeever this happens maybe once a month that I need longer than 50mm.

So for me the question is: are you ok with the resolution of the cropped Q2 images? IMO it is ok if one shoots mostly at 28mm fov and only sometimes at 50mm FOV. If you also often shoot at 50mm (or crop to that FOV) I find it a little strange to pay a 47MP sensor and only use a crop of them. 

For my part I would not want to give up the opportunity to shoot also at longer focal lengths. Why not keep the Fuji for 3 months and see how often you use it.

In the end, when my Q2 was stolen I decided to buy a new M 28mm lens for my M-body, and now I carry the M+28-50 instead of Q2.

 

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I also have a Q2 and M-cameras and i have to admit that the Q2 makes your life as a photographer very easy. To get a view you can use the 50 mm frame and especially for family life, the Q2 is the perfect camera. Handling is very intuitive, AF works very good. What do you need more?

Edited by benqui
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My Q2 goes with me everywhere for travel and family activities.  I also have my old Olympus OMD-EM1-2 with telephoto and pro zoom lenses.  I rarely use the Olympus, but decided to keep it for those times when I want a telephoto lens.  I took it on vacation along with my Q2 this summer.  My Q2 was my daily walkaround camera, but I was happy to have the Oly when we went to a rodeo and were seated on the far side of the stadium.   

 

 

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I was in the same situation as you and bought a Q2 a year ago. I shoot almost exclusively between 28 and 50mm and mainly document my life with my (3) children. In the beginning I kept fuji bodies and lenses (including X-pro3 & X100V), but after using my Q2 for a while I eventually sold a lot and only kept 1 fuji body to be flexible every now and then. In practice I use my Q2 90% of the time, my XT-3 I use almost exclusively with the 50mm f/1.0. Amazing addition and reminds me of the 'Leica look'. The quality of the 50mm crop on the Q2 was much higher than the quality of my 35mm f/1.4 on Fuji. The crop to 75mm is disappointing, that's where my Fuji 50mm f/1.0 comes into action! Perfect combination and instead of a bag of primes, I now only wear my Q2 when I go out the door! Simplify my life is the best choice I made with the Q2. You can create amazing images with it!

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11 hours ago, JoshuaRothman said:

What if, what if, what if?

I have been through this "what if" for years.

What if I want to hike in the mountains in Alaska and keep it light? Carry the Q2. But what if I want to take pictures of bears in the valley on the same trip? Okay let me get the Sigma 100-400 on the SL2. And so on. 

So to get away from all this and if you are happy with 28-50mm in most cases, Q2 will do a fine job. A camera that you can just pick and carry, without fiddling with different lenses is a lot better than a collection of lenses and bodies.

IMHO, of course.

Edited by ravinj
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I ditched all my other camera equipment (including Fuji) for the Q2 about 10 months ago. I do not miss any of the old kit.

Yes, I have had to change the type of shot, sometimes zooming with my feet, other times abandoning the idea all together, but the freedom and joy of the single camera by far outweighs multiple bodies and lenses for me. My photography nowadays is nearly all family and friends with some holidays thrown into the mix.

Edited by Marc B-C
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Hey, I'm in almost the exact same situation as you. I'm on the verge of selling my X100V, but I'm definitely keeping all of my other Fuji stuff. (X-T3, and a half dozen lenses)

The X-T3 is indispensable to me. I can do so many other things with it that I can't with the Q2, and for the most part, the Fuji makes me the most money.

Do you really have to sell the Fuji stuff? Is it worth keeping for future endeavours? Only you can answer that.

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5 hours ago, Bazookajoe said:

Hey, I'm in almost the exact same situation as you. I'm on the verge of selling my X100V, but I'm definitely keeping all of my other Fuji stuff. (X-T3, and a half dozen lenses)

The X-T3 is indispensable to me. I can do so many other things with it that I can't with the Q2, and for the most part, the Fuji makes me the most money.

Do you really have to sell the Fuji stuff? Is it worth keeping for future endeavours? Only you can answer that.

Thanks for all the excellent replies—they've been very helpful! 

In the end, I'm selling my X-Pro3 and all my lenses, and keeping a GR III and my X100V. I figure that I'll use the Ricoh as my pocket camera, the Q2 almost all the rest of the time, and the X100V when the weather is really bad or when I'm going somewhere that's a little risky (a boat, the beach, a blizzard, etc.).

I'm going to miss some shots, but I think I'll really enjoy returning to the simplicity of fixed-lens cameras. As a hobbyist who's really only interested in documenting my everyday family life, I think I made a mistake going down the ILC route. I'm glad I got to experiment with so many different focal lengths, but I don't think I really needed them. 

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11 hours ago, JoshuaRothman said:

I'm going to miss some shots

Good decision. In fact any decision is good!

For every shot you miss, you will end up getting shots that you would have missed if you were trying to get the missed shots. Yes, confusing I know. In the end, getting a shot is a conscious decision to forgo other shots at that moment in time.

BTW, Q2 is my favorite for street photography in NYC - a perfect fit.

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I still keep a Nikon kit, two DX cameras, with fast primes, as well as a Micro 4/3rds system with two cameras, the latest being the latest model Lumix GX9.  Both of my Lumix cameras use prime lenses; however, I gained a nice telephoto lens in the 12-60mm that came with the new GX9.  I have been on several trips with just the Leica Q and it has never let me down, except with the following exception.  I was in Iceland with just the Q this July, and I missed out on some long shots that would have benefited from a telephoto.   I am headed tp Hawaii in December and plan to take my new GX9 and an my assortment of my older prime lens. Why, because I have a lot of confidence in the camera and my assortment of lenses, and, additionally, the electronics in my GX1, GX9 and the Leica Q are almost the same, making me at ease with its operation. So at the end of the day, yes the Q can do it, all, but please study your style of shooting and what you will be shooting before you make any kind of decision on the equipment. Good luck, can't wait to see your photos!

 

Edited by falcon468
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