Q/Q2 question

[RSH-Photo]

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A question regarding digital zoom: The Fujifilm X100v uses digital zoom software to upscale the 50 and 70 mm crops to 24 mp. The examples I've seen show that this produces pretty impressive results. Has Leica ever explained why it doesn't offer similar software for the Q2, at least for the 50 and 75 mm crops, and Q for 35 and 50 mm crops? 

[mikeLD]

24 minutes ago, RSH-Photo said:

A question regarding digital zoom: The Fujifilm X100v uses digital zoom software to upscale the 50 and 70 mm crops to 24 mp. The examples I've seen show that this produces pretty impressive results. Has Leica ever explained why it doesn't offer similar software for the Q2, at least for the 50 and 75 mm crops, and Q for 35 and 50 mm crops? 

I assume you know that the Q2 only crops the JPG, the Dng are still full frame.  You can crop and post process the Dng to whatever size and portion you want.  What do you mean by "upscale"?  Is this digital zoom software in the camera or external?  You might also find it useful to use the zoom preview option (I don't remember the name in the menu) that allows you to see the crop full screen/evf in any of the crop modes as long as you don't release the shutter button after a cropped shot.  This has turned out to be very useful for me when street shooting and not certain I got the result I wanted while still having the time to get another shot (release the shutter button, reframe, shoot and hold the release, without looking away).

[Le Chef]

I can’t see why you wouldn’t just shoot RAW and crop in post. In LR you can always enhance after you have cropped. It’s all pretty straightforward.

[JoshuaR]

1 hour ago, RSH-Photo said:

A question regarding digital zoom: The Fujifilm X100v uses digital zoom software to upscale the 50 and 70 mm crops to 24 mp. The examples I've seen show that this produces pretty impressive results. Has Leica ever explained why it doesn't offer similar software for the Q2, at least for the 50 and 75 mm crops, and Q for 35 and 50 mm crops? 

I don't know of any explanation from Leica, but as a Q2 user it seems to me that the answer is that the camera produces RAW files that can be un-cropped. The crops aren't permanent; in Lightroom, you can take an image that's been cropped in-camera to the 50mm FOV and "un-zoom" it back to 28mm. This is actually a fantastic feature. So I'm glad it doesn't upscale.

The crop-to-zoom features in the Q2 are fantastic—one of the best things about the camera, IMO.

[RSH-Photo]

29 minutes ago, Le Chef said:

I can’t see why you wouldn’t just shoot RAW and crop in post. In LR you can always enhance after you have cropped. It’s all pretty straightforward.

Your point obviously works. But the point of digital zoom, or interchangeable lenses for that matter, is to record an image as you visualize it at the moment you push the shutter button.  The point of high quality JPEGs like Leica and Fujifilm provide is to cut down on time spent at editing.

27 minutes ago, JoshuaRothman said:

I don't know of any explanation from Leica, but as a Q2 user it seems to me that the answer is that the camera produces RAW files that can be un-cropped. The crops aren't permanent; in Lightroom, you can take an image that's been cropped in-camera to the 50mm FOV and "un-zoom" it back to 28mm. This is actually a fantastic feature. So I'm glad it doesn't upscale.

The crop-to-zoom features in the Q2 are fantastic—one of the best things about the camera, IMO.

Your approach obviously works. The Fujifilm camera also provides RAW images but I don't know if they can be uncropped. It seems to me that the point of digital zoom, or interchangeable lenses for that matter, is to record an image as you visualize it at the moment you push the shutter button.  The point of high quality JPEGs like Leica and Fujifilm provide is to cut down on time spent at editing.

 

[RSH-Photo]

1 hour ago, mikeLD said:

I assume you know that the Q2 only crops the JPG, the Dng are still full frame.  You can crop and post process the Dng to whatever size and portion you want.  What do you mean by "upscale"?  Is this digital zoom software in the camera or external?  You might also find it useful to use the zoom preview option (I don't remember the name in the menu) that allows you to see the crop full screen/evf in any of the crop modes as long as you don't release the shutter button after a cropped shot.  This has turned out to be very useful for me when street shooting and not certain I got the result I wanted while still having the time to get another shot (release the shutter button, reframe, shoot and hold the release, without looking away).

By upscaling, as I understand it, the Fujifilm takes a cropped image at 12 mp and digitally increases it to 24 mp. Of course I understand you can take a DNG image and process it to whatever size and portion desired. But the point of digital zoom, or interchangeable lenses for that matter, is to record an image as you visualize it at the moment you push the shutter button. As with an interchangeable lens, the image composition is what you shoot. The point of high quality JPEGs like Leica and Fujifilm provide is to cut down on time spent at editing.

[RSH-Photo]

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33 minutes ago, JoshuaRothman said:

I don't know of any explanation from Leica, but as a Q2 user it seems to me that the answer is that the camera produces RAW files that can be un-cropped. The crops aren't permanent; in Lightroom, you can take an image that's been cropped in-camera to the 50mm FOV and "un-zoom" it back to 28mm. This is actually a fantastic feature. So I'm glad it doesn't upscale.

The crop-to-zoom features in the Q2 are fantastic—one of the best things about the camera, IMO.

Your approach obviously works. The Fujifilm camera also provides RAW images but I don't know if they can be uncropped. It seems to me that the point of digital zoom, or interchangeable lenses for that matter, is to record an image as you visualize it at the moment you push the shutter button.  The point of high quality JPEGs like Leica and Fujifilm provide is to cut down on time spent at editing.

[RSH-Photo]

39 minutes ago, Le Chef said:

I can’t see why you wouldn’t just shoot RAW and crop in post. In LR you can always enhance after you have cropped. It’s all pretty straightforward.

Your point obviously works. But the point of digital zoom, or interchangeable lenses for that matter, is to record an image as you visualize it at the moment you push the shutter button.  The point of high quality JPEGs like Leica and Fujifilm provide is to cut down on time spent at editing.

[Le Chef]

1 hour ago, RSH-Photo said:

Your point obviously works. But the point of digital zoom, or interchangeable lenses for that matter, is to record an image as you visualize it at the moment you push the shutter button.  The point of high quality JPEGs like Leica and Fujifilm provide is to cut down on time spent at editing.

I can visualize it in the moment and crop later. Not that hard to do.

[Driften]

Fujifilm only upscales JPG's. One thing I like much better on the Q/Q2 is it passes on the crop info to Lightroom and Fuji does not.

[kobra]

The X100V has a 26mp APS-C sensor, the Q2 has a 47mp full frame sensor. The cropping results are far superior on the Q2. Any in-camera upscaling that Fuji does will not produce an image to rival that of a Q2, in my experience. 

So, while I understand your suggestion, to me it is completely non-relevant. They do things differently, and the Q2 is better; no need for Leica to add anything in camera. 

As you may know, the cropping in the Q2 does show you the cropped JPG in camera and in the final stored image. If that's all you need, you are ready to transfer and share. If you want to adjust that crop (size, position, etc) you can do that if you shoot DNG+JPG and process the DNG - and I've found that extremely useful and have used it many times. 

Here is a photo that is cropped to ~60-75mm; I did it in post, so I don't recall exactly. The band used it in their promo material and social media. It would not be possible to take that picture and get those results with the X100V... or at least if it is possible, I sure could not do it. 

Brad

 

 

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[JoshuaR]

A secret way to make the crop feature on the Q2 even better is to set image review to "shutter pressed." That way, you can use the camera in, say, 50mm crop, take a photo, and review just by keeping the shutter button down. You get an instant preview of what the cropped image will look like. Then when you release the shutter, you're back to seeing a wider view with tighter framelines, just like on an M. I love using the camera that way. 

[SirBlunder]

1 hour ago, JoshuaRothman said:

A secret way to make the crop feature on the Q2 even better is to set image review to "shutter pressed." That way, you can use the camera in, say, 50mm crop, take a photo, and review just by keeping the shutter button down. You get an instant preview of what the cropped image will look like. Then when you release the shutter, you're back to seeing a wider view with tighter framelines, just like on an M. I love using the camera that way. 

I also have this turned on, and have image preview otherwise set to OFF. You only review the image when you need to (to check focus, exposure, flash testing, crop testing, etc.). Very useful. 

[RSH-Photo]

13 hours ago, Le Chef said:

I can visualize it in the moment and crop later. Not that hard to do.

Different photographers have different work styles. For example, Ansel Adams was a darkroom wizard, Henri Cartier-Bresson had no interest in darkroom work. I like to compose images in the view finder, try for the best exposure and keep time spent on editing to a minimum. Leica and Fujifilm cameras product beautiful JPEGs. 

[RSH-Photo]

12 hours ago, kobra said:

The X100V has a 26mp APS-C sensor, the Q2 has a 47mp full frame sensor. The cropping results are far superior on the Q2. Any in-camera upscaling that Fuji does will not produce an image to rival that of a Q2, in my experience. 

So, while I understand your suggestion, to me it is completely non-relevant. They do things differently, and the Q2 is better; no need for Leica to add anything in camera. 

As you may know, the cropping in the Q2 does show you the cropped JPG in camera and in the final stored image. If that's all you need, you are ready to transfer and share. If you want to adjust that crop (size, position, etc) you can do that if you shoot DNG+JPG and process the DNG - and I've found that extremely useful and have used it many times. 

Here is a photo that is cropped to ~60-75mm; I did it in post, so I don't recall exactly. The band used it in their promo material and social media. It would not be possible to take that picture and get those results with the X100V... or at least if it is possible, I sure could not do it. 

Brad

 

 

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!

I'm not trying to argue that one camera is better than another. Leica photographers get outstanding results with their cameras, Fujifilm shooters get outstanding results with their cameras. I'm just noting that Fujifilm has come up with a way to improve the quality of cropped JPEGs.  The 75mm crop on the Q2 produces a image of, if I recall correctly, around 7.7 mp and a Fujifilm-similar software could upscale it to 24 mp. You say you have no use for that. Perhaps other photographers might like it. This is not a radical idea. Lightroom now has a process to increase the mp count and thus resolution and quality of an image. 

[bobtodrick]

16 minutes ago, RSH-Photo said:

I'm not trying to argue that one camera is better than another. 

With 1/2 of the responses being from you…I’d say you are 😂

[ianforber]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:51 PM, JoshuaRothman said:

A secret way to make the crop feature on the Q2 even better is to set image review to "shutter pressed." That way, you can use the camera in, say, 50mm crop, take a photo, and review just by keeping the shutter button down. You get an instant preview of what the cropped image will look like. Then when you release the shutter, you're back to seeing a wider view with tighter framelines, just like on an M. I love using the camera that way. 

I like to keep it simple. I look through the viewfinder while pressing the crop button. The (ever tightening) frame lines show me what the picture will look like cropped and the entire view shows me what it looks like uncropped. I don’t usually use image review so this way shows me the real-time cropped/uncropped image before taking the picture.