Jono Slack Review: The Leica Q3

[nicci78]

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Ok solid upgrade but…

AF still needs several firmware tweaks.
Only 4 fps with AF. 
Slower startup time : more than 3 sec an eternity…
Electronic shutter is almost useless due to massive rolling shutter.
Tilting screen is still big and ugly.

I am keeping my Q2. For 6K€ I want a Leica that looks nice in the hand and to the eye. 
That screen ruins both. Q4 will be revolutionary : flush swivel screen ! 😉

[Mikep996]

"

Interesting. What are your main reasons or what has changed since pre-order to not upgrade?"

I realized with the thorough review that the only thing that was in the new camera that I wanted was the 60MP sensor.   But it does NOT have the additional item I really wanted/expected, which was in-camera storage. I assumed it did when I made the pre-order.   I also find the flip screen to make the camera too clunky-looking (IMO, of course) and I don't want/need a flip screen anyway.  I'm neutral about the rest of the changes.  They are perfectly OK but nothing that would make me buy the camera.    IOW, if the camera had come with the in camera storage, I would probably have just dealt with the flip screen but the 60MP on its own isn't enough.

 

[SrMi]

26 minutes ago, Steven said:

It doesn't. It's that much better. 

Thanks. I assume you meant that Q3’s AFC is much better than in SL2-S.

[don daniel]

vor 17 Stunden schrieb Chaemono:

I just compared the pictures in Jono‘s review of the M11 with the ones in his review here. The M11 pictures strike me as having better WB in combination with punchy colors. It must be the daylight WB setting, that Jono usually uses for outdoors, that doesn’t work as well in the Q3,. The Q3 pictures look more yellowish than the M11 pictures to my eyes.

It seems to me that the exact opposite is true. The white balance of the M11 has a strong magenta cast. I see this in my own M11 and have to correct it in every photo. The picture thread for the M11 is also full of examples with magenta cast. The images Jono shows here in the Q3 review, however, seem to have quite reasonable white balance. 

[Smogg]

20 minutes ago, don daniel said:

It seems to me that the exact opposite is true. The white balance of the M11 has a strong magenta cast. I see this in my own M11 and have to correct it in every photo. The picture thread for the M11 is also full of examples with magenta cast. The images Jono shows here in the Q3 review, however, seem to have quite reasonable white balance. 

Yes, magenta cast is a big problem on m11, it cannot be fixed for a long time. I hope there won't be this problem in Q3

[BobsFirstLeica]

2 hours ago, Steven said:

This is what I meant, yes. I would never use in on my SL2-S (AFs in photos, MF in videos). On the Q3, AFc seems to be the mode that gives the best results if subject is not static. Still testing. 

Good to know.  This is the way I like to shoot.  Curious about battery life leaving the cam in AFc.  My Q2 "hums" the whole time and I assume it is eating up a little more charge.

Bob

[lencap]

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I remember the joy I had when I bought the original Q.  A small high quality full frame sensor camera with great manual controls along with autofocus and macro capability.  I shot it while traveling a lot, and was in the “honeymoon” phase.

Then slowly things began to change.  My vacation shots were replaced with family/friends shooting and the honeymoon began to crumble.  Try as I might I couldn’t get comfortable with the 28mm perspective.  Taking people shots forced me to get uncomfortably close to my subject to fill the frame and remove unwanted background.  I often cropped my shots in post, and became frustrated when my 24MP images were down to far smaller sizes when the editing was done.

I also lost the ability of get rich bokeh backgrounds, a trait I enjoyed with M lenses and a 50mm focal length.  More and more I left the Q home, unable to get shots that were second nature with a 50mm perspective.  I wound up selling the Q and left the Leica family for the Nikon Z kit.  That honeymoon also ended badly, as the technical quality of the camera was fine, but the haptics/menu system and feel of the camera made it feel like an appliance, not a creative tool.

My eyesight rules out an M body - I can no longer get sharp focus with an M, and that frustration moved me into the iPhone 14 Pro - a surprisingly flexible platform with more than acceptable image quality for general photography, but with obvious haptic limitations.  Out of frustration I bought the SL 601 with 50mm Sigma Art lens and the Leica 24-90 zoom.  I told myself that the weight was the price I had to pay to get the image creation tool I needed.  I thought that would be the answer, but it wasn’t to be.  The weight became a burden, and that honeymoon also ended abruptly.  I sold the kit and thought that the iPhone was good enough, and it’s is for casual use.

l still wasn’t satisfied and Leica’s recent price discounts for the SL2-S 50mm bundle, combined with the extra discount voucher made me renter the Leica universe.  I’ve had that combo for only a few weeks, and added the Panasonic 20-60 zoom to give me access to my most often used focal lengths.  Now, just a few weeks later, I realize that almost all of my shots are 50mm focal length.  And that’s my comfort zone.  The new Leica 50mm bundled lens balances very well on the SL2-S body, and really that’s all I need.

That was until yesterday’s unveiling of the new Q3.  I put myself on the wait list, again falling for the dream of my first Leica Q honeymoon.  But now, I realize, that despite the Qs’s many changes it’s still tethered to a 28mm lens, and as much as I try to convince myself that won’t matter, the more I realize that it will.  

So, for me, the lesson of my 15 year long Leica journey, including several M bodies, the Q, the original SL, and now the SL2-S is that the road to photographic nirvana is matching the tool to the task.  I’m not a street shooter, and while landscapes are a reasonable part of my image gallery, my sweet spot is single person/small group candid shots that work best with a 50mm perspective.  I wish the Q3 was that camera, but it isn’t and trying to force a square peg into a round hole is an exercise I tried before and will resist trying again.

I’m sure the new Q will be the ideal tool for many photographers, and I’m happy for each of them.  Quality and simplicity are far more important to me that ultimate resolution potential.  For me as a senior with less than stellar eyesight, the SL2-S checks off more boxes than any alternatives.  Especially so since I have no desire to leave the Leica family again.

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by lencap

[stephenmick]

9 minutes ago, lencap said:

I remember the joy I had when I bought the original Q.  A small high quality full frame sensor camera with great manual controls along with autofocus and macro capability.  I shot it while traveling a lot, and was in the “honeymoon” phase.

Then slowly things began to change.  My vacation shots were replaced with family/friends shooting and the honeymoon began to crumble.  Try as I might I couldn’t get comfortable with the 28mm perspective.  Taking people shots forced me to get uncomfortably close to my subject to fill the frame and remove unwanted background.  I often cropped my shots in post, and became frustrated when my 24MP images were down to far smaller sizes when the editing was done.

I also lost the ability of get rich bokeh backgrounds, a trait I enjoyed with M lenses and a 50mm focal length.  More and more I left the Q home, unable to get shots that were second nature with a 50mm perspective.  I wound up selling the Q and left the Leica family for the Nikon Z kit.  That honeymoon also ended badly, as the technical quality of the camera was fine, but the haptics/menu system and feel of the camera made it feel like an appliance, not a creative tool.

My eyesight rules out an M body - I can no longer get sharp focus with an M, and that frustration moved me into the iPhone 14 Pro - a surprisingly flexible platform with more than acceptable image quality for general photography, but with obvious haptic limitations.  Out of frustration I bought the SL 601 with 50mm Sigma Art lens and the Leica 24-90 zoom.  I told myself that the weight was the price I had to pay to get the image creation tool I needed.  I thought that would be the answer, but it wasn’t to be.  The weight became a burden, and that honeymoon also ended abruptly.  I sold the kit and thought that the iPhone was good enough, and it’s is for casual use.

l still wasn’t satisfied and Leica’s recent price discounts for the SL2-S 50mm bundle, combined with the extra discount voucher made me renter the Leica universe.  I’ve had that combo for only a few weeks, and added the Panasonic 20-60 zoom to give me access to my most often used focal lengths.  Now, just a few weeks later, I realize that almost all of my shots are 50mm focal length.  And that’s my comfort zone.  The new Leica 50mm bundled lens balances very well on the SL2-S body, and really that’s all I need.

That was until yesterday’s unveiling of the new Q3.  I put myself on the wait list, again falling for the dream of my first Leica Q honeymoon.  But now, I realize, that despite the Qs’s many changes it’s still tethered to a 28mm lens, and as much as I try to convince myself that won’t matter, the more I realize that it will.  

So, for me, the lesson of my 15 year long Leica journey, including several M bodies, the Q, the original SL, and now the SL2-S is that the road top photographic nirvana is matching the tool to the task.  I’m not a street shooter, and while landscapes are a reasonable part of my image gallery, my sweet spot is single person/small group candid shots that work best with a 50mm perspective.  I wish the Q3 was that camera, but it isn’t and trying to force a square peg into a round hole is an exercise I tried before and will resist trying again.

I’m sure the new Q will be the ideal tool for many photographers, and I’m happy for each of them.  Quality and simplicity are far more important to me that ultimate resolution potential.  For me as a senior with less than stellar eyesight, the SL2-S checks off more boxes than any alternatives.  Especially so since I have no desire to leave the Leica family again.

 

Well said. There’s a tool for every use and user, and finding the best one for you is all that matters. For some that’s the Q. For others it’s the SL. And for some, probably both. 

[elmars]

The long desired Q with 50mm?

[elmars]

vor 4 Stunden schrieb don daniel:

It seems to me that the exact opposite is true. The white balance of the M11 has a strong magenta cast. I see this in my own M11 and have to correct it in every photo. The picture thread for the M11 is also full of examples with magenta cast. The images Jono shows here in the Q3 review, however, seem to have quite reasonable white balance. 

The Q3 does not have the Magenta Cast. I made a comparison, after the problem arised in this thread.

 

[LBJ2]

2 hours ago, elmars said:

The Q3 does not have the Magenta Cast. I made a comparison, after the problem arised in this thread.

 

FWIW. If I see a hint of magenta cast in an M11 image in Lightroom Classic I just slide the Tint slider from LRC default of +20 down 10 or 12 points. I also noticed DXO PhotoLab 6 doesn't seem to add the magenta as much in M11 files that LRC does. 

[goodbokeh]

2 hours ago, elmars said:

The long desired Q with 50mm?

“History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes” – Mark Twain: Leica CL with 40mm/2.0 Summicron-C.

[jonoslack]

5 hours ago, Steven said:

If I knew, which I may, I'd get banned for telling you. Why don't you ask Jono ! 

Ask me what? 

more pertinently I hope you're flourishing Steven - nice to see you back here again, I've been following your instagram adventures and you seem to be very manoeuvrable!

best wishes

[Aram Langhans]

I see a few references to the start-up time for the Q3 being about 3 seconds.  Also mentioned on Dpreview's site but on no other reviews I have seen.  My Q2 starts up in about a second.  Is this true for the Q3?  3 seconds even with a much faster processor?  I find that hard to believe and am changing my mind about upgrading.  Is this maybe on pre-released models? If it is true, do you think this could be fixed in firmware?

[anbucco]

When I picked up my Q3 yesterday the dealer told me, that he already installed a new firmware which is not yet visible in the download section. My firmware is now 1.1.0

The startup time is now – feeled not measured – the same as with my Q2M.

[Qwertynm]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb Aram Langhans:

start-up time for the Q3 being about 3 seconds

This is certainly not the case with the new firmware. I‘d say less than a second from flipping the switch to the lens focusing. 

[anbucco]

vor 28 Minuten schrieb Qwertynm:

This is certainly not the case with the new firmware. I‘d say less than a second from flipping the switch to the lens focusing. 

Strange enough the new firmware – again – is available on the Chinese Leica site and not on the German one.

[Qwertynm]

@anbucco what version? I updated mine trough the Fotos App to 1.1 yesterday. 

[Casey Jefferson]

23 hours ago, don daniel said:

It seems to me that the exact opposite is true. The white balance of the M11 has a strong magenta cast. I see this in my own M11 and have to correct it in every photo. The picture thread for the M11 is also full of examples with magenta cast. The images Jono shows here in the Q3 review, however, seem to have quite reasonable white balance. 

Glad to see the Q3 not having the magenta cast problem. But at the same time I'm not seeing a huge difference in color signature between Q2 and 3. Hats off to Leica!

One more thing though, I decided to go back to M-P240 for the classical Leica digital color signature, seems like they don't make them like that anymore. The Q3 didn't give me any surprises, and if anything it seems to steer even further from the classical Leica colors. If you start with M10 it won't feel so foreign, but my eyes are used to M240 and M9 rendering so the new sensors felt really foreign to me.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[WeiterWinkel]

vor 8 Stunden schrieb anbucco:

Strange enough the new firmware – again – is available on the Chinese Leica site and not on the German one.

Firmware 1.1.0 on the German Leica website : https://leica-camera.com/de-DE/fotografie/kameras/q/q3/technische-daten