Q/Q2/Q3 as sole travel camera kit? What has been your experience?

[Jed Orme]

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On 4/27/2024 at 2:01 PM, Marc283 said:

Thank you so much. Most of my shots were with the XF 23 1.4. I think around 90%. The other 10% were with the XF 56 1.2. At that moment I had only 3 primes. The mentioned 2 and the XF 14 2.8. At that moment I didn’t own any of the big Fuji zooms. This trip with the Fuji’s was in 2015 so, with my X-T1. A few years later I travelled again to NYC. Took only my Sony RX100V, which I also really enjoyed shooting. Next trip will be with only the Q3. I’m looking forward to it. 

With my Fuji X-Pro3, I had the 14/2.8. 23/2, 35/2 & 50/2 primes, so pretty much the same as you were using, and about what we now have with either my Q2 or your Q3 with the added digital zoom with 90mm frame lines.  But I hope you really enjoy the freedom and ease of using the fixed lens Q3, and cropping either in camera or when editing to achieve all you desire on the next trip out with  it.

[Simone_DF]

On 5/2/2024 at 2:18 AM, ChrisPer said:

Do most of you pocket or use a neck strap most of the time?  Or use a small bag, which is what I'm trending to.

The good thing about compact cameras is that you are not limited to the usual nerdy looking camera bags like Billingham and the like. When I had a Q2, I just tossed it into a nice canvas bag that I got for about 20€, wrapped in a soft camera wrap cloth to protect it from scratches. It was nice and lightweight, and I could use the bag as a normal daily bag too. 

[TheLaird]

On 5/2/2024 at 6:59 PM, Knarf said:

Off for a week in Glen Affric, bit of hill walking, bit of playing with a camera!

Thought of taking CL with 18-56mm but I have went for plan B and decided just to take my Q2 based on this thread.

Might be interesting 🤔

Give me a wave as you pass. BTW Fords camera shop is on the Beauty to Strathglass road. Some great kit in there with great staff.

[parigby]

16 hours ago, TheLaird said:

Give me a wave as you pass. BTW Fords camera shop is on the Beauty to Strathglass road. Some great kit in there with great staff.

Would second the recommendation for Ffordes  -  l've been using them for over twenty years and they are a brilliant set of people, very knowledgable and helpful indeed.

[Knarf]

Will probably pop into Ffordes as I am after a wide angle lens for my CL, toss up between the Leica 11-23mm or Sigma 10-18mm 🤔

[SLamb]

I just spent five days in Venice and had the Q3 with me instead of the Nikon gear. It was very liberating to have one camera/lens and less weight to carry.  I didn't feel the need for any other focal length because Venice is quite tightly packed so longer focal lengths aren't as useful.

[hexx]

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I guess, I will be able to answer this question on Monday - going away for a weekend. After a long time, I finally received my Q3 today (the battery is charging) and I sold my M240 + 28mm Summicron in February. So it will be only Q3 in the bag and nothing else.
 

[Palermo]

I had a Q-P for many years and I took it everywhere, a lot of times as the only cam. Than I sold it to see what happens ... Now I got the Q3 🙂 and it will go everywhre with me ... Soon I will go to Camargue, Gypsy festival and wildlife. There I will take my SL2S for the wildlife and the Q for all the rest ...

[hexx]

On 5/9/2024 at 2:39 PM, hexx said:

I guess, I will be able to answer this question on Monday - going away for a weekend. After a long time, I finally received my Q3 today (the battery is charging) and I sold my M240 + 28mm Summicron in February. So it will be only Q3 in the bag and nothing else.
 

As promised, here are my thoughts on this topic. As mentioned before, I used M240 for the last 7-8(?) years and although I initially purchased Voigtlander 50/1.5 Asph for it, the moment I added 28/2 Summicron, it was pretty much glued to it. So I'm quite used to 28mm field of view (Q seems to be a tad wider).

I spent the last weekend in Geneve, Switzerland and did the typical tourist stuff  Q3 performed formidably and had no hiccups. I'm glad I bought a spare battery as the first one died after around 250 photos. Travelling light with one camera, 128GB SD card, spare battery and no battery charger makes it fantastic - it's an extremely manageable package and the camera was inside my old M Neoprene pouch when not in use and inside my laptop bag that held other bits (sunglasses, wallet, notebook and all the other stuff one collects in a bag during a day).

So for me, Q3 is all I need. Really like the flexibility of Leica FOTOS app to go through the photos and delete as needed as the interface on Q isn't as slick as the one in the app for photos review.

With that in mind, I think I need to now think about some smaller bag just for the camera, spare battery, wallet and sunglasses - laptop bag is too large for it. I have Billingham Hadley Pro but again, too large.

(one thing I miss from the M+28/2 is the size of the Summicron - it's so tiny in comparison with the lens on the Q3)

[cediya3242]

Travel is an investment in yourself. When you get really tired and stressed out from life, a peaceful or adventurous travel plan can give you just the refreshent, no? And the photography on the other hand, is the best medicine of our eyes. Because our eye are the best camera in the whole world. So, when you go to travel and make sure you’re memories are intact in printed form, you’re doing travel photography.

Edited January 16 by cediya3242

[PhotoCruiser]

I bought my Q2 back in 2019 for a 6 month sabbatical RV trailer trip in southern Europe and she changed how i photograph and particularly how i travel.

For 75% of my style of photographing the 28mm lens works perfectly, the other 25% is either macro or distant wildlife where either a macro or tele lens is needed. From 2008 to 2019 i travelled every six months from Italy to Costa Rica for work and hauled my Nikon D800 with 15mm, 24-70mm, 150mm macro and 70-200 tele, strobe plus converters and other smaller stuff with me and that was a huge effort. Now i can travel or just stroll around in a place with a small, cheap bag for compact cameras and take her much more with me than i did with the D800.

The high resolution and the very high image quality allow do do some rather heavy crops if field of view is too wide, but that is reasonable limited to about 75mm.

For some the Q series does a lot and can replace a interchangable lens camera but for many she can't due limitations by the fixed lens and only few compatible strobes.

I am deciding in this moment to get a SL2 as the market here is saturated with low price ones from people who switched to the SL3 and i would use her only for either 15mm wideangle or 100mm or macro what i can't do with my Q2. For anything between 28 and 70 i can deal with the Q2 excellent 28mm lens.

Chris

[Matt Stevens]

On 4/26/2024 at 11:41 AM, JohnSantaF4 said:

I depart Monday for Madrid. Considering leaving my Sl2-S and lenses home, and traveling only with my Q2M and iPhone 15 pro. Crazy?

I just returned from a two week trip to Germany and Hungry. I took a Q2M and a Q3 28 with me. I used both equally and am glad I brought both b/w and color cameras. I used a PD Everyday Carry backpack with a Black Ember Sling insert to carry both cameras. 

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Edited January 22 by Matt Stevens