Q3 Monochrom ...Yes / NO

[Pelu2010]

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All rumors will end in a few hours. will be very funny to go back to see who predicted that the camera will never come:

because ..... 

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

[rxj]

57 minutes ago, Pelu2010 said:

All rumors will end in a few hours. will be very funny to go back to see who predicted that the camera will never come:

because ..... 

Always laugh at this, just like the M EV1 recently and there's a lens coming next month...

[Jeff S]

1 hour ago, Pelu2010 said:

All rumors will end in a few hours. will be very funny to go back to see who predicted that the camera will never come:

because ..... 

 

[Blende8Sonnelacht]

I always say "follow the money," and therefore this camera is a "no-brainer." The Q series is Leica's highest-selling series, so it was clear that a monochrome version would follow the Q3 43.

[CptSlevin]

For that price of 7790$ they didn't even include PDAF, stick with Q2.

Leica is losing its' touch with new releases.

[LocalHero1953]

15 minutes ago, CptSlevin said:

For that price of 7790$ they didn't even include PDAF, stick with Q2.

Leica is losing its' touch with new releases.

Yep - for that price they should have included a spare lens. Shocking marketing.

[CptSlevin]

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17 minutes ago, LocalHero1953 said:

Yep - for that price they should have included a spare lens. Shocking marketing.

What?
For that price they should have provided Q3 AF system, not the old junk Q2 from 2019 which is literally unusable in cAF as it hunts like crazy.

Edited November 20 by CptSlevin

[Markey]

Seems overpriced ( and I`ve been buying Leica since the `80`s so I`m saying that in context ).

I would have expected an APO lens as per the Q3 43 for that price.

Edited November 20 by Markey

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, CptSlevin said:

For that price of 7790$ they didn't even include PDAF, stick with Q2.

Leica is losing its' touch with new releases.

Indeed, contrast detection only. It would not matter to me, as I mostly use Q3s in MF.

[SrMi]

28 minutes ago, Markey said:

Seems overpriced ( and I`ve been buying Leica since the `80`s so I`m saying that in context ).

I would have expected an APO lens as per the Q3 43 for that price.

The price difference is in line with that between Q2 and Q2 Monochrom.

[SrMi]

See @jonoslack's review why there are no PDAF pixels:

A monochrome sensor does not have a Bayer filter, and does not do any interpolation or demosaicing: each pixel on the sensor is directly represented on the image. The result of this is that if there were PDAF points on the monochrome sensor you would be able to see them (or the pattern they made) in the final image.

Also:

More to the point, in many situations the Q3 relies more on contrast detect, which is more accurate, so, despite concentrating very hard I didn’t find any slowdown in the AF on the Q3M vs my Q3 43.

Edited November 20 by SrMi

[stbeyer]

2 hours ago, CptSlevin said:

What?
For that price they should have provided Q3 AF system, not the old junk Q2 from 2019 which is literally unusable in cAF as it hunts like crazy.

I feel you, but that would have been impossible, despite everything that has been speculated on this forum. 

Leica would not have been able to source a sensor with PDAF pixels for this. It's theoretically possible to have phase detect on monochrome, but  the phase splitter optics (or whatever you want to call it) is typically built into the color filter array (green filter part). 

[SrMi]

1 minute ago, stbeyer said:

I feel you, but that would have been impossible, despite everything that has been speculated on this forum. 

Leica would not have been able to source a sensor with PDAF pixels for this. It's theoretically possible to have phase detect on monochrome, but  the phase splitter optics (or whatever you want to call it) is typically built into the color filter array (green filter part). 

PDAF is independent of CFA as it is implemented with special microlenses. Check Jono's review or my post #212 for discussion.

[CptSlevin]

21 minutes ago, stbeyer said:

I feel you, but that would have been impossible, despite everything that has been speculated on this forum. 

Leica would not have been able to source a sensor with PDAF pixels for this. It's theoretically possible to have phase detect on monochrome, but  the phase splitter optics (or whatever you want to call it) is typically built into the color filter array (green filter part). 

Nothing is impossible if you put your mind and engineers to it, but Leica is greedy.
They are not innovating, they re-use, refurbish, redesign.

I am as a consumer vote with my money, and Q2 mono will be my choice, same product, less hassle

[SrMi]

Just now, CptSlevin said:

Nothing is impossible if you put your mind and engineers to it, but Leica is greedy.
They are not innovating, they re-use, refurbish, redesign.

I am as a consumer vote with my money, and Q2 mono will be my choice, same product, less hassle

You did not read the real reason why they did not add PDAF, did you?

I like that, like with M11, we have a sensor that uses every pixel directly rather than interpolating.

[stbeyer]

51 minutes ago, SrMi said:

PDAF is independent of CFA as it is implemented with special microlenses. Check Jono's review or my post #212 for discussion.

I read that. It's just not consistent with other things I have read. Fact is you need two phases. It just depends on where the splitter optics (microlenses) sit. I was of the impression that on the sensors available to camera makers it's located on the CFA. I could be wrong, of course.

I am not a sensor engineer or optics expert, but I am a computer scientist, and I am pretty sure that if you can interpolate away the Bayer sensor (for lack of a better expression), it should be possible to have an algorithm that makes PDAF pixels in a monochrome sensor's output invisible to the human eye, if such a sensor existed. 

In either case, the reason for sticking to contrast AF is clearly technical (and economical).

Edited November 20 by stbeyer

[stbeyer]

31 minutes ago, CptSlevin said:

Nothing is impossible if you put your mind and engineers to it, ...

Well, there are certainly things that are impossible. Then there are others that are commercially impractical.

The latter might be the case here.

[CptSlevin]

35 minutes ago, SrMi said:

You did not read the real reason why they did not add PDAF, did you?

I like that, like with M11, we have a sensor that uses every pixel directly rather than interpolating.

I just simply don't understand why all Leica users always defend Leicas' dumb decisions.
They are not small indie company, they from year to year report about enormous increases in profit.

Having 2019 CDAF which even at that time was really bad in 2025 camera for premium is terrible, I just don't understand consumers nowadays, pay more for less

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[SrMi]

23 minutes ago, stbeyer said:

I read that. It's just not consistent with other things I have read. Fact is you need two phases. It just depends on where the splitter optics (microlenses) sit. I was of the impression that on the sensors available to camera makers it's located on the CFA. I could be wrong, of course.

To detect the phase difference, you need to direct the light differently. Only microlenses can direct light. CFA is between microlenses and sensels.. Jono has also written that it is possible to implement OSPDAF without CFA, but one would need to filter out those pixels. Current monochrome cameras do not filter out any pixels, only defective ones.

 

 

[stbeyer]

41 minutes ago, SrMi said:

Current monochrome cameras do not filter out any pixels, only defective ones.

 

 

I understand that. What I meant to say was that from a software development perspective, that is the part. Simplest algoritm I can think of:

loop through all the pixels, if pixel is PDAF pixel (you know the x and y position), average out the value of the adjacent pixels. 

In the end, it does not matter how the light is split into phases. I believe the real reason they do not implement this on the monochrome sensor is that the manufacturer (Sony?) does not offer this option.