Q3 AF-lock on F1 and AE-lock on F2?

[Nyarlanassar]

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I have a brand new Q3, and tried to implement af-lock on f1 button and ae-lock on f2 button, but... it doesn't work! You can use only one of this functions a time, you can't simply focus on subject, expose on a middle-gray spot and ricompose... Am I right or there is something I'm doing the wrong way? Bonus: a pity we can't have a true AF-ON button...

Edited February 2, 2024 by Nyarlanassar
Added Q3 on title

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[M11 for me]

The shutter release button locks the second variable, either focus or exposure. In case that you have locked none of the 2 then that release button locks the 2 when half pressed. That is how the concept works. And it makes sense.

Or explain your use case where that does not work.

[Nyarlanassar]

3 hours ago, M11 for me said:

The shutter release button locks the second variable, either focus or exposure. In case that you have locked none of the 2 then that release button locks the 2 when half pressed. That is how the concept works. And it makes sense.

Or explain your use case where that does not work.

In all the digital cameras I have, you can lock exposure and focus separately (i.e. on separate buttons), because they have different purposes. Say, you can lock the exposure on a grey card or a middle gray object, and keep the exposure for all subsequent shots. Next, you can lock focus on the subject and then ricompose and shot. This is a common routine in nature photography, and there is a lot of literature on back focusing subject.

More on this, if you lock exposure on the Q3, it only stays locked for just one shot, so that’s useless. And - third - on the Q3 you can lock AF+AE, if you assign the command to a button, but NOT AF and AE on separate buttons.

AFAIK, after a lot of complaints they solved the same issue on the Q2 from firmware 5, but now it looks like they fall back to the same problem with the Q3. It drives me crazy...

[M11 for me]

vor 21 Stunden schrieb Nyarlanassar:

you can lock focus on the subject and then ricompose and shot

that is probably the most common use case. And the Q3 is capable to do that.

You are right that you can only lock for the next picture. 

[Nyarlanassar]

17 hours ago, M11 for me said:

that is probably the most common use case. And the Q3 is capable to do that.

You are right that you can only lock for the next picture. 

Do you really take just one-shot-a-time? In street or life photograpy, people moves, unpredictable is normal, timing is all. If you must re-expose, re-focus and re-compose each time, you can bet you'll miss a lot of shots. Which is why in nature photograpy focusing and exposure lock-until-you-unlock are so popular. With the Q3 the only way to go seems to be manual, which I can accept, but not understand.

[M11 for me]

I use full M mode very often in those cases that you describe.

But I do not use my Q3 for everything. When I have to be very fast (events) and maybe change set modes by just pressing a button, then I use the Canon R5. Here I have many more options but a much more complex menu. You have to practice much mire and technically know much more. Leica Q is not that. Q3 is simplicity, low weight, small size.

The Q3 has its use cases. 
 

I am sure that with some more practice you will find ways around those functions that you think are missing. I hope it because the Q3 is a great general purpose tool. 

[Nyarlanassar]

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2 minutes ago, M11 for me said:

I use full M mode very often in those cases that you describe.

But I do not use my Q3 for everything. When I have to be very fast (events) and maybe change set modes by just pressing a button, then I use the Canon R5. Here I have many more options but a much more complex menu. You have to practice much mire and technically know much more. Leica Q is not that. Q3 is simplicity, low weight, small size.

The Q3 has its use cases. 
 

I am sure that with some more practice you will find ways around those functions that you think are missing. I hope it because the Q3 is a great general purpose tool. 

I agree, Q3 is, in her own way, a masterpiece. Just need a few firmware tweaks to become perfect. In the wait, I'll practice a lot to squeeze out all she can give! 😉

[behr]

I have a slightly different problem. I have set AE-L for F1. I press F1 and release (hence locking the exposure value), then move my camera around without touching the shutter button or any other button, but the AE-L randomly dis-engages after between 0.5 sec to 5 sec. Very annoying. It's been this way since I received the camera.

[Smogg]

As soon as firmware comes out with normal focus locking and/or BBF capabilities, I will immediately buy this camera. So far, unfortunately, the scope of use of the camera is somewhat limited for me.

[jplaurel]

I have the same problem with my Q3 running the current 2.05 firmware. When you set a button to lock focus, the focus should stay locked until you explicitly unlock it. As it is, with 2.05, the focus unlocks after taking a single photo. This renders the AF lock feature quite useless, because you have to re-establish focus after every shot. When you are doing environmental portraits, something for which the Q3 is perfectly suited, you often want to set focus, then just shoot as expressions, movements, etc change. You don't want to deal with focus from frame to frame unless distance to the subject is changing. In fact, this is the usual way of working with an M camera.

Leica should change the behavior of this feature. It is no different from a partial shutter button press-focus-recompose-shoot. It makes no sense to have to repeat this process after every single shot. My workaround is to focus manually, but this is much more cumbersome and time consuming than just pointing the focus patch at something, locking focus, and leaving it.