Is the Leica Q still a good buy ?

[johntech]

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Dear Friends

Back in 2016 I bought a Leica X1.  I loved that little camera unfortunately it went faulty last year and Leica could no longer repair it due to its age.

A friend of mine has recently bought a used Leica Q and guess what I am in love again !

Now a good used Leica Q still costs around £2000 which to me is a lot of money(dare I tell my wife?)

So the question is how long will Leica support this model from a service point of view ?  I would hate to buy one only to learn in 18 months that repairs were not possible anymore.

Any thoughts welcome.

Thank you in advance John

 

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[bobtodrick]

1 hour ago, johntech said:

Dear Friends

Back in 2016 I bought a Leica X1.  I loved that little camera unfortunately it went faulty last year and Leica could no longer repair it due to its age.

A friend of mine has recently bought a used Leica Q and guess what I am in love again !

Now a good used Leica Q still costs around £2000 which to me is a lot of money(dare I tell my wife?)

So the question is how long will Leica support this model from a service point of view ?  I would hate to buy one only to learn in 18 months that repairs were not possible anymore.

Any thoughts welcome.

Thank you in advance John

 

As a dealer of all the major brands all I can say is Leica is far and away the best at supporting older cameras.

[dpitt]

18 hours ago, johntech said:

Dear Friends

Back in 2016 I bought a Leica X1.  I loved that little camera unfortunately it went faulty last year and Leica could no longer repair it due to its age.

A friend of mine has recently bought a used Leica Q and guess what I am in love again !

Now a good used Leica Q still costs around £2000 which to me is a lot of money(dare I tell my wife?)

So the question is how long will Leica support this model from a service point of view ?  I would hate to buy one only to learn in 18 months that repairs were not possible anymore.

Any thoughts welcome.

Thank you in advance John

 

As an owner of digital Leica's as old as the Digilux 2 and M8 (2004 and 2006), I can say that I never regretted buying them second hand. Most of the time when there were issues, Leica solved them gracefully and I feel that if they had been any other brand, it would have been either impossible or not available from the main stream brands. Occasionally we hear some horror stories about Leica service not being what it should be. But I still believe these are exceptions to the rule. When Leica released the M8, they explicitly expressed the intention to keep digital camera's servicable for 10 years at least.

IMO, Leica delivered what they promised. They even solved issues twice far out of warranty for me. Once by offering a generous upgrade deal for my M8 which was 6 months out of warranty, and long after end of production... And once by replacing my corroded sensor in my M9 for free, including CLA in 2016. The camera was by then 5 years old, and I was second owner... I am sure it would be hard to find any manufacturer prepared to offer a FREE repair worth around 2000€ 4 years after production and 3 years out of warranty. And even after that, I heard they offered someone a generous upgrade deal to a M11 for a corroded M9 in november 2023!

The Q is no M, but I am sure Leica will honor it as much as possible. It is built like a tank. With some luck it will keep delivering wonderful images like my 20 year old Digiliux 2 does now. I just bought 2 Chinese replacement batteries and it is good as new... ready for an other 10 years 🙂

Most of the Q's will last +20 years. You just need some luck that yours is going to be one of them.

Edited February 10, 2024 by dpitt

[bobtodrick]

19 hours ago, johntech said:

Dear Friends

Back in 2016 I bought a Leica X1.  I loved that little camera unfortunately it went faulty last year and Leica could no longer repair it due to its age.

A friend of mine has recently bought a used Leica Q and guess what I am in love again !

Now a good used Leica Q still costs around £2000 which to me is a lot of money(dare I tell my wife?)

So the question is how long will Leica support this model from a service point of view ?  I would hate to buy one only to learn in 18 months that repairs were not possible anymore.

Any thoughts welcome.

Thank you in advance John

 

I’d like to know their reasoning.

We have sent X1’s to Leica USA as recently as last summer that were repaired.

Did the say they couldn’t repair it, or that it was not economical to repair?

[johntech]

Dear Friends

Thank you for the reply's they have boosted my confidence in Leica.

There are of course many fine cameras available at much less price than the Q I am attracted to the simplicity and purity of the camera ie a camera requires only five adjustments to make an image Focus, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Sensitivity and White balance !

Not dozens of hidden menu settings to loose yourself in and this to me is the big attraction of Leica cameras.  It is a shame that less appears to cost considerably more and yet only Leica have taken this simplistic approach to camera design.

Just my thoughts John

 

 

[dpitt]

2 hours ago, johntech said:

Dear Friends

Thank you for the reply's they have boosted my confidence in Leica.

There are of course many fine cameras available at much less price than the Q I am attracted to the simplicity and purity of the camera ie a camera requires only five adjustments to make an image Focus, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Sensitivity and White balance !

Not dozens of hidden menu settings to loose yourself in and this to me is the big attraction of Leica cameras.  It is a shame that less appears to cost considerably more and yet only Leica have taken this simplistic approach to camera design.

Just my thoughts John

 

 

You forgot to mention the 2 most important factors, namely the sensor and the lens. That is where your value for money is. The X1 has shown you a little bit of what Leica can offer in this department, but the X1 is just an entry point into Leica. The Q is in a different class. At base ISO it's IQ is very hard to beat at any budget today. Throw in the fact that it comes in such a nice small form factor and weight, and you have an almost unbeatable combo at this price point. IMO, only the the M class can beat it by a small margin in IQ/size+weight, but at considerably higher cost.

An other thing that is often forgotten is how much these Leica's will keep their value. Look how long the X1 served you and what you paid for it in 2016. Even at a total loss it is probably the cheapest digital camera that you owned until now per year of use. Look for used X1 prices today and compare with what you paid for it in 2016. Then divide the difference by 8... That would have been the cost of ownership if it was still working, like many X1 camera's still are today.

I bought my X2 with leather case and half case in 2015 for 650€. I have kept it in nice condition. Today it sells around the same price. So it has given me 9 years of beautiful pictures for free! And that is not even my best use case. My M8 and M9 (both bought used), have almost doubled in price in  the years that  I have used them... This is much better than I expected when I bought them many years ago. As they were digital, I was prepared to write them off over a number of years, like I did before with other mainstream brand digital bodies.

I am confident that the Leica Q is at a price point now that will do at least as good as my X2. You need to keep it working for some years. It might drop in value a bit, but some day you will get your money back, if you keep it in good working condition.

Edited February 11, 2024 by dpitt

[johntech]

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Hello DPitt

Yes you are right the value for the X1 has increased considerably since I bought mine in fact on Ebay some versions are approaching £1000 !

Which is quite unbelievable.

Thank You for your reply

John

Yorkshire Dales England

[Brianatkinsphoto]

The Leica Q is a great buy today. I bought mine 12 months ago, had it serviced in August, and got it back in December. It took two trips to Leica, because they sent it back with the same issue first time around, but they fixed the issue second time around. My lens aperture stopped working correctly. It had a single dead click mid range so the lens reading and screen reading would not match. I'm sure the Q will be serviceable for quite some time since the lens overlaps with the Q2/Q3, as far as body componentry goes, I am unsure. I do not regret the Q over the Q2(at the time, and now the Q3 is out) and it works flawlessly(with the dead aperture click both before and now fixed after repair), and creates gorgeous photos. Buy one now, insure it, and upgrade when it kicks the can permanently. I plan on adding a Q3(or maybe even a Q4) eventually fully out of pocket and will hold onto my Q as the everyday carry daily beater until it dies and cannot be revived. 

I just made a review on the Q here and go in depth with my experience as well as my service issue: 

 

[Miltz]

Honestly, unless you personally love the Q and are on a budget I would stay away from spending $2,500 on a digital camera from 2015. Ultimately you will be the last owner of the camera or sell it for a huge loss in a few years. Maybe getting one in poor shape that works is a better value as resale value won't matter then.

Edited February 13, 2024 by Miltz

[bobtodrick]

1 hour ago, Miltz said:

Honestly, unless you personally love the Q and are on a budget I would stay away from spending $2,500 on a digital camera from 2015. Ultimately you will be the last owner of the camera or sell it for a huge loss in a few years. Maybe getting one in poor shape that works is a better value as resale value won't matter then.

Why??

24mp is still a good size…lots of current cameras have this size sensor.

If it’s gently used and in good shape it is just as capable as most current 24mp cameras.

[Miltz]

3 hours ago, bobtodrick said:

Why??

24mp is still a good size…lots of current cameras have this size sensor.

If it’s gently used and in good shape it is just as capable as most current 24mp cameras.

it's not the megapixels. The sensor wasn't all that great for my use case. It behaves like a sensor from 2012-2013. Shadow recovery was pretty bad, banding was awful. Colors were poor as well. Dynamic Range wasn't great either. I felt like I was using a Canon 6D in terms of image quality. If I was paying that kind of money I wanted more from the sensor not a 6D. The Q3 is amazing sensor wise and matches the most high end cameras available. The original Q never did that, even when it was released. It was extremely sharp though.

[bobtodrick]

8 minutes ago, Miltz said:

it's not the megapixels. The sensor wasn't all that great for my use case. It behaves like a sensor from 2012-2013. Shadow recovery was pretty bad, banding was awful. Colors were poor as well. Dynamic Range wasn't great either. I felt like I was using a Canon 6D in terms of image quality. If I was paying that kind of money I wanted more from the sensor not a 6D. The Q3 is amazing sensor wise and matches the most high end cameras available. The original Q never did that, even when it was released. It was extremely sharp though.

You do realize not every one has the same needs in a camera as you…right?

As I mention in another post, just because you have your expectations you don’t speak for everyone…something that many don’t realize these days.

I regularly exhibit (locally) and sell prints that hang on peoples walls…all from my lowly Q.

[Miltz]

1 hour ago, bobtodrick said:

You do realize not every one has the same needs in a camera as you…right?

As I mention in another post, just because you have your expectations you don’t speak for everyone…something that many don’t realize these days.

I regularly exhibit (locally) and sell prints that hang on peoples walls…all from my lowly Q.

I think you missed where I said “for my use case” or choose to ignore it. Just like you can provide an opinion, so can I. That being said I took plenty of good photographs with the original Q, but the fact remains that the sensor’s properties are more important than sheer megapixels. 

[bobtodrick]

39 minutes ago, Miltz said:

I think you missed where I said “for my use case” or choose to ignore it. Just like you can provide an opinion, so can I. That being said I took plenty of good photographs with the original Q, but the fact remains that the sensor’s properties are more important than sheer megapixels. 

Sorry, but "Shadow recovery was pretty bad, banding was awful. Colors were poor as well. Dynamic Range wasn't great either." are definitely not 'opinions'...they are statements.  None of which are brought up here on a consistent basis...so they are entirely your opinion' and not really based in any verifiable fact.  Bu when stated as they are, anyone considering buying a used Q is could be hesitant...for no good reason.