Best Leica for street photography

[Sharon]

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Hello,

I would love to hear opinions... what is the best Leica for street photography? I currently use Q2. I love it, but for upcoming street photography workshop I wonder if I should upgrade .

I don't like to carry very heavy equipment , but I think a zoom lens can be a benefit. 

Thank you !

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[Simone_DF]

The best camera for any genre is the camera you like to use the most. Are you happy with 28mm? If yes, keep your Q.

[Driften]

Nothing wrong with a Q2 for street photography. Unless by street you mean taking pictures of buildings more than people, you don't need a zoom lens. It seems that most street photographers normally shoot with a 28mm or 35mm prime lens. With the crop ability of the Q2 28,35, and 50mm images work well.

The main current product lines for Leica are Q, M, and SL. The SL series with a zoom lens will be a lot more weight than a Q2. The M series are all manual focus and you will be relying more on zone focusing. 

It's up to you, but I would say take the class with the Q2 and see how it goes. The workshop will be easier if you stick to a camera you understand and are comfortable with so you can focus on the instruction not operating the camera. 

[Fgcm]

3 hours ago, Sharon said:

but I think a zoom lens can be a benefit

In my opinion, a zoom is useless for street. Just walk closer if needed. Don’t be shy!!!

A Q2 or a Q3 are a great choice. The M is the second best. Everything else are lesser options.

I prefer a Q2 / Q3 over an M because of it’s flexibility. Other could opt for the M because you can shoot a 50. I prefer a wider lens. A 50 is too restricting. 

[Ko.Fe.]

4 hours ago, Sharon said:

Hello,

I would love to hear opinions... what is the best Leica for street photography? I currently use Q2. I love it, but for upcoming street photography workshop I wonder if I should upgrade .

I don't like to carry very heavy equipment , but I think a zoom lens can be a benefit. 

Thank you !

If upcoming workshop is hardware dependent, you have been mugged. 

Street phography is very democratic. In fact Dmitry Markov and Pinkhassov , can't remember first, name did it with iPhone.  On the level of been paid for.

And here is Robin something on YT. With Q2 or 3. And it isn't impressive at all. 

If you need tiny size and confidential and want to buy street photography guaranteed tool

.. get RicohGRD III. 

You might be disappointed by its price tag and specs. But it is what you need at this stage.  

I don't mind to use it after almost two decades on the street with cameras. 

Edited July 1, 2024 by Ko.Fe.

[Le Chef]

Unless you’re missing shots you frustrated with missing on your Q2, and there’s a pattern, I would stick with what you have. The class should help you decide whether you want to change your equipment AFTER not BEFORE the class.

[ianforber]

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The Q2 is fantastic for street photography. I particularly like the ability to crop to much longer focal lengths that you might image - I often crop to circa- 100mm equivalent, usually because the picture I’ve wanted to take is on the other side of the street so it’s impossible to get any closer. Autofocus also allows a different style of street photography. You can either zone focus by switching to manual focus or use autofocus which I personally find easier for street portraits. 

The workshop is likely to be more about what to do rather than with what camera. Enjoy!

[newtoleica]

Q2 works well. M works well but its a quite different zeitgeist so I absolutely would NOT take a new (to user) M to a workshop....

[M Street Photographer]

I just had the following experience at a workshop.

Since I occasionally have fluctuations in my eyes, I took the Q3 with me for safety reasons so that I could focus with the AF. Of course, I had no problems with my eyes during this particular workshop weekend. Unfortunately, I found that the photography experience was not very moving and I missed the M. Unfortunately, the workshop was several hundred kilometers away from my hometown, so I couldn't exchange the Q3 for the M, but looking back, I still regret not having taken the M with me. And taking two cameras and a M and a Q3 was too much for me.

I mostly do street photography with the M and a 35 or 50 mm lens and it doesn't cause any problems.

Edited July 11, 2024 by M Street Photographer

[Smogg]

For myself, I don’t even consider an autofocus camera without BBF or Focus Lock as suitable for street photography. And if we talk about manual focus, the Leica M10/M11 is much more convenient and faster than any Q

[LocalHero1953]

M, Q, SL - they can all give you great images (and how useful is the best IQ for street photography anyway?) The differences between them (and the differences with other cameras) come down to what functionality and usability you want or rely on to get the image.

The Leica M (I've had the M(/M240, and now have film Ms) is the classic street photography camera, manual focus, manual exposure and all. There are plenty of examples of how it can perform from the last 50 years.

The Q2, which I have, has those things the M lacks, plus a near silent shutter. While I have no problem with the auto exposure, I find its autofocus unhelpful - it just does not readily pick up faces at anything except close distances. I find manual focus with the M quicker, because I spend less time persuading it to focus on what I want. I hear that the Q3 is better in this regard, but I have no experience of it. With the Q2 I just set the frame lines to the smallest (because AF and AE work only within those frame lines) and use either Multifield or Face Detect - whichever I think will work best for the scene.

I have too much rangefinder photography under my belt to enjoy manual focus on an EVF; if I'm going manual, then I want a rangefinder (and not zone focusing either - too hit and miss for me).

Everyone will tell you that what they have is the best there is for and is what you want. In the end though, only you can tell what functionality you want - you can take the image quality for granted.

[Pyrogallol]

Leica Standard, 35mm Summaron lens and 400ASA film.

[JimP]

I have owned Leica M's for as long as I can remember. I started with the M6 in the film days and as of 2 years ago an M10. I sold the M's due to my eyes having trouble with the focusing patch and bought a Q2. The jump to the Q2 was very easy and I can say that for street photography the transition was fairly seamless. I personally do not think that having an M or a Q makes a difference for street. I use the Q2 with the 35mm frame lines and manual or aperture priority mode. I switch between auto and manual focus as needs dictate and I find that focus peaking is just as fast as the M's patch. I actually think it is more precise, but that is me, others may disagree. 

The big difference is/are the lens(s). 50mm FOV is the longest I go and I find the Q2's crop mode works beautifully. Having the frame lines visible is fantastic for composition and Lightroom automatically shows you the image as cropped, so you see your intent as a 1st look. The 47mb sensor gives me no worries about shooting in 50mm crop mode.  While opinions will vary, I don't have any issue with a 28mm lens cropped to 35 or 50mm. Maybe it's because after using the Q2 exclusively (I do have a film camera, but its a 4x5) for 2 years I'm just used to it and don't know the difference any more. I show my images to others and no one has yet to ask if I cropped a 28mm. I have actually come to think of the Q2 as a 35mm camera with room to tweak the composition afterwards, which I find as an advantage. I do hold the camera level front to back and left to right so this may help reduce the effects of a 28mm lens.

So my opinion to your question is  unless you need something longer than a 50mm lens, the Q2 works beautifully. Seeing as you already have the Q2, I don't think you would find an M a good cost / performance trade-off, but only you can make that decision for you.

Edited July 18, 2024 by JimP

[Cogito]

Paul Reid makes incredible photographs with a Q2 (he uses the monochrom version.) Have a look at his photos/vids on youtube, you’ll be fine with your Q2.

[Herr Barnack]

@Sharon  Welcome to the forum!

As for your question,  I have a Q2 and IMHO it is a great camera for street photography.  The 28mm focal length challenges you to get closer to your street photography subjects and to work on being invisible to your subjects as much as is possible.  This is a good thing.  As Henri Cartier-Bresson said, "A velvet hand, a hawk’s eye - these we should all have." 

Learning how to get in close, capture your images and move on without your subject ever being aware of your presence is the great challenge of street photography.  Capturing your subject in their unguarded moments results in authentic images that have visual impact. 

I gravitate to the 28mm and 35mm focal lengths for street photography based on my own experiences.  Every time I have tried to use a 50mm for street photography, I have had to step back to get optimal framing.  This longer working distance invariably results in other people walking between me and my subject, which gets to be exasperating in short order.  This happens much less often with my Q2 or my M-P 240 when using a 28mm or 35mm lens.

JMHO, but learning how to use a 28mm or 35mm lens effectively for street photography is infinitely preferable to relying on the perceived convenience of a zoom lens.

Edited August 24, 2024 by Herr Barnack

[Alexander108]

What I'd like to add to the previous post of @Herr Barnack is that the flip screen of the Q3 is a great tool for me. I often do street photography from the hip looking down on the screen. This not only gives a great perspective but also is less intrusive. People often don't realize I take pictures. 

The 60MP sensor gives a lot room for cropping if getting close is not an option. 

Here are a few examples from my last trip to London 

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A very few in this selection are shot with the Ricoh GR III. The majority is shot with the Q3

[jaapv]

Better to start a thread on "Best photographer for Street" 

[Luke_Miller]

19 hours ago, Herr Barnack said:

Learning how to get in close, capture your images and move on without your subject ever being aware of your presence is the great challenge of street photography.  Capturing your subject in their unguarded moments results in authentic images that have visual impact. 

I am an event photographer and the above is critical in my shooting.  I find that my M and Q2 often go unnoticed by my subjects, while my SL with zoom lens draws a lot of attention.  Should I venture into street photography it would be with a camera that was small and unobtrusive.

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[bobtodrick]

On 7/12/2024 at 8:46 AM, Pyrogallol said:

Leica Standard, 35mm Summaron lens and 400ASA film.

Yup, I often wander with my Leica lll with collapsible Elmar.

Some don’t even seem to realize it’s a camera.

[lofercan]

The speed that the Q can give you for fast photography and on the street, the M series can never give you. It is my opinion