The new Leica Q3 43 - Review by Jonathan Slack

[simplicity]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Nice focal length but heavily overpriced in my opinion. 

[HankD]

When it he Leica Q3 4 Shipping?

[mike_likes_it]

Well written and organized review. The photos aren't bad either 😜

[Mahesh]

The chicken certainly looks smug with the APO lens 😇 

I wasn't thinking of Q3 43 but instead what lens to pair with, with the M11-D that I was planning to buy in a few days. Now looking at these pictures and others on youtube, I am liking the fantastic fall-off from this lens and wondering what to do! My brain says Q3 43 but heart says M11-D. 

[jonoslack]

1 hour ago, tangosix said:

I appreciate your reports.  Brilliant organization of such complicated ideas. 

Perhaps you should start a loan agency with your write ups ! ?  

 

Thank you - I really appreciate that - I try very hard to be coherent (unlike in real life!)

 

[jonoslack]

1 minute ago, Mahesh said:

The chicken certainly looks smug with the APO lens 😇 

I wasn't thinking of Q3 43 but instead what lens to pair with, with the M11-D that I was planning to buy in a few days. Now looking at these pictures and others on youtube, I am liking the fantastic fall-off from this lens and wondering what to do! My brain says Q3 43 but heart says M11-D. 

Sorry - It is a lovely lens . .  And you’ll have a bit of change left over too!

[scott kirkpatrick]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

16 minutes ago, Mahesh said:

The chicken certainly looks smug with the APO lens 😇 

I wasn't thinking of Q3 43 but instead what lens to pair with, with the M11-D that I was planning to buy in a few days. Now looking at these pictures and others on youtube, I am liking the fantastic fall-off from this lens and wondering what to do! My brain says Q3 43 but heart says M11-D. 

Jono's chickens are accomplished expert models, and maybe get paid with a little extra grain.

The M11-D can do a lot more than a Q3, but the Q3 (28 or 43) claims to "do it all."  If it doesn't, the M11-D is wonderful, uses great lenses that you probably already have, and offers much the same simplicity of operation (once you get it set up with Fotos -- one time only.) 

 

[tom0511]

Thank you very much Jono!

I use a griii and griiix as pocket cameras which have equivalent for and I learned to appreciate the results of 43mm for.

So I can see how the new Q3 43mm will be great for environmental portrait, details, and many other things.

 

[Sparkassenkunde]

Thanks for the review, Jonathan! Really good overview and some nice first images. And as I have bought the camera immediately today, I can say that it is indeed a very nice tool and a good addition next to my Q3. I can't say if I need them both in the long run, but think that they might have a place in my photography side by side for slightly different scenarios. I will try some portraits in the next two days and am very excited to see the first results in Lightroom 🙂 

 

[tom0511]

I hope Leica will introduce wide angle adapter...would be cool

[sls]

This is sooooo annoying. 

I wandered into a Leica approved retailer in London the day the Q was launched in June 2015 and was advised that a fixed lens Leica would never sell, so I bought it. Just loved it and used it with M9, upgraded to Q2 an now use with M10-R. On my last trip I just took the Q2.

As Jon suggested, the Q2 is so good it's been easy not to be tempted by the Q3. 

I usually have a 50/1.4 ASPH fixed on the M10-R, but some of Jon's images have that sort of quality. I think he may have a point that it's going to be too difficult not to give in to getting one. Maybe June 2025.

[Edax]

It would be interesting to know if the 43mm APO lens like the 28mm also relies on software distortion correction. It would be nice if not...

[Likaleica]

3 hours ago, Edax said:

It would be interesting to know if the 43mm APO lens like the 28mm also relies on software distortion correction. It would be nice if not...

There is a great explanation and answer to this question on Reid Reviews.

[aficionados]

5 hours ago, Edax said:

It would be interesting to know if the 43mm APO lens like the 28mm also relies on software distortion correction. It would be nice if not...

Somebody has compared DNG files from 28mm and 43mm, and yes 43mm pictures have distortion correction baked in DNG, like 28mm does.

So 43mm does heavily rely on software to correct distortion.

[thegobi]

29 minutes ago, aficionados said:

Somebody has compared DNG files from 28mm and 43mm, and yes 43mm pictures have distortion correction baked in DNG, like 28mm does.

So 43mm does heavily rely on software to correct distortion.

Software correction just seems to be the thing on mirrorless cameras...

The price is $1000 dearer than the 28 here in Australia -- are we paying for R&D? The new shiny? Or is it just a more expensive lens to make? I always thought the 40's and 50's were simpler and cheaper to produce... (but I am not a lens design boffin lol )

[SrMi]

1 hour ago, aficionados said:

Somebody has compared DNG files from 28mm and 43mm, and yes 43mm pictures have distortion correction baked in DNG, like 28mm does.

So 43mm does heavily rely on software to correct distortion.

No Q camera has distortion baked in. Instead, the DNGs contain meta information that guides post processors how to apply distortion correction. That information can be removed from DNGs or disabled in some post processors.

[SrMi]

33 minutes ago, thegobi said:

Software correction just seems to be the thing on mirrorless cameras...

What matters is the final output, not whether the files require SDC.

[hoppyman]

15 hours ago, jonoslack said:

The obvious advantages over the Q3 are more control over depth of field, and slightly more than twice the resolution for any given focal length.

Thank you for a thoughtful and informative review again Jono. I drank the Kool-Aid and have been enjoying the Q3 for some time, mostly for travel and family as well as the SL2 in studio. Very largely I shoot to use the 35 crop.
I was very close to changing to the SL3, now I really wish I hadn't read your excerpt quote there! Where's that Lotto ticket?

Edited September 27, 2024 by hoppyman

[Pelu2010]

10 hours ago, HankD said:

When it he Leica Q3 4 Shipping?

Yesterday . You can buy it . 

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[sls]

3 hours ago, hoppyman said:

I was very close to changing to the SL3, now I really wish I hadn't read your excerpt quote there! Where's that Lotto ticket?

I was looking at the SL3 as well as a general purpose camera with flexibility, but easily portable? We went to the world's maddest city, Venice, a few weeks ago for the day (to see the Biennale) and all I saw were Q2/Q3. Quite a few. The lack of availability of new models always lets me think about these things long term before making a decision I soon regret. I suspect I'm one of many who think the M10-R does everything I possibly want. 

I see you do a lot of studio portrait/fashion. I bought my first digital Leica (M9) from a fashion photographer who said it was his fun camera, but not for work. My best friend's daughter does fashion photography, she tried the SL system at one point, borrowed my Q and an M when she was a student 5 or 6 years ago. 85mm used to be the goto lens, but most of her work is extreme wide angle, with Canon.