So far, so good (Q3 replacing Nikon D850 system)

[michaeljk]

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Hi all.  First post here (been lurking for several months).  Really appreciate all the wisdom, experience, and perspectives offered here.

I'm a casual hobbyist photographer, although I do have a website for my business (Psychotherapist) and have a page dedicated to the intersection of creativity (photography and music in my case) and mental health.  Photography and Creativity as part of mental health 

Here's why I bought a Q3.  I've been shooting with Nikon DSLRs for about 20 years, D90, D300, D600, D850 and along the way, gathering up a pretty decent collection of lenses.  Two years ago, I went to China for nearly a month, and guess what?  I decided to leave all my Nikon and related gear at home. Too cumbersome.  I seriously considered just bringing the D850 and a 20 mm and 50 mm lenses. In the end, still too bulky (for a week, we travelled 1,200 miles and saw six different cities).  All I had was my iPhone Pro.  When I got back, I gathered all my photos and videos into one album and had nearly 1,500 shots (after deleting bad, duplicate and unwanted photos).  They were pretty great, and also very limited in scope and quality.  

It became clear to me that, while I love and plan to keep the D850, I don't much like taking it out. That's just the truth for me.  

I've had my Q3 now for about 3 months, which I have used exclusively for photography.  I bring it out with me almost every day when walking the dogs, or going almost anywhere (I haven't yet brought it with me in my bicycle).  Here the thing: I don't miss my D850 at all.  I am surprised but also relieved by this.  I've taken about 2,000 pictures with it, gotten pretty familiar with it, and like others have said, it becomes a very natural thing for me to pull up to my face and shoot with.  I am using a Peak Design strap and bag. The strap is very comfortable, and with the relatively small size and weight of the Q3, I barely notice it is there while walking around.  

About a month ago, I sent around to friends and family a photo I'd taken at a park near my cabin on the North Shore of Lake Superior.  It was a good picture, even in a low res export from LR.  Last week, my brother, who has a pro-level Sony setup and has been into photography longer than me, asked me to send him the RAW file so he can tweak it and then export it for a larger print that he wants to frame and put on a wall in his home.  Wow!  So honored!

The Q3 Picture:

 

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Edited yesterday at 01:49 PM by michaeljk

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[PhotoCruiser]

I went initially the same way as you.

Starting again with photography when i started to dive back in 2006 and wanted to document the underwater environment so i started using compact cameras in their respective housings.
Soon i felt the call for a bigger DSLR and went from D90 to a D7000 and then 2012 to a D800, all with their underwater housings but many photos on land and still love the D800 what is probably still one of the best DSLR on the market.
Particularly after i bought the D800 i shlepped her and the lenses all over the world and took -for me- awesome photos under and above the surface, but the continuous shlepping and always more strict carry on requirements by the airlines became more and more a pita.

In 2019 i took a sabbatical time off and travelled for a 4 month with my rv trailer southern Europe and bought first a used Q and two months later i found a new Q2 and bought one.
I still enjoy my Q2 very much but this January i found a SL2 in perfect new conditions at half price so i bought her, mainly for 14mm WA and 105mm macro as this is what i mostly use even if i have also the 28mm Sigma ART.

Now i am back with shlepping and need to take the decision what camera to take with me if i go somewhere ...
Mostly the Q2 for size, but the Sl2 and the 14mm and the 105mm macro can do their magic where the Q2 fails, wide open spaces or tiny critters but the Q series is simply a amazing camera where Leica set a new standard for small cameras.

Chris