Don’t expect many images in this post, not much technical data. This can be found on the internet already. The Q is a six year old camera so there is enough info around. Then, why another review? I don’t know. I am not a reviewer. I photograph. But then, I do like camera’s so may be that’s why I do a review. As the Q is a special camera, I thought a long-term review is in its place.

I have it only one month now, not long enough, but hopefully it will stay with me long enough to make it a long-term review.

Is it worth to buy a camera which is six (6!) years old? It depends on how you perceive value. To me it is though most probably the latest version has more options, more pixels, more iso, more whatever… To me, for the price I got the Q, it was great value. Especially as I wanted to try the camera first.

Anyway, a review. Before buying the Q I read a lot, mostly praise. I guess Leica users are slightly blinded (so are Fuji shooters, those with Canon, Nikon, Hasselblad and probably Phase One) and it is tough to find something bad about the camera’s (in general). That’s why I decided to start with the bad stuff. I assume I’m neutral in a sense that the cool-aid didn’t hit me yet.

1. stupid marketing-talk

Everywhere on the internet you can read that the camera has a digital zoom. Wtf? Really? I can crop any camera (digital or not) in post and those putting this as a pre must be nuts. Actually, those accepting it as a pre are nuts, but hey, it’s Leica, praise the L., no bad stuff here please…

2. when cropping, one can see the frame lines in the view finder

Duh! Coming from the xpro, I am not used else wise and not only when I am cropping. It is a permanent function. It’s like the first remark, stupid marketing talk.

3. the video button

Really? After three (3!) firmware updates this remained unchanged and can only be used for video? Right Leica was to move it from the Q2, but so wrong they did not update the firmware for the Q regarding this.

4. quick autofocus

This depends on your definition of quick. I’d guess it’s the same as the xpro2. For me sufficient, but not quick. The internet is full of praise about it’s speed. May be coming from a M, but that’s it.

5. auto-/ manual focus switch

The internet loves it, to me, for now it is not usable. Hard to find, hard to switch. It goes, but not fluent. The camera is intended to focus on creating images. To me, this means that one could handle the camera blindly, without even doubting what and how to switch. Sadly, on first sight this switch is not that great.

6. easy menu

Very praised on the internet. I expected miracles, but am disappointed. Especially after noticing that when my battery is empty for more than one day, I need to re-enter the date and time. Wtf, really?

7. the jpeg’s

I know, coming from Fuji one is spoiled. I had lower expectations, but still, this is disappointing. Leica is said to be a reportage camera. Those doing reportage, don’t have time for edits, so internal adjustments are important. Leica is light years behind here, but really, like light years. If you want to have good adjustable jpeg’s, skip this one.

So, here we are. The first part of the review. No images, no praise. Now, as I can live with the above, let’s see how the camera grows on me.

Update

The camera I bought was second hand. Till now, in my life, I never had problems buying second hand equipment. However, the Leica shows two (minor) defects which is not what I expected as everybody is raving about the quality of the brand. The thing with the battery under 6. is actually caused due to a hardware problem of the camera (it’s own internal memory died) and I have a orange banding on the EVF. The latter I am rather bothered with. Happily the camera came with a warranty so let’s see what happens.

blog

Posts tagged with leica-q

Leica Q: the bad stuff