Leica Q3 43 - Got one?

boojum

boojum

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YouTube has been flooded with reviews of this new camera. The swoon factor is higher than the usual new camera swoon factor. This suggests to me that it is either a really good camera or that the folks in Leica Marketing are working overtime. The lens is supposed to be nearly miraculous and at that magic 43mm length that most simulates what we see. Or so say many people. The reviews of the camera all make a good case for it. No surprise there.

So has anyone here shot with one? If yes, what were the results? I see a downside as it has a fixed lens, no changing lenses. OTOH how big a handicap is this? Many of us shoot almost everything with one focal length.

So, if you have one, give it up, what is it like??
 
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Despite all my gear and favourites etc I think I could have done very well for most of the time since with my original M2 and 50 from 1977. And one digital, the X100, 2011. Except I really do think the M6 and a 35 were needed to capture my children, coming too soon for the X100 and for the iPhone 11 Pro. Even the X100 I find too slow for children. The always on M6 was perfect for small children, and the wider 35. My father used a Zeiss Ikon Contina II for my brothers and me, a lovely scale focus 45mm lens. Perhaps this new Q will do as an only camera.
 
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"Small package" depends on what you're comparing it against. It's small compared to a typical SLR or medium format camera; it's about the same size as a Leica M with a 50/1.4 lens. It's not compact like a Rollei 35S or Ricoh GR1. But that's neither here nor there. If you're comfortable carrying a Leica M every day, the Q3 43 will feel just right.

The combination of features and form factor is good ... 60 Mpixel stills and 8K video, with sound in via quality microphones connected to its USB port, 43mm is a lot more "general purpose use" for me than 28mm, f/2 is fast enough, in-camera cropping guides for narrower FoV (at lower pixel resolution, of course) are useful. A good viewfinder, good auto or manual focus, clean control layout ... it's all there. A Leica quality APO Summmicron lens like this, if purchased for an M, is at least the cost of the Q3 43 even without considering the rest of the attached camera.

For some years, my most used camera was a Rollei 35S with its fixed Sonnar 40mm f/2.8 lens. I used it the most despite having both Nikon SLR and Leica M gear at my disposal (never mind the medium format gear...) because it was handy, convenient, and produced results mostly indistinguishable from the larger 35mm cameras. Any camera with a fixed lens has a limit beyond which it cannot go, but a 43mm lens is definitely in a sweet spot of "universal usability" for most general purpose photography.

I could live with a Q3 43 as my only camera, especially now that I'm retired and no longer shooting for pay. Except for my needs with respect to negative digitizing, of course. But I don't know that I'll buy one ... I don't really need it, and I don't know that I'd want to spend that money on Yet-Another-Fine-Camera unless I let go of about six others that I already don't use enough. 😉 But it's good to see that it's there, should I want to change my life that way. Stranger things have happened in the past.

G
 
Gear is an addiction, no, let me say it this way, gear can be an addiction.

The Q3 43 is getting good press but I want to hear from users how it works.
 
boojum said:
Gear is an addiction, no, let me say it this way, gear can be an addiction.

The Q3 43 is getting good press but I want to hear from users how it works.
Click to expand...
I suspect all you'll hear is the same praise that the Q, Q2, and Q3 have been getting since 2015, modulo whether the 43 mm lens works better for some than the 28mm lens. LOL!

It's the same camera in all other respects. Two of my best photographer buddies have recently acquired a Q2M and a Q3, and both cannot stop telling me how superb their new camera is despite both of them having had really really nice camera gear in the past.

G
 
boojum said:
You'll get your money after I get mine. ;o) Hah!

It reviews and looks like an interesting camera. But until someone is using and reporting on one it is all puffery.
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You can buy me one too ... I'll be happy to write an extensive review after I put a thousand exposures on it ... which should take a week at ~200 exposures per day. 😉

The Leica Q3 43 is exactly the same as the Q3 which immediately preceded it with the exception of an arguably even better lens. People have been singing praises of the Q, Q2, and Q3 since the line was introduced ... What do you expect to hear about the Q3 43? That Leica has somehow cocked up the quality of the lens? That the grey skin is somehow going to fall off the moment you touch it?

Read or watch any review about the Q3 and Q3 43 and you'll hear the exact same things, modulo the lens focal length and frame line/cropping options. There are PLENTY of reviews and commentary about these cameras available, from both "known" sources and from individuals who aren't review writers ordinarily. Would a review from someone unknown posted here on RFF be any more credible than one of those? ... A questionable notion.

G
 
Correction: Filters are not usable with the standard lens hood.
Solution: Sensei PRO 49mm Aluminum lens hood screwed into the front of a filter. $9.95 at B&H Photo

Soft releases are always a waste of time and money.
A Hoya Pro multicoated 49mm UV filter, should you want one, is less than $40.

Personally, I almost never put "protective filters" on my lenses unless I'm going to go shoot somewhere that I need one. On my monochrom camera, or with B&W film in my film cameras, I'll fit a green or orange filter often to manipulate spectral sensitivity ... but that's not a difficulty with the Q3 43 since I do such filtering in software with a color sensor.

Some people revel in finding trivial issues and making them big problems.

G
 
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FrozenInTime said:
Unfortunately filters are not useable with the hood attached ! ( see also M-50/1.4 black-chrome and 35 steel rim )

Click to expand...

The Leica Man (and Woman) know that a new, deluxe Q3 43 hood will allow filter attachment. And it will be announced with new, exclusive Leica filters, the only filters that will attach to the Q3 43 lens with the new hood. The Leica Man will not compromise.
 
BTW, my friend Jono Slack tested and reviewed the Q3 43 ... His reviews are always well done. The Q3 43 review is here:
www.l-camera-forum.com

The new Leica Q3 43 - Review by Jonathan Slack

Introduction The Q has been an amazing success for Leica, which is absolutely deserved, it was a brave move in the face of the almost complete demise of compact cameras. All the other manufacturers had stopped making them, so Leica made an expensive, full frame model which was not all that compac...
www.l-camera-forum.com www.l-camera-forum.com

I haven't read it yet, but will soon. 😀

G
 
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