Leica Q3 43 - Got one?

But back to the camera, I am following the circuit board failures, or reputed failures. YT has reports of the camera just locking up and this is attributed to circuit board problems. I will be following this closely. The Q3 43 is backordered everywhere. Is production unable to keep up with demand? Is Leica trying to fix the "locking up" problem? One thing is for sure, they will let out little info. To me this is disheartening. I would so much rather having them say they have a problem and are rushing to fix it than to stonewall it. Stonewalling may be what game theory says is the best route but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It makes it look like they are being sneaky. If there is a problem just own up to it and earn some respect.
 
boojum said:
But back to the camera, I am following the circuit board failures, or reputed failures. YT has reports of the camera just locking up and this is attributed to circuit board problems. I will be following this closely. The Q3 43 is backordered everywhere. Is production unable to keep up with demand? Is Leica trying to fix the "locking up" problem? One thing is for sure, they will let out little info. To me this is disheartening. I would so much rather having them say they have a problem and are rushing to fix it than to stonewall it. Stonewalling may be what game theory says is the best route but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It makes it look like they are being sneaky. If there is a problem just own up to it and earn some respect.
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Thats the first time that Ive heard of the circuit bord issue. Not totally surprised .Big risk when you rely on third party providers and its often not their fault. That may lay with the way Leica spec`d it .Even if they spec`d it correctly they may not have taken full account of the integration with the other components.
 
I am still hoping to hear from someone on the board who has bought and used one. The online reviews are almost all positive. ut to hear it from a board member would have more weight.
 
Yes .... the only thing holding me back is that they don`t seem to have improved the AF . Its adequate or so it would appear but its still below par compared to other makes (if I`m reading it correctly).
In all other respects its attractive ( apart from the price) especially with the APO lens ..
 
Okay, I’ve given serious consideration to downgrading from my Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 27mm f2.8 lens combination to a Leica Q3 43, but… I just can’t do it. Multiple reasons, mostly the fact that I'm already extremely happy with what I’ve got and feel no need to fork out a few months worth of pension checks to do… well, I can’t think of a good reason to do whatever it is to do.

I suppose that my contribution to this thread is neither welcome nor helpful but since when has that ever stopped an RFF member from pressing on regardless with thoughts and desires of purchasing a new Leica camera to replace perfectly good stuff that they already own.

By-the -way… putting the Fujifilm brand leather half case on the X-E4 makes it perfect. Much better IMO than the thumb thing or side grip.

:):):)
All the best,
Mike
 
Michael Markey said:
Yes .... the only thing holding me back is that they don`t seem to have improved the AF . Its adequate or so it would appear but its still below par compared to other makes (if I`m reading it correctly).
In all other respects its attractive ( apart from the price) especially with the APO lens ..
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Yokosuka Mike said:
Okay, I’ve given serious consideration to downgrading from my Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujinon 27mm f2.8 lens combination to a Leica Q3 43, but… I just can’t do it. Multiple reasons, mostly the fact that I'm already extremely happy with what I’ve got and feel no need to fork out a few months worth of pension checks to do… well, I can’t think of a good reason to do whatever it is to do.

I suppose that my contribution to this thread is neither welcome nor helpful but since when has that ever stopped an RFF member from pressing on regardless with thoughts and desires of purchasing a new Leica camera to replace perfectly good stuff that they already own.

By-the -way… putting the Fujifilm brand leather half case on the X-E4 makes it perfect. Much better IMO than the thumb thing or side grip.

:):):)
All the best,
Mike
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What you have posted is valuable and real. The Q3 has its pluses and minuses. The AF is not as fast as Sony, Sony's images are not as good as the Q3 43. So, as it always, is it is a trade-off. Price is a barrier, too. Without the red dot they would cost half as much. ;o)

What interests me is the color and IQ. I also like the focal length. It sees the world exactly as I do. So I shoot exactly what I see. It does seem to be selling well and it does seem to be getting mostly good reviews. Those two things indicate a lot.
 
2c. Most are on the fence on this, as intriguing it may seem, probably because they're questioning the use case of a high end fixed FF camera. What is it meant to be for? High end General purpose? Surely it can be done on other FF with adapted lenses. Too long for landscape or travel? Street? I feel it's neither here or there but just the impressive spec of the apo lens.

My biggest gripe is why didn't Leica make it an actually lux. Firstly it would of add versatility in the form a true portrait lens. Your paying a high price for something that excels in 'general' . Secondly it would of removed the quasi sentiment 'oh it wasn't a true lux to begin with' with something more of an substantial upgrade (feels more of a downgrade now). Thirdly people are saying how great an apo lens is but I distinctly remember Peter karbe explaining how the 50 m lux was actually apo designed and adding the word apo to the name was silly to him, which is why it's wasn't highlighted to begin with.

Was the q343 Too much an engineering feat for Leica or a change of focal length cash grab for Leica. It seems I tend to s latter
 
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The Q line has all been excellent cameras. The Q3 is a substantial upgrade on the Q2. The Q3 43 switches in a longer focal length lens, which is more appealing to those who find a 28mm too wide most of the time (less wasted pixels through cropping).

If you don't have the guts to just buy what looks to be an excellent proposition and see if it works for you, I dunno. It's a Leica ... They're selling like hotcakes. It's not like you're going to lose a lot of money if you decide after a week you don't like it and just return it to the dealer. The dealer will be delighted, they've got a line of folks wanting to buy one, and an "almost new" return can be re-sold in a half a minute.

I'm not in the market just at the moment for several reasons I don't feel I need to explain. But ya never know, I might just order one tomorrow and play with it. I don't need to have 'my favorite RFF bosom buddies telling me that it's the greatest thing in the universe' to make my own decisions. :rolleyes:

G
 
The Q3 is not too wide for everyone. Some of us prefer that to the Q3 43 for street, travel and landscape. So this "too wide" sentiment is about equivalent to what flavor of ice cream do you like best? And the cropping to 35 and 50 are easily done, giving some overlap with the FLs of the Q3 43. My images and results are excellent with both of these cropped FLs. So IMO, the Q3 28 and the superb 28 1.7 lens are worth the money and the satisfaction of using this camera. To each their own opinion and preference...and flavor.
 
ellisson said:
The Q3 is not too wide for everyone. Some of us prefer that to the Q3 43 for street, travel and landscape. So this "too wide" sentiment is about equivalent to what flavor of ice cream do you like best? And the cropping to 35 and 50 are easily done, giving some overlap with the FLs of the Q3 43. My images and results are excellent with both of these cropped FLs. So IMO, the Q3 28 and the superb 28 1.7 lens are worth the money and the satisfaction of using this camera. To each their own opinion and preference...and flavor.
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Of course. There's absolutely nothing "superior" about a 43mm focal length compared to a 28mm focal length ... It's simply what you prefer to use when making your photos.

I know that 28mm is too wide for ME to love as my only lens because that's what my Ricoh GR1 had and I found it too much a great deal of the time. And also because the default 1x camera on my iPhone 15 Pro is about that same FoV and I find, 8 uses out of 10, that I switch to the 2x camera. I know a number of other photographer who feel similarly, and than I know a similar number of photographers who really like 28 ... and wider ... as their standard lens. It's simply what they prefer.

Why is this even a question mark? Leica has done a nice thing by offering a Q choice for those who like the longer focal length baseline. Pay your money and take your choice. Isn't choice grand? :)

G
 
Godfrey said:
Of course. There's absolutely nothing "superior" about a 43mm focal length compared to a 28mm focal length ... It's simply what you prefer to use when making your photos.

I know that 28mm is too wide for ME to love as my only lens because that's what my Ricoh GR1 had and I found it too much a great deal of the time. And also because the default 1x camera on my iPhone 15 Pro is about that same FoV and I find, 8 uses out of 10, that I switch to the 2x camera. I know a number of other photographer who feel similarly, and than I know a similar number of photographers who really like 28 ... and wider ... as their standard lens. It's simply what they prefer.

Why is this even a question mark? Leica has done a nice thing by offering a Q choice for those who like the longer focal length baseline. Pay your money and take your choice. Isn't choice grand? :)

G
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Exactly. Choice is grand. Adding that the crop options are grand also, so it's not just 28 vs 43, unless one does not like to use the crop options.
 
ellisson said:
Exactly. Choice is grand. Adding that the crop options are grand also, so it's not just 28 vs 43, unless one does not like to use the crop options.
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Indeed. The notion that one can get a 5Mpixel image out of a 150mm crop with the Q3 43 is quite appealing, more so than the 28mm end of the spectrum ... for me.. ;)

Gotta be careful or I'll convince myself to spend money soon... LOL!

G
 
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Anyone bought a Q3 43 yet? Just checking. 😄

Meanwhile, I'm using my Panasonic S5 with Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2. Not really a substitute, more a way of pretending I have a Q3 43, haha. On the plus side, the S5 Voigtlander combo is reasonably light, batteries are plentiful and cheap, and I can switch to a number of small 28mm lenses from Minolta, Pentax, Yashica, Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander if I want to pretend I have a Q3 28.
 
Convenient, easy to use and pack along. Good color and IQ. A pretty good package. Use it from full-auto, expensive point and shoot, to full manual and all in between. Crop image works OK but I wouldn't use the biggest crop. All in all, a nice package. Ordered it 30 September, got it around the end of November. Been shooting with it off and on. These are a few of the images to give you and idea of color and IQ. I like shooting 16x9.

flic.kr

Q3 43

Explore this photo album by West Phalia on Flickr!
flic.kr flic.kr

flic.kr

Q3 43 II

Explore this photo album by West Phalia on Flickr!
flic.kr flic.kr
 
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I certainly can't afford one though an erotic photographer in the Czech Republic I know of (david cohen? IIRC) just got one so it will be interesting to see what he does with it :)
 
Archiver said:
Anyone bought a Q3 43 yet? Just checking. 😄

Meanwhile, I'm using my Panasonic S5 with Voigtlander Ultron 40mm f2. Not really a substitute, more a way of pretending I have a Q3 43, haha. On the plus side, the S5 Voigtlander combo is reasonably light, batteries are plentiful and cheap, and I can switch to a number of small 28mm lenses from Minolta, Pentax, Yashica, Leica, Zeiss and Voigtlander if I want to pretend I have a Q3 28.
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So, in other words, you really want a Q and you are trying to fool yourself? ;)
 
I have become so enamored with the q that it has its own gallery now. check it out at www.leica-q.com and post some images. I may endup getting a q3 43. but the 28 is such a nice lens as well. what do you think?
 
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