Bill Pierce
Well-known
I’ve been asked what I think of the Leica Q, a fixed 28mm lens on a 24mg full frame camera with a price of ballpark $4500.
Are you happy with a camera that has a fixed 28mm lens? It has been the focal length of choice for Bruce Gilden, Misha Erwitt and a number of other photographers working on the street. But you are going to have to work in close. Bruce Gilden told me a couple of New Yorkers had taken swings at him. But, then again, he was probably working in close with a flash, and he did say New Yorkers, not folks in general. Nonetheless, as a 35 and 50 person, I have to make a conscious effort to work that close, and I still end up doing a little cropping to many frames.
The Q’s lens relies on computer corrections in processing programs to handle quite strong barrel distortion. You would gain some slight off center sharpness by bypassing these corrections and living with the barrel distortion. Once again, a judgement call… With street work, the built-in correction is fine. With scenics, with or without the built-in correction is a judgement call. If the barrel distortion doesn’t negatively impact the image, and often it doesn’t, go for the definition of an uncorrected frame. But I have a number of corrected shots with relatively fine detail such as fine tree branches near the edge of the frame which in print and outside of the pixel peeping world look fine. Even with the built-in computer correction it turns out to be one of the best wide angles I own.
Autofocus, low light/high iso performance, dynamic range and its kissing cousin, shadow detail are on a par with the competition. The EVF is one of the best. And, it has built in optical stabilization. It has the shutter speed dial and f/stop ring we oldsters love and couples them with setting for shutter and aperture priority auto exposure along with program mode. Where it excels and is somewhat unique is its ability to move from manual focus to a variety of autofocus with a simple turn of the focusing ring which goes from 1 meter to infinity to automatic. As you know from my previous babble, this is a street photographers dream. I think it is also good for immediate family, pets and grandchildren. Oh, and before i forget, it actually comes with a good leather strap rather than a bad cloth one with the manufacturer’s name on it.
Is it worth the price? How is it different from similar cameras that are less expensive? The Q is built like a tank and hopefully will last until its digital technology is totally outmoded. But who cares because if you are a good photographer, it will still be taking good pictures. It’s worth the price only if you want stick with it, live with its limitations, beat the hell out of it and use it for such a long time that it’s operation requires no conscious thought and you can concentrate on the subject. Good long term investment… Bad short term investment… Again, my opinion, and I have certainly been known to be wrong.
Your opinion (especially if you’ve used one)?
Are you happy with a camera that has a fixed 28mm lens? It has been the focal length of choice for Bruce Gilden, Misha Erwitt and a number of other photographers working on the street. But you are going to have to work in close. Bruce Gilden told me a couple of New Yorkers had taken swings at him. But, then again, he was probably working in close with a flash, and he did say New Yorkers, not folks in general. Nonetheless, as a 35 and 50 person, I have to make a conscious effort to work that close, and I still end up doing a little cropping to many frames.
The Q’s lens relies on computer corrections in processing programs to handle quite strong barrel distortion. You would gain some slight off center sharpness by bypassing these corrections and living with the barrel distortion. Once again, a judgement call… With street work, the built-in correction is fine. With scenics, with or without the built-in correction is a judgement call. If the barrel distortion doesn’t negatively impact the image, and often it doesn’t, go for the definition of an uncorrected frame. But I have a number of corrected shots with relatively fine detail such as fine tree branches near the edge of the frame which in print and outside of the pixel peeping world look fine. Even with the built-in computer correction it turns out to be one of the best wide angles I own.
Autofocus, low light/high iso performance, dynamic range and its kissing cousin, shadow detail are on a par with the competition. The EVF is one of the best. And, it has built in optical stabilization. It has the shutter speed dial and f/stop ring we oldsters love and couples them with setting for shutter and aperture priority auto exposure along with program mode. Where it excels and is somewhat unique is its ability to move from manual focus to a variety of autofocus with a simple turn of the focusing ring which goes from 1 meter to infinity to automatic. As you know from my previous babble, this is a street photographers dream. I think it is also good for immediate family, pets and grandchildren. Oh, and before i forget, it actually comes with a good leather strap rather than a bad cloth one with the manufacturer’s name on it.
Is it worth the price? How is it different from similar cameras that are less expensive? The Q is built like a tank and hopefully will last until its digital technology is totally outmoded. But who cares because if you are a good photographer, it will still be taking good pictures. It’s worth the price only if you want stick with it, live with its limitations, beat the hell out of it and use it for such a long time that it’s operation requires no conscious thought and you can concentrate on the subject. Good long term investment… Bad short term investment… Again, my opinion, and I have certainly been known to be wrong.
Your opinion (especially if you’ve used one)?
