5 Things I Love About The Leica Q2 And 1 I‘d Love Them To Change

Mar 21

Mar 21 5 Things I Love About The Leica Q2 And 1 I‘d Love Them To Change

Leica was kind enough to borrow me the brand new Q2. These are my initial thoughts and observations. If you have any questions feel free to ask me on Twitter.

Colors: Whenever I try a new Leica I fall in love with their colors. They are just perfect. No need for postproduction and Lightroom. With the Leica Q2, I could easily turn off RAW and only shoot JPGs. Just have a look at these images I shot at the local Natural History Museum.

Ease of use: Leica cameras are famous for how much you have to do manually. That might be true for the M. But the Q is super easy to use. Even if you have no clue about ISO, aperture and shutter speed you get amazing photographs. Of course, if you happen to know a thing or two about photography you get even better pictures. Plus all the buttons, wheels, controls and menus are super elegant and easy to use. Compared to the Q2 my Sony A7 feels like a Nokia phone compared to the first iPhone.

Design: The camera is just beautiful. For now, there is only a black version. But I bet a future black and silver one is going to look even better. But it‘s not just the looks. It also feels very stable in the hand and the weight is just right.

Concept: I like the idea of one simple camera very much. One sensor, one lens, that‘s it. No moving or interchangeable parts. Thanks to a macro mode and the crop-zoom you‘re ready for anything.

Resolution: 12 Megapixel is more than enough. The 24 Megapixel on my Sony A7 is already a bit of an overkill. But 47 Megapixel on the Q2 is just plain ridiculous. At least that‘s what I thought before trying the camera. Now I changed my mind. Looking at high-resolution photos on the bigger iPad Pro is just amazing. Yes, they fill your SD-card in no time. But man, are they stunning. Plus, the high resolution allows you to crop. So the Q2 is also very good at 35mm and even at 50mm. At 75mm there is only 6,6 Megapixel left but it‘s still usable.

Now for the one thing I don‘t like as much as all the other aspects of the Q2:

Yes, the Q2 isn‘t cheap. But if you hold it in your own hands it makes you forget about money and budgets.

So price isn’t my argument against the Q2. There is another aspect I‘m not super happy with: 28mm is too wide for me. Yes, you can crop. And yes, it‘s done very elegantly. But why have 28mm when I never use it anyway. Of course, it‘s the smart choice. Every smartphone has something around the same focal length as the standard camera.

But for me, a full frame camera with a fixed 50mm would be a dream. A 35mm would be ok. But I would love to have a 50mm.

I once asked the Sony engineers why they made the RX1 a 35mm instead of a 50mm. Their answer: For such a niche camera you have to use the slightly more popular focal length. Obviously, Leica came to the same conclusion.

I hope one day a company is brave enough to build a full frame 50mm compact. That will be the day I might finally give up my interchangeable lens camera.