A fine, fast shooter
The Leica Q is capable of producing outstanding images straight out of the camera, writes Izwan Ismail
THERE are only a few compact fullframe mirrorless cameras around and one of them is the Leica Q. Being mirrorless means it comes in a rather small body compared to the bulky and heavy dSLR cameras.
The Leica Q is not an interchangeablelens camera. It comes with a fixed 28mm lens, Leica Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens to be exact.
If you ask me if this is a specialised camera, I would say yes as people who buy a camera with a fixed lens know what they want in a camera and the genre of photography they are doing or would love to do.
Normally, this type of lens range is used for street photography and photojournalism, but it can also be used for other types of photography such as portraiture, landscape and macro.
FIRST IMPRESSION
When it comes to Leica, most people would agree that this German brand doesn’t compromise on build quality, and this can be seen and felt in the Leica Q.
This palm-sized camera feels really solid in the hand, and the fixed 28mm on the body gives the assurance that no dust or particles will go inside the sensor as the lens can’t be removed.
Design-wise, the Leica Q may, at a glance, look like the higher-end interchangeable lens Leica M.
Despite being a high-end, featurepacked camera, the Leica Q sports a very simple design. It is nearly devoid of controls and has minimal dials and buttons.
The black version loaned to us looks very modest that even if you take it out in public and start taking photos, people will not notice.
There are only a shutter dial, shutter release, video record button, another control dial and the hot shoe.
On the back are the LCD screen, a viewfinder, and indented thumb rest as well as a few small buttons on the left side of the LCD and navigation arrows on the right.
The Q may look simple but it packs in some sophisticated technology.
In combination with a 24 MP, full-frame CMOS sensor precisely matched to its lens, the camera is capable of delivering detailed exposures with extremely low noise in optimum quality at ISO sensitivities up to 50,000.
The Summilux lens allows users the option of switching between macro, automatic and manual focusing.
This camera is an auto-focus shooter, and it’s fast one. According to Leica, the camera has the fastest autofocus in its class and offers almost real-time precision focusing.
This is pretty much true in real usage as locking on target is fast and accurate. I have no problem locking on subjects each time I point the camera at them, compared to the range-finder focusing system, which would take some time to master.
At the same time, its newly developed image processor from the Leica Maestro II family, specially adapted for use in the Leica Q, processes the data from the sensor at enormous speed and delivers up to 10 frames per second at full resolution.
To permit reliable control of subject composition at this speed, the Leica Q also features an integrated viewfinder with a resolution of 3.68 MP. Even the finest details of every exposure are displayed without any perceptible lag as soon as the camera is brought up to the user’s eye.
HIGH-TECH SHOOTER
As I said before, this camera is a high-tech shooter. Its touchscreen can be used for focusing by eye, or the focusing point can be selected with a simple touch of a fingertip.
If you prefer to shoot in manual focusing mode, the Live View offers two additional electronic focusing aids: Focus Peaking shows points in the subject that are sharply focused by coloured highlighting of edges, and Live View Zoom simultaneously lets the photographer check the sharply focused parts of the scene with up to sixfold magnification.
The two essential parameters for photography, the aperture and the shutter speed, can be read from the corresponding control elements and set even when the camera is switched off.
The bokeh of the lens of the Leica Q also reveal their unique qualities when shooting in video mode. Video recorded in full HD with the Leica Q is indistinguishable from professional movie footage.
Depending on the scene, users can choose between 30 and 60 full frames per second for video recording in MP4 format.
It also comes with an integrated wind-noise filter guarantee crystal-clear sound.
I use WiFi in all my cameras, — it’s a feature I can’t live without — and the Leica Q has a built-in one.
It just makes life easy as I no longer have to bring my laptop with me to transfer photos from the camera.
The integrated WiFi module can be used for wireless transmission of still pictures and videos to other devices and remote control by WLAN from a smartphone or a tablet PC.
It works with the Leica Q app, which can be downloaded for free from App Store and Google Play. One strange thing about Leica app is that it doesn’t have a universal app for all its cameras’ WiFi connectivity. There is an app for each model so you have to download a specific app for a specific model, but that’s just a small matter. The app allows the setting of parameters like the aperture and shutter speed from the device employed.
IMAGE QUALITY
Whatever camera you use, the final verdict always comes down to image quality.
For the Leica Q, the images that come out from the camera are excellent, especially the monochrome.
The images are full of details and sharp, and the camera can shoot up to ISO 6400, but recommend shooting under ISO 1600 for clean images.
The colour rendition is very life like and vibrant and the macro capability which you can use by turning a dial around the lens allows you to get close to the subject up to six inches.
CONCLUSION
At RM19,620, the Leica Q is an expensive camera.
Most of its users comprise those who have been shooting with high-end dSLR or other mirrorless system, and would want to go for a more refined camera.
Based on the build quality and the expertise of Leica in its body and lens craftsmanship, the Leica Q would last for a long time, and will became a classic shooter over time.