NCD: Leica Q

[Rob MacKillop]

Just got a Leica Q less than an hour ago, as a consequence of some 60th-birthday money and selling two instruments. Susan, my wife, encouraged me to go for a Leica, and for the sums I had, a used Leica Q seemed the best option. I do not regret it. I bought it from Leica Mayfair, who described it as in "mint" condition, and it is.

I didn't get much battery power, so it is powering up now, but I had enough time for a couple of shots around the house. I shot DNG plus jpg, but haven't had time to check out the DNG files. These are jpgs.

The images were taken in a darkened bedroom, as I wanted to checkout its low-light capability. I imagine the DNG files will have lots of detail to explore in the shadows, but I quite like the jpg rendering as is.

Susan lived for a while in New Mexico, which might explain the decor...

I think I set the lens to f.1.7 for all the shots, just to see what it looked like.



















The second and fifth were taken with the "macro" setting on the fixed lens. Yes, I forgot to mention it is a fixed-lens camera, which I have enjoyed with my Konica Hexar. I'm not one for faffing around with different lenses. But this lens allows you to go from 28mm to macro just by turning a dial on the lens. It's not super macro, of course, more of a close-up lens, but that is a wonderful option to have to hand.

I set the contrast high, just to see how high it would go. More experimenting later, including b&w rendering in-camera. But first impressions are that it is the best camera I've had, a good choice for my money, and you will see many more shots from it in the future...

 

[Rob MacKillop]

And the b&w setting, unedited...click to expand it a little.

 

[Pete Askew]

Blimey, that is encouraging. It's coped superbly with some tricky light by the look of things. Looking forward to more.

 

[Brian Moore]

I agree with Pete. I see someone is a Freda Kahlo fan.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

She's as cool as Pooh...so to speak

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, the Q is on its way back to Leica. Why? Well, it's a brilliant camera, but since buying the Monochrom I've come to believe more strongly than ever that my heart is with b&w, and I get really, REALLY bored editing digital colour files. Colour film is fine, lovely in fact, but digital colours - even the beautiful colours from the Q - are just not "me".

So I approached Leica about returning it after a month's use, and they will charge me just a 5% "stocking fee". I could use some of the money to buy a lens for the Monochrom, which, by the way, is a real classic.

So, I'm still very happy and lucky in having two really great Leica cameras, the Monochrom and the IIIG. Forget all the crap you read about Leica cameras being overpriced. That they might be, but second-hand they are a bargain. And if I could afford the new prices, I would not feel I had wasted my money. They are indeed special.