A six-month field test of the Leica Q by Craig Mod

......."The Q shoots only at 28mm. 28mm is pretty darn wide. And so I’ve found that in the last six months I’ve not only become a cropper, but I relish cropping. In fact, I even crop on the iPhone now, something I’ve never done before."

defeats the purpose, no?
 
......."The Q shoots only at 28mm. 28mm is pretty darn wide. And so I’ve found that in the last six months I’ve not only become a cropper, but I relish cropping. In fact, I even crop on the iPhone now, something I’ve never done before."

defeats the purpose, no?

No, not really.
The purpose of photography is making excellent images.
When only one lens, a 28mm lens, is at hand, then sometimes cropping is necessary to enhance the final image.
Cropping overcomes the limitation of having only one lens.
The purpose, making excellent images, has not been defeated.
 
What a beautiful image maker.
Man if only a longer focal length.
It's been written so many times by myself and others....Would really love a 40mm-50mm.

The Q might be the best digital camera Leica has come up with so far.
 
Yes
The LCD can be turned off.
Also, if it is turned on, the touch screen can be disabled.

Thanks for the correction & clarification - the LCD can be turned off and the touch feature [edit: AF & AF+shutter activation via touch screen, specifically] can be disabled independently.

The Q is quite configurable, I think Leica got the interface pretty much right on this model, at least for me.

What a beautiful image maker.
Man if only a longer focal length.
It's been written so many times by myself and others....Would really love a 40mm-50mm.

The Q might be the best digital camera Leica has come up with so far.

Yeah, a 50/1.7 Lux version of the Q would rock my bag. With the 28, sweet. I'd be done - M kit would be sold.

Agree - for me it recalls the little fixed lens film RF's from Canonet and Minolta that were so much fun.
 
I'm kind of sick of hearing about how the iPhone (yes, even the latest one) is comparable to m43, apsc, and FF. It's ridiculous. Is it ok quality? Yes... but lets be honest, people like the iPhone because of convenience and it being "good enough." I'm not a tech / specs geek, but anyone who uses all of these cameras clearly can see a difference. That said, the iPhone... as is any camera... is capable of allowing for great photos. Let's not even get into haptic and ergonomics.

Couldn't agree more. Using ANY phone for photography is the most ****ty hobbled experience compared to any basic real camera. And despite how far phone cameras have come, the IQ is still ****.
 
Leica has produced 40mm compacts in the film days. Would be really nice to see Q with 40/2 Summicron. :) Often 40mm FL lens can be made quite compact (not an optics expert here).
 
Yes
The LCD can be turned off.
Also, if it is turned on, the touch screen can be disabled.

Sorry, just wanting to clarify here.

I have nothing against there being a rear screen on the camera, I just don't want it to be touch sensitive.

My understanding currently is that the screen can be used as a standard screen on a camera, composing (if using live view), review etc, AND that the touch functions of the screen can be disabled, so that it can be used like a regular "dumb" screen?
 
Thanks for the correction & clarification - the LCD can be turned off and the touch feature can be disabled independently.

The Q is quite configurable, I think Leica got the interface pretty much right on this model, at least for me.

Thank you for clarifying, it's currently the only Leica product that appeals to me, but it appeals an awful lot.
 
Tele lenses do not compress. They are exactly the same as any other lens used at the same spot, simply less area. The two can be overlaid perfectly if the wider lens is enlarged.
 
What a beautiful image maker.
Man if only a longer focal length.
It's been written so many times by myself and others....Would really love a 40mm-50mm.

The Q might be the best digital camera Leica has come up with so far.

I wonder if there isn't a couple of auxiliary lenses in the near and expensive future.
 
Sorry, just wanting to clarify here.

I have nothing against there being a rear screen on the camera, I just don't want it to be touch sensitive.

My understanding currently is that the screen can be used as a standard screen on a camera, composing (if using live view), review etc, AND that the touch functions of the screen can be disabled, so that it can be used like a regular "dumb" screen?

Hold on: the touch functions that can be disabled are AF and AF+shutter actuation. Can't make the touch screen completely "dumb" as far as I can tell.
 
Hold on: the touch functions that can be disabled are AF and AF+shutter actuation. Can't make the touch screen completely "dumb" as far as I can tell.

I have a Q and when I touch the screen NOTHING happens other than a fingerprint.
When I got it I read the manual (yeah, RTFM!:D), disabled the touch function and forgot about it. It's that easy.
You can customize it, if you want to use it, if you don't want touch screen functions you just disable it:rolleyes:
 
Once the Q has been configured to your own personal settings, it is a joy to use.
I have mine set as follows: single shot, one point AF, ISO floating up to 1600, slowest shutter speed 1/60, Auto WB. I always set the f/stop according to my desire to sharpen or blur the background. I compared the Q results with the M240 + 28/2.8 Elmarit and the Q's JPEGS are much better than those of the M240. RAW files are pretty much the same, but for my purposes the JPEGS out of the Q are more than adequate. YMMV.
 
Klaus, live view touch screen can only be fully disabled when in manual mode. In auto mode, touch live view is enabled except that touch AF and touch shutter can be turned off specifically. In review/play mode touch screen is always functional.

If you know otherwise, please share where in the menu there is a "global" disable selection of the touch functions.
 
I have a Q and when I touch the screen NOTHING happens other than a fingerprint.
When I got it I read the manual (yeah, RTFM!:D), disabled the touch function and forgot about it. It's that easy.
You can customize it, if you want to use it, if you don't want touch screen functions you just disable it:rolleyes:

Thank you for the clarification.

Every touch screen on a camera I've used has been an absolute pain, and a guarantee that the settings won't be what I left them on when I took the last shot.
 
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