The Leica Q3 43: Hands-on review

The Q has been an amazing success for Leica, which is absolutely deserved, it was a brave move in the face of the almost complete demise of compact cameras.  so Leica made an expensive, full frame model which was not all that compact, but which had a peerless lens and incredible image quality; and it sold like hot cakes!
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Ever since it first arrived with it’s 28mm f1.7 lens and 24 mp sensor there have been people who have said “It should have had a 35mm lens” or “I want a 50mm version“.

Leica have been very aware of these requests, but I think they were wary of spoiling the clarity of purpose of the Q models. Finally they have been convinced and today we have the release of the Q3 43.

In this article I’m going to have a look at the implications of the new camera.

If you would like to know more about the previous Q cameras then here are links to some older articles (click on the name) :

• Hemingway – The Leica Q
• The Leica Q in China
• The Leica Q2
• The Leica Q2 Monochrom
• The Leica Q3

However, I think that there are a lot of Q2 users out there who resisted the temptation to upgrade to the Q3, so it’s worth briefly mentioning some of its advantages:

The Changes from the Q2 to the Q3

• New 60mp BSI Back Illuminated CMOS Sensor (similar to M11)
• USB-C and Mini HDMI connectors
• Phase Detect Auto Focusing
• Tilting LCD
• Improved Bluetooth and WiFi
• Small, Medium and full sized DNG and/or JPG files 60,3, 36.5, 18.6 mp
• Reliable Geotagging in conjunction with Leica Fotos

Rear Button Layout change

• Long exposures possible (with any combination of ISO and shutter speed) Long Exposure NR can be disabled.
• One additional function button
• USB-C Charging
• Optional Grip enabling WiFi charging
• Better resolution EVF 5,760,000 dots magnification 0.79
• Better resolution Display 3″ 1,843,200 dot
• Digital Zoom now has 28, 35, 50, 75 and 90mm framelines
• Leica Looks

Why 43 mm

Well, I just wondered if it was because it was half way between 35mm and 50mm, but I thought there must be more to it than that, so I asked Leica!
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43 mm is the diagonal of the full frame 24 x 36 sensor. It is also approximately the focal length of the human eye. It is a better focal length for both portrait and street photography (keep your Q3 for landscapes!).

There are also historical  connections for Leica who have made many lenses around 40mm. There was the Leitz Milar 42mm f/4.5 from 1905. The Ur-Leica used the Mikro-Summar 42mm f/4.5 (replaced by a 50mm lens in series 1). Then, later on in 1973 the original CL used a 40mm Summicron-C f2 lens and the lens on the Minilux was around 40-42mm.
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Finally there are practical considerations. Leica wanted to create a lens with the best possible quality and bokeh characteristics, but they wanted to keep the Q3 size and weight.
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All these factors combined to lead towards the new 43mm APO Summicron.

The difference between 28 and 43 mm

28mm is such a versatile focal length (you can always crop but you can never make it wider). Ricoh understood this with their popular and versatile GR range of cameras.
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When the Q2 came with it’s 48mp sensor and the Q3 (60mp) this cropablility became more and more true; with the Q3 it’s quite reasonable to crop to 75mm for portrait images (even if you don’t get the isolation of a true 75mm lens). Indeed, even the 5.8mp of the 90mm crop is just about enough for a good A3 sized print (or to look at full screen on an Apple Studio display.

‍Q3 – crop vs MP

Q3 43 – crop vs MP
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The Lens – APO Summicron 1:2/43 Asph.

The lens is almost exactly the same size as the lens on the normal Q3, with the same 49mm filter thread.
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In macro mode it focuses down to 27cm, and the maximum aperture in macro mode is f2.8 (even if you have the lens set to f2) this aperture change is the same as the 28mm Q lens.

Changing to and from macro mode changes the distance display for manual focusing in just the same delicious manner as the Q3.

In normal mode the minimum focusing distance is 60cm. The Q3 focuses closer (17cm in macro mode, 30 cm in normal mode.)
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So the maximum magnification on the Q3 43 is 0.25 – 1:4
Whist the maximum magnification on the Q3 is 0.26 – 1:3.8
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Pretty similar in fact!

Bokeh is rather a subjective matter, but the bokeh on the new lens reminds me very much of the M APO lenses – very creamy with a quick but very gentle transfer to the incredible detail where the lens is in focus. Many of the images in the linked gallery were shot at f2, so you can check this out.
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MTF figures can’t tell you everything about a lens, but at least looking at these gives you an idea how technically accomplished this lens is: Right up there with the 35 APO Summicron SL (perhaps the best lens Leica have ever made).

Leica Fotos

The connection with Leica Fotos is now very fast, and file transfer is lightning quick over the cable, and very satisfactory over WiFi, even for full sized DNG files.
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You can easily drop images into the Leica Gallery (and thus Apple Photos if you are on an iPhone). You can also send images directly to Lightroom without needing to clutter up your Phone or Tablet (or you Apple Photos application): My technique is as follows:

• Connect the camera to your device using the supplied USB-C cable
• Go through the images marking the best as favourites
• Set the filter to Favourites
• Choose Select – then Select all
• Press the Share button and choose DNG – files transferred to a. buffer
• From the Share dialog choose Lightroom
• Then, in Lightroom Mobile, go to imports and choose your import
• Select the files and then choose Add To at the bottom of the screen
• Choose the Collection you wish to add them to.

The DNG files will appear on your home computer via Adobe Cloud in the mobile backup folder, and in the collection you chose from your phone / tablet.

I’ve started to use this method for all my photography except for Event Shooting. This is because you can only transfer 50 images a time to Lightroom using the share button  – So for event work I import from the SD card to my Macbook Pro.
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Leica have been doing a lot of excellent work with Fotos over the last year or so, and I plan on writing an article about incorporating it into a device to Lightroom Classic workflow at a later date.

Conclusion

This camera has been a long time coming, indeed, many photographers had assumed that Leica were going to stick to the one focal length; the development of the Q3 43 has been a well kept secret!
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The obvious advantages over the Q3 are more control over depth of field, and slightly more than twice the resolution for any given focal length. Of course you lose the wide angle view of the Q3.

The design of the Q is an evolution from Kaoru Mokunaka’s perfect concept in the Leica X1, it has developed into a really well thought out camera aimed solidly at photographers rather than ticking technical boxes. I would challenge anyone not to love it.

However I’m sure that a lot of photographers are like me – we tend to go hunting for pictures with a 35mm or 50mm lens and stick with what is on the camera for the shoot. The 28mm of the Q was very flexible, but in the end a lot of cropping meant that it was more like an 18mp file at 50mm (okay), or 8mp at 75mm which was a compromise for me, and still one had the depth of field characteristics of a 28mm lens.
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I had not shot with a 43mm lens before (or 40mm come to that!), and it’s been an absolute joy! Having 20mp for a 75mm portrait lens with a narrow depth of field is quite enough. Add to that the wonderful bokeh of this APO lens and quite honestly I’m in camera heaven!
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Although I loved the Q3, in the end I didn’t buy one, but in this case I’m certainly doomed, and when Leica manage to recover the kidnapped test camera I’m afraid I’ll have to stump up.

Pictures from Crete coming up in the next few days!

If you want to know more, my friend Sean Reid is publishing a full examination of the new lens (just as if it were a detachable lens), then there will be a field test of the camera itself.  

More Images Here