Ever since its launch in 2015, I’ve sort of “fanboyed” over the Leica Q. The Q is a sleek, sexy, minimalist camera with everything you need to make great photos, and nothing you don’t — manual controls, a great EVF (that is still good in 2022), a full-frame sensor, and that beautiful, beautiful Leica glass.

I begun writing this review back in July of 2021, after I’d spent a little over a year with the Q; It’s now over a year later — September/October 2022 as I post this — and now, almost 3 years in, my feelings about this camera haven’t changed.

So, join me on a meandering review/stream of consciousness about my experiences with the original Leica Q in 2022.

The Leica Q (Typ 116)

The Leica Q is, for all intents and purposes, a “point and shoot” camera with the photographer in mind — a full-frame 24-megapixel sensor with a fixed, 28mm f/1.7 summilux lens, and physical controls for most exposure parameters. This design shares the same formula as something like a Sony RX1R or the Fuji X100 series; and that’s certainly a good thing.

Specs

24MP, Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH, ISO 100 - 12800 — for everything else, google it.

Ergonomics & Aesthetic

The design aesthetic of the Q is purely Leica; a smooth, sleek camera body with rounded edges, texture everywhere, and a premium fit and finish every single component that makes up the camera.

Menu System

The Q’s menu system is very simple — it’s essentially a single scrolling page of options. While it doesn’t have all the whiz-bang features and detailed customization of many modern cameras, it’s got more than enough for you to customize the shooting experience to your liking. The only quirk is that the touchscreen doesn’t work when navigating the menu. — but with such a simple menu system, it’s not too much of a bother to use the D-pad. Besides, simplicity is part of Leica’s ethos.

Note: hitting the “menu” button while in the main menu will quickly switch between the menu tabs, saving you from having to scroll through the entire menu to get to one of the settings at/near the end.

Lens

Ah, the lens — the gem of the Leica Q.

Even at release, the Q represented an exceptional value simply for its lens — true Leica 28mm f/1.7 Summilux glass (11 elements/9 groups, 3 aspherical elements). An M-mount Summilux 28mm f/1.4 ASPH runs nearly $7,500 on its own! Sure the Q is “only” an f/1.7 (versus the f/1.4 summilux), but has a few tricks up its sleeve in exchange for that half stop.

The lens features a proper focusing tab for manual focusing, and is exceptional for low-light or street photography zone-focusing. The focus ring is very smooth and well-damped making for an exquisite manual focus experience — I suspect that the Leica Q is still actually fly-by-wire, though — despite all other reviews saying the contrary (I fail to see how an AF lens can ever be truly manual focus). However, it has a very natural feeling manual focus mode (compared to disconnected feeling MF fly-by-wire experience of many of today’s modern lenses).

While “macro” modes are quite common on small point-and-shoot cameras, the Q has a really satisfying mechanical ring for its macro mode accompanied by the actual, physical focus distance scale on the lens barrel shifting as well. If the ring is not in either fully-locked position, the LCD/EVF will warn you.

It should be noted that you lose roughly a stop of light when in macro mode — the widest aperture in “macro” mode is f/2.8.

Shutter

The leaf shutter built into the 28mm f/1.8 Summilux lens in the Leica Q is virtually silent (and entirely silent when using the e-shutter), with only the slightest audible "click" from behind the camera.

The leaf shutter also allows for flash sync at any shutter speed — I have heard conflicting reports that it only works through 1/500th, but others have suggested it works through the entire leaf shutter's range (up to 1/2000th — with the e-shutter, the Leica Q can go to 1/16000).

Unfortunately, the hotshoe on the used Leica Q I picked up is sunken in and currently requires repair, so I am unable to verify the flash sync, but will update this post (or perhaps a new post) when I'm able to get it fixed and test the Leica Q with studio flash units or speedlights.

EVF

I distinctly remember being impressed by the EVF during my first experience with the Q years ago when it released, and it holds up even as I write this in 2022. The refresh rate is high, and the colors are neutral (though most of the time I’m in monochrome mode). I do wish it had a hybrid EVF a’la X100/X-Pro — maybe in a Q3? Q4?…I won’t hold my breath 😅

The Q’s EVF is a 3.68 million-dot LCoS EVF; which means it’s a front-lit projection — If you’re old enough to remember when DLP TV’s were the hotness in large flat-panel displays, that’s essentially what an LCoS is; just shrunken down for an EVF.

A 3.68 million-dot EVF is very sharp — even by today’s standards. Bear in mind, most cameras in 2015 that were equipped with an EVF — like the Fuji XT1, or Sony A7R II — were sporting around a 2 million-dot EVF, so the Q’s was ahead of its time.

Additionally, because of this LCoS design, while there is an ever-so-slightly noticeable lag in the viewfinder, it’s actually much less than other EVF-equipped cameras of the time, which often suffered from a low-refresh rate resulting in a “disconnected”-feeling shooting experience.

Side note: I usually shoot monochrome on the Q (JPEG Settings > “Saturation” set to “Monochrome”); as this results in the EVF also being monochrome. This is helpful (for me) to not be distracted by color when paying attention to tonality throughout a frame, and while focus peaking on the Q is actually quite good even with a color EVF display, it does help with recognition, resulting in faster manual focus acquisition and shooting. If you’re shooting DNG+JPEG (or just DNG), the DNGs will still be in color — with the excellent B&W JPEGs coming out of the Q, it’s like having the best of both worlds; I hardly need to touch the B&W’s that come out of this thing.

Autofocus

The Leica Q features 49-point contrast-detect autofocus; and while that’s an older (and often slower) method of autofocus compared to phase-detect autofocus, The Q’s autofocus is still very good, even in low light, low-contrast scenes. If you elect to use the AF-assist light, it’s very good in near darkness.

The Q has both single and continuous AF modes with options for single, full (multi-point), zone, and face-detect.

I normally use the Q in single-point, single AF mode or manual focus, and don’t have enough experience with the other modes to form an opinion so….i’ll leave that for another post (or an update to this section of the post at a later date).

Storage, File Formats, and Connectivity

DNG, JPG, and DNG+JPG; 10 to 12 shot buffer.

Image Quality

As one would expect, the image quality from the Q is excellent, and they do have that often inexplicable “Leica look” as a result of the optics — the images have character and even at 28mm the Q generates smooth, pleasing bokeh.

Check out the galleries at the end of the article for sample shots from both cameras.

Video Mode

This thing takes video? Huh. neat.

Not something I’d really ever use this camera for — an iPhone is much better for that — but I guess it’s nice if I need it in a pinch.

Anyway, here’s a quick sample clip i took with it @ 1080p/60 if you’re interested in the video quality:

Leica Q Accessories

JJC Thumbs Up Grip

A lot of people suggest a thumbs up grip for the Q, and while I liked them on my previous Fuji cameras, I’m not really a fan of them on the Q. While it’s true that a Thumbs-up style grip affords you a better purchase on the camera (especially in one-handed operation), The Q’s machined-in “thumb indent” is much more comfortable for me, and i rarely use the grip these days (YMMV).

Screen Protector(s)

Yup. It’s a screen protector. I bought this one on Amazon. I did find that placing a glass screen protector interferes with the proximity sensor for the EVF, so I ended up removing it. The camera seems to think that your eye is always up to the EVF, killing battery life when idle, and also not allowing the rear LCD to turn on for shooting nor menus — unless the “display” setting is explicitly set to LCD only. Changing the sensor sensitivity to “Low” didn’t seem to help, either.

Alternative Batteries

Because the original Q’s battery life isn’t as good as the newer Q2 — which utilizes the same batteries from the SL2, allowing for around 360-400 shots per charge, or roughly ~100 more shots than the original Q, at least one spare battery is a must if you’ll be shooting all day (or a couple for a trip, or when recording video). Here’s what I’ve found work best:

Panasonic DMW-BLC12

These are the Panasonic batteries for cameras like the GH2/G5, etc, and are the exact same batteries as the Leica BP-DC12, and they’re cheaper because they don’t have “Leica” printed on them. Even the model numbers are similar — which makes sense, since the Q was a joint project between Leica and Panasonic.

Amazon - “BM Premium”

In my (short and limited) experience using these, they have worked very well. Reviews have said they are coded, so I took a chance on these as a backup to the backups; they’re my “in case of emergency, break glass” batteries. — Battery indicator on the LCD and in the EVF works, and they charge just fine in the original Leica charger (stops charge when full, charging LED turns off). I have plenty of experience with all of the cheap “Amazon batteries” out there, and this brand has been the best experience with one so far (many batteries will overcharge, have differing/inaccurate/inflated capacities, won’t be coded, etc…and will usually bloat if charged improperly or left on a charger, making it difficult to get them back out of the camera once they’re in)— and these are only marginally more expensive than the other popular Amazon brands.

I bought a 2-pack on amazon for $30. (affiliate link)

Leica Q vs Fuji’s X100 Series

I’ve owned nearly every iteration of the Fuji X100 series — the original, the S, the T and the F (I haven’t had a chance to use an X100V yet) — and they were all superb cameras to use (still are!). Frankly, I regretted every single time I sold my X100 to jump into an XT or X-Pro series body in order to have more variety in lens choice (I’ve been in and out of the Fuji system many times) — Knowing what I do now, I feel like the best setup would be to have an X100 as your “35mm”, plus your choice of Fuji body (depending on preference of style between SLR and rangefinder) for the rest of your shooting range.

I loved the X100; yet, in the back of my mind, I had always thought of the X100 as the “wannabe” Leica Q (despite the original X100 debuting well before the original Q) — the cameras share much of the same philosophy; small, compact, “point and shoot” cameras with a fixed lens, designed with a purpose — to capture everyday imagery with superlative quality, and not get in your way.

Thankfully, the (monochrome) JPEGs out of the Leica Q are quite good.

Sample Galleries

Check out some sample shots below from each camera; these are largely SOOC JPEGs; there is obviously more freedom in processing choice (in-camera) afforded by the Fuji cameras (especially for color photography — I love the velvia film sim for punchy, saturated colors), and while I absolutely adore the ACROS film sim, the Q’s monochrome JPEGs have a unique and special character all their own. I’m not the biggest fan of the Q’s color JPEGs, and have much preferred editing the DNGs when shooting color.

So who is this camera for?

Over 25 years into my photographic journey, I’ve been fortunate to have owned a plethora of cameras of every style and size over the years. Through that, it’s important to note that all cameras are simply tools used to create. In truth, any camera from the last 10+ years will be more than capable enough of creating stunning imagery, limited only by one’s imagination.

I once heard someone call these types of fixed-lens cameras “palate cleansers” — and that seems like an apt metaphor for a camera that imposes its restrictions on you and forces you to become more creative. With ILCs and trying to get the “perfect” shot, we often bog down the creative process by getting lost in all the technical minutiae enabled by the amount of choices we have in terms of gear.

The initially “awkward” (if you’re not used to it — and i wasn’t when I picked up the Q) 28mm focal length is also something many may not have worked with before. The focal length sits right in between the more common 24mm and 35mm focal lengths

It is expensive for a now 7 year-old camera, to be sure — even used — but the joy I’ve derived from this camera, combined with the quality across all aspects — build quality, lens, shooting experience, and the resulting images — makes it all worth it.

For the critics who say “Well this isn’t a ‘real’ Leica…” (since this was a joint project between Panasonic and Leica), and I will cede that it’s basically a Panasonic wearing Leica clothing — it’s still a Leica where it counts. It was designed entirely in-house at Leica under the mantra of “reduction to the essentials” and embodies the same design aesthetic, philosophy, and shooting experience that one would get from a “real” Leica M rangefinder, with the same sensor, Leica image processing, and optics (The Q is known as the “Gateway Leica”, after all…), while utilizing Panasonic’s strengths in autofocus tech and other componentry (as well as their economies of scale) to deliver an “accessible”, “real” Leica that is as much a joy to use as any other Leica and delivers the same excellent image quality and shooting experience.

However, the X100 line of cameras is by far the most practical — and in many aspects — the better camera for most people. It’s cheaper, smaller, and lighter, with newer tech and more features (though the fuji wifi app still sucks, in my opinion). If you’ve been thinking about getting an X100 series camera, just do it — I highly recommend them.

And if you’re in the market for a Leica Q…they’re still an excellent buy in 2022. They seem to have found a resurgence recently, with more YouTube videos popping up, and prices having shot up since I purchased mine a few years back.

If you want full frame, and are more of a purist regarding shooting experience, then you can’t go wrong with the original Leica Q.