The Breaking Point: Leica Q3 43 — Field Test

This is a few days' hands-on test of Leica's latest gem.

The shoot consisted mainly of three days of street photography and a bit of portrait work.

Construction, Ergonomics, Controls

Excellence, simplicity, elegance, and minimalism—all features already found on the Leica Q3 with the 28mm lens. Absolutely nothing has changed, neither the excellent build quality nor the weather sealing (IP 52). The menus are simple and straightforward, and the customization options are intuitive. As usual, the Leica interface is the absolute best on the photography market. To assign the desired function to a customizable button, for example, simply press and hold the button and select the function you want to assign to it.

.

Operations

Although it operates very similarly to the Q3 with the 28mm lens (which is an extremely distorted 24mm lens that is digitally corrected to an effective angle of view of 28mm—26mm if you use Capture One), the fact that it has a much longer focal length introduces some challenges. In fact, there isn’t an extra customizable button to quickly switch from face/subject recognition to a different mode. The AF module works well but unfortunately doesn’t allow you to prioritize a subject using the focus point proximity system seen on other brands. In very chaotic situations, where there are many people (more than 3…), switching from one subject to another becomes extremely slow. It’s better to use a single point or even object tracking. Too bad. The stabilizer is really very effective—excellent.

Range

With only about 400 shots per charge, this is definitely a downside. Especially considering that the competition does much better. And the package doesn’t even include a charger. An extra battery and an external charger are essential. Not on a €7,000 compact camera. Thanks.

Viewfinder & Display

The display is excellent and always stays aligned with the camera. It offers superb resolution, excellent brightness and clarity, and, above all, outstanding color accuracy (full sRGB coverage). Truly impressive. The viewfinder is also very good. It’s a shame about the very noticeable drop in frame rate and resolution during continuous shooting and autofocus, especially when using continuous autofocus.

Sensor

Amazing. Simply amazing. Unparalleled image quality—truly top-notch. Excellent signal-to-noise ratio, extremely wide dynamic range, and excellent colors, though this time they’re actually a bit too saturated. The files are incredibly versatile, and it’s fantastic to be able to shoot at 61, 36, or 18 MP.

Autofocus, Burst, and Buffer System.

The AF system works quite well, aside from the concerns already mentioned in the “Performance” section. Consistency and accuracy are good. You need to be very careful to ensure the focus point aligns with an area where contrast is sufficiently high. Less positive notes regarding the buffer. When shooting in burst mode at 7 fps with 14-bit RAW and 61 MP, even while using a card with a transfer rate of 300 MB per second, there were VERY noticeable slowdowns after a while. Too bad. A slightly larger buffer would have been appropriate.  The maximum burst rate is 7 frames per second if you want to maintain 14-bit color depth per color channel. If you increase the burst rate, you must reduce the color depth to 12 bits per color channel.

Lens. 43 mm. The most unique standard lens there is.

The 43mm is a bold choice. It’s a focal length that might seem unusual at first glance, but it turns out to be extraordinarily versatile. It’s suitable for street photography, portraiture, and travel photography. The image quality is excellent, to say the least. But there are a couple of concerns.

The first issue is that, even in this iteration of the Leica Q3, the lens is digitally corrected. In fact, using Capture One, you can recover a small amount of focal length beyond the base 43mm. In practice, you can get down to around 41–42mm. At €7,000, I would expect the lens to perform correctly natively, optically, without the need for software intervention. The second concern is the software intervention affecting the bokeh as well. The transition doesn’t always look entirely natural; the shift between the in-focus and out-of-focus areas is a bit… odd. I had the same feeling with the Leica Q3 and the 28mm lens. Both the macro mode and the manual focus ring—which is perfectly calibrated—are extraordinarily comfortable and effective. The build quality is exemplary.

Image quality

Overall, excellent. Extraordinary colors—though perhaps a bit too saturated. High tonal subtlety. Extremely sharp and well-defined optics. Excellent performance in backlit conditions. Some reservations about the need to digitally correct distortion, but above all that strange transition between the in-focus and out-of-focus areas—which, to be honest, is only noticeable in a few situations.  Image quality remains exceptionally high when using the crop function with crop factors up to 75mm equivalent. So, using Capture One, we could effectively have a 41/42mm, a 43mm, a 60mm, and a 75mm. Excellent versatility. The 90mm equivalent crop is usable in situations where we really have no other option, but the loss in quality is already significant. Above 90mm, the loss in quality is frankly excessive.

Conclusions & Evaluations.

In summary, this is the camera many Leica users have been waiting for. For years, there had been a strong demand for a Leica Q with a 50mm equivalent lens, and it has finally arrived. The result is very, very good. It offers the best image quality ever seen on a 35mm compact camera. It’s fun, enjoyable, fast, and quite user-friendly. The flaws boil down to the fact that nine years after the first Leica Q—which hit the market at €3,900—we now have a Q3 that costs essentially twice as much and hasn’t addressed all the shortcomings of the original Q. The optics are still digitally corrected, there’s still no dual memory card slot, and the buffer can be a fairly serious operational issue… At €5,000, one could overlook these issues, albeit with some difficulty. At €7,000, these shortcomings become harder to swallow. Especially since a Sony A7Cr doesn’t have the same limitations, even with 61 MP. It remains a fantastic camera with a series of non-critical flaws, but ones that are annoying given its market positioning. At this price point, I’d expect more attention. Look, it’s a great camera, but we’re a long way from the promises I’d expect from a €7,000 fixed-lens, non-interchangeable camera. Very annoying are the absence of a battery charger in the box and the lack of a lens hood that allows for the use of a filter. It’s available in the Leica catalog but costs €250 as an optional accessory.

Strengths

—-

Strengths

Exceptional image quality.

Extremely malleable and workable materials.

Signal-to-noise ratio (S/N).

Exceptional color quality even at very high ISO settings.

True pixel binning with the ability to shoot at 61.36 MP, 18 MP, and 14-bit RAW per color channel.

Very wide dynamic range.

Good AF module.

Optics of unquestionable quality

Very pleasing bokeh

The lens has truly excellent macro capabilities.

The manual focus ring has a wonderfully smooth, friction-controlled feel.

Certified IP52 tropicalization standard.

Fun and easy to use.

Extremely effective image stabilizer, even more so than the one on the Q3 with the 28mm lens.

Very high video capabilities.

Quality of the rear display and viewfinder (but see the cons).

Simple and intuitive interface. No need to read manuals that are hundreds of pages long.

Central shutter-

Synchro Flash with all shutter speeds, up to 1/2000 of a second.

Against

Image digitally corrected for distortion.

The colors are too saturated.

The lack of an additional customizable button to make certain operations run more smoothly.

Face Detection and Subject Tracking are not tied to the selected focus point. In scenes with many people, it can be difficult to quickly select the subject to focus on. It’s better to switch to other AF modes.

AF struggles a bit in low light and/or with subjects that have low contrast.

The buffer is too small.

A few too many slowdowns after a series of bursts, even with 300 MB/s cards.

A very noticeable drop in resolution and refresh rate in the viewfinder during continuous shooting and while focusing.

Lack of a dual memory slot or internal storage.

Limited range.

Cost of batteries and charger. The charger is not included in the package.

The included lens hood does not allow for the simultaneous use of a filter. The only option is an optional lens hood costing €250 or more.

Overpriced.

12,500 ISO. Fantastic colors. Amazing colors 

The autofocus worked well. The AF system did a good job here.