Leica Q2 Thoughts and Review
With my mom’s retirement from Chick-fil-A this year, my parents decided to celebrate with a trip to Yellowstone National Park, and were kind enough to invite the whole family along. As a photographer, I’ve dreamed about a trip to Yellowstone for years and years. The combination of unmatchable landscapes and accessible wildlife, along with the opportunity to experience all of that with my favorite people was a dream come true.
Camera-wise, however, I was in a bit of a conundrum. While I’m blessed to have some incredible equipment, the thought of experiencing the National Park in and out of a Pelican case wasn’t really appealing to me. First, we were going with a group of twenty, all with their own priorities and demands of the trip. Second, I knew that focusing on photography to the extent that I knew the park demanded would take me away from my own wife and son, which is not the memories I wanted to create. And finally, I know that when I commit to photographing an event, the priority shifts from an experience to a job, meaning that missed shots are a failure, poor weather is a problem, and that being limited to a certain time of day would be a frustration.
All that being said, I still needed to take some good pictures, and I wanted whatever I brought to be “special”. I was willing to give up some functionality and specialization, but sacrificing quality was not going to be an option. Having owned several dedicated travel cameras over the years, primarily the Fuji X100S and Ricoh GRII, I knew that all of these designs were ultimately always in pursuit of the Leica Q series. That’s what I wanted for Yellowstone.
Released in 2019, the Leica Q2 is a full-frame fixed lens mirrorless camera that combines top-tier design and construction with impeccable image quality. The lens is a 28mm 1.7 Summilux unit, that in addition to being a tremendous wide angle with seemingly impossibly beautiful bokeh, also offers a dedicated macro setting. The camera limits itself to five buttons, in addition to the lens mounted aperture ring, and the top mounted shutter speed dial. By comparison, my Nikon Z9 has twenty buttons, not counting any dials. The goal is the Q2 is to offer a more pure photography experience, by stripping away everything but the quality. The price of those concessions is an eye-watering $5,795 MSRP.
While the “buy it new” price is certainly out of my league, used examples of the now four year old camera have begun to dip below the $4,000 mark. Obviously, that’s still expensive, but if you wanted to created similar optics with a modern Nikon, you would have to spring for the 45 megapixel Z7 (at least) for $2,700, and then either a 24mm 1.8, or 35mm 1.8 (as Nikon does not currently have a 28 1.8 lens) for another $1000. At that point, you’ve got a $3,700 unit that isn’t remotely portable, is mostly plastic, and doesn’t offer anything “special” optics wise. For $300 more, a used Q2 would be a camera that's easy to carry around, a joy to handle, unbeatable optics, and - and we have to go here - a bit of street cred (I guess I have to touch on this.)
Essentially, could a Q2 be worth it? Unwillingly to take the plunge without putting my hands on the camera first, I reached out to lensrentals.com and secured a Leica Q2 for a 10 day rental, fully insured. My goal was to see if a Q2 could find a permanent home in my bag.
As soon as you hold the Q2, you get it. If you’ve held classic quality film cameras from the ‘70s and ‘80s such as the Nikon F3, that’s essentially how this thing feels. There’s a weight to the camera that modern engineers have designed out of modern offerings. Every button clicks, every level pulls with determination, and even the battery and SD card slots have a level of mechanical execution that just isn’t found on hardly anything these days.
Although there’s a healthy amount of options buried in the Leica menus, I opted to keep things very simple on the setup. I recorded the images in RAW+JPEG, set the autofocus to AF-S with the single point or small zone focus point. The Q2 does offer a modern eye-AF setting, though I didn’t find it particularly reliable, probably on-par with Nikon’s Z6 or Z7 first generation attempt. With the 28mm fixed lens, I was excited to capture the landscapes of Yellowstone, as well as general family moments. I decided early on that wildlife was not going to be a priority for photographing, rather I’d just enjoy those sights with my own eyes and memory.
The photos are beautiful. Looking at other Leica images, I knew what to expect, but you never know what’s happening behind the scenes in the editing room. All of these images were edited from Leica RAWs, and were given light editing, mainly in exposure and curves. The colors are largely straight out of camera. The 28mm is the real star of the show here, with the magic happening in that transition between the focus and the unfocused. Shooting portraits at f2 with the Q2 can make one start to understand the MSRP….almost.
The landscapes were all mostly shot at f8 to keep everything in focus. While the images look wonderful, I don’t think the final product is anything necessarily different from what you’d get from a comparable full frame body and high quality wide angle lens. I welcome the dissenters, and we can also argue about the differences that wood selection makes on guitar tone if you’d like.
After a week, I ultimately felt that the Q2 was exactly what I was looking for from a usability perspective for this specific application. By burying most of the functionality in the menu, it ultimately forces you to be satisfied with the basics of manual photography: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The Q2 takes me back to a time very early in my time with the hobby, when I was less concerned with perfection, and more focused on just taking cool photos. It is freeing, at least from an artistic perspective.
So do I want one?
Of course, but also not really. I’ll conclude with what we all basically knew from the beginning. The Leica Q2, even at $4,000, is a luxury. At least in my case, there’s no argument for the Q2 as a tool for professional use. At its best, it’s a wonderful 28mm lens. At its worst, it is a wonderful 28mm lens that's intentionally difficult to use. The RAW files, as beautiful as they are, aren’t nearly as versatile as the ones produced by my Z9. Like many vacations, I’m reminded by the old adage, “It's a wonderful place, but I wouldn't want to live there.”
With an infinite budget, sure, I’d love to have a dedicated vacation camera that offered a unique photography experience for every trip that I find myself on. But that’s simply not realistic. If I look at photography as a business, a Leica Q2 doesn’t bring anything to the table. If I treat photography as a hobby, a Leica might as well be a Ferrari. Yeah, it is great, but I have no business sitting in one.
And since I promised to touch on it, literally no one cared that I had a Leica. While I don’t doubt that the red dot caught the eye of a few passers-by, they never spoke to me and tried to talk to me about it. The best I got was an off-handed comment from my cousin asking if it was an “old camera”. Before I could answer yes or no, he had lost interest. If you want to peacock to a crowd of people, there are certainly more efficient ways to do so than a luxury travel camera.
Final thoughts, if you’re interested, take the plunge and rent one for a few days. They are absolutely everything they claim to be. The ultimate question, unfortunately, is if your wallet is big enough to enjoy it for longer than that. Mine’s not, and I’m perfectly fine with that.
