theaesthetic
Offline
Upload & Sell: On
|
 Re: Leica Q2 vs Q3 | |
To close the loop on this thread - I have now used both the Q2 and Q3 fairly extensively and have decided to keep the Q3. I’ve made the following observations:
- IQ: Dynamic range is noticeably better on the Q3 when you push it. I don’t necessarily need to underexpose quite as much on the Q3 as on the Q2. The modest increase in resolution is appreciated, but doesn’t make a huge difference IMO unless I’m utilizing the crop modes. At 40mm (a preferred focal length of mine), I can start to see a difference. With no crop and anything but pretty harsh lighting, it’s hard to tell a difference between the two. I’d note that the Q3 files seem overly sharpened when I import in C1, but turning down the default sharpening addressed the issue
- Autofocus: At the moment, I actually prefer the AF on the Q2. In field mode, they’re quite similar. However, the Q2 allows you to use field mode with face detection on and it does an okay job of picking up faces when they’re in the frame. With the current firmware on the Q3, the face/human/eye detect mode is all over the place. If there is more than one thing moving in the frame, forget about it. Looking back on the firmware updates to the Q2 though, I’m fairly confident that the Q3’s AF abilities will improve via firmware and better utilize the phase-detection hardware
- Connectivity: Wifi connectivity on the Q3 is unreal. Culling photos via wifi on my ipad is awesome. Raw files take 1-2 seconds to transfer. Charging and transferring photos via USB-C is much appreciated as well
- LCD: The tilt screen is fairly useful and very well-built. I do like the simplicity of the flush screen on the Q2, but every once in a while, the convenience of the flip is nice
- Video: Neither camera is great for video. L-log from the Q3 is easy to grade and the 10-bit options are helpful, but both cameras suffer from limited dynamic range in video and pretty bad rolling shutter. As an aside, the addition of 422 10bit via a firmware update on the Q2 is remarkable - the video is just okay, but for a company to add a capability like that via firmware is very cool (and almost hard to believe as a former Canon user).
So in total, is the Q3 worth the extra ~[$2,500] over the Q2? No, I don’t believe it is. So why keep the Q3 and sell the Q2? We’re talking about Leica cameras - if I only cared about value for money, I’d be using a different brand.
|
