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Leica Q2 Review and User Report by Thorsten Overgaard
Leica Q2 Monochrom Review

By: Thorsten Overgaard. June 23, 2019. Edited January 29, 2024.

Index of Thorsten Overgaard's user review pages on Leica M9, Leica M9-P, Leica M-E, Leica M9 Monochrom, Leica M10, Leica M10-P, Leica M10-D, Leica M10-R, Leica M10 Monohcrom, Leica M11, Leica M 240, Leica M-D 262, Leica M Monochrom 246, Leica SL, Leica SL2, Leica SL2-S, as well as Leica TL2, Leica CL, Leica Q, Leica Q2 and Leica Q2 Monochrom:
Leica Digital Camera Reviews by Thorsten Overgaard
Leica M11 /M11-P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8                          
Leica M10 / M10-R
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8                         Video
Leica M 240
P 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44            
M 246 Monochrom 26 27 28 29
30
31      

                     
Leica M-D 262 1 2                                        
Leica M9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20   M9-P
M Monochrom 20 21 22 23 24 25      

                     
Leica SL / SL2 1   3   5 6 7                              
Leica SL3 1                                          
Leica Q 1                                          
Leica Q2 / Q2M 1                                          
Leica Q3 1 2                                        
Leica TL2 1 2                                        
Leica CL 1 2                                       Books

 

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Leica Q2 Review: A real camera, not a smartphone camera

When you buy a compact Leica, you buy into the art of simplicity, as well as the legacy of casual photography.

In the Leica Q2, it’s boiled down to a large sensor, great optics, simple operation and a design to die for. The Leica Q2 is the Miss Universe of compact cameras.

Thorsten Overgaard with the Leica Q2. Photo by Kelly Obrien.
Thorsten Overgaard with the Leica Q2. Photo by Kelly Obrien.

 

Leica Q vs Leica Q2: Everything is Awesome

The Leica Q was introduced in 2015 and took the world with storm. The Leica Q2 was introduced February 2019 and is an improvement over the Leica Q on every account. There are no changes nor setbacks that would make you like the Leica Q more than the Q2. The only thing to consider is the size of 47MP files and how they affect your computer workflow. You need more computer power and more hard drive space to handle bigger files with the Q2.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

     
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Video review of the Leica Q2
by Thorsten Overgaard

Thorsten Overgaard reviews the Leica Q2 on Magic of Light TV:

 

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What to change on a best-seller..?

The original Leica Q of 2015 is a rather perfect camera. The EVF housing (with limited view for us using glasses) could be improved, and so could the diopter adjustment wheel (that would change setting by itself).

These are the exact things Leica improved, plus a better and larger battery, more megapixels, wider dynamic range and overall better image quality. And then they removed some of the buttons to simplify the camera. They even removed the connections (for cables) that you don't really need. Instead they supplemented the WiFi in the camera with Bluetooth (less energy use, and easier to use). In the process of having to redesign the interior, they also tightened everything so the overall camera feels really sturdy.

That is, simply told, what was changed and improved on the Leica Q2 in comparison to the Leica Q.

 

Leica Q2 with new EVF window and diopter adjustment "locked" in the body.
Leica Q2 with new EVF window and diopter adjustment "locked" in the body.

 

Leica Q2: Say it with simplicity

One of the qualities of Leica that users appreciate and pay premium price for, is simplicity. The ability to keep things simple and not overwhelm the user with features and buttons added just because you can.

Who else simplify new models and remove features and buttons when they upgrade a model? Not many. Most new products has more. A new Leica has less.

In the series of Leica M cameras, the current Leica M10 is a good example of how Leica decided to simplify the camera by removing unnecessary things compated to the previous model. In the Leica Q2, Leica Camera AG have implemented even more simple buttons, in fact; the same as on the Leica M10 and Leica M10-P.

 

The post office in Los Angeles. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
The post office in Los Angeles. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

In the Leica Q2, already the firmware 3.1 for the Leica Q (model 116) introduced a simplified "favorite menu" in an attempt to remove what may not be needed for most users. An unexpected and free gestus to improve a camera that was already great.

Steve Jobs was a genius because he made tools to make the person more able to do and produce. The first iPhone was a revolution because it had only one button. And the rest was intuitive. After that, each new product becomes more complicated, and that goes for most products today. Cars, phones, coffee machines (now with bluetooth), washing machines (now demanding wifi-connection to wash a pair of socks), robot vaacum cleaners (now with app and wifi-connection), and of course software and cameras. In light of that, a camera brand that removes features and buttons ... well, if you like simplicity, you found yourself a soulmate.


San Francisco. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
San Francisco. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 

         
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Layla with the Leica Q2 Monochrom in Dijon, France. Leica M10-P with Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 BC. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Layla with the Leica Q2 Monochrom in Dijon, France. Leica M10-P with Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 BC. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Queen Elizabeth II with her Leica.
Queren Elizabeth II with her Leica.

 

A photographer

Some people read books just because they read books. Others read books to get inspired about what and how to write. It’s the difference between being an audience who looks for entertainment, and a creator who looks for ideas to bring to life.

Some look at photographs and just enjoy them as a possible channel of leisure. A professional look at photos and learns. He looks for things that can be of use, he wonders about how a particular detail or effect came about and tries to figure out one does things. Much like a carpenter looking at houses.

The failed photographer criticizes the photographs of others because he knows he could never make such himself, although he dreamt of being one who could.

Photographs are ideas, and while an idea can live without a body, photographs are ideas that took a shape which others can look at.

 

Teaching the next generation: Photography is simple. You must look to observe, decide on a photo you will take, then take it. Most people struggle with observing and deciding, simply just letting a camera take random photos. Photo by Mike Jones.
Teaching the next generation: Photography is simple. You must look to observe, decide on a photo you will take, then take it. Most people struggle with observing and deciding, simply just letting a camera take random photos. Photo by Mike Jones.

 

Sometimes I meet strangers who will talk about any photograph, camera or photo software as if I should be interested because I am a photographer. Like people want to discuss the newest Toyota Prius when they learn the person in front of them is a race car driver. They see in me the sacristy of photography, a person who must hold all dear that has to do with of photography.  I’ll bite my tongue until they run out of breath.

I’m not in the business of photography and cameras, I’m in the business of ideas. And, as I see it, ideas can exist as photographs, written works, architecture, music, gardens, dance and even fashion. It’s not the photograph that is the thing, it’s what’s beyond it. It’s the idea.

Ideas are unique because they arise from the sum of past experience, future hopes, the possible and the impossible, as one person sees them. Ideas are not facts that arise, they are something a person comes up with. As we are all different, ideas are different and can be anything.

 


Workshop in Los Angeles. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Workshop in Los Angeles. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

As a photographer, you wrench your soul and heart into a photograph, and that’s why it matters what reaction people have to your photographs. I used to say that if you drive through town and somebody honks at you and gives you the finger for your driving (people are so courageous when they are in cars), you laugh and drive on.

Differently, if someone criticizes your photo (or your art), you tend to stop doing it. The thing is that you can communicate and create, whereas criticism of your work is someone’s attempt to pull you down the hole they have been making for themselves in this life. A lost soul. No matter how much you create, you couldn’t bring them back to life.

Living in a city where each day is the same as all the others, picking up a camera and seeing is what makes moments, persons and things unique and special. You bring life to things, and they stay noticed and appreciated. You add ideas, your uniqueness and life.

When you look at a photo you took, you may see the things you failed at. When others look at the same photo, they look for things you got right.

You should train yourself in seeing as an outsider; to see what there is to admire, rather than what there is to criticize.

 

Leica M9 in Cape Town, South Africa. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica M9 in Cape Town, South Africa. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

As a professional, or someone striving to improve, of course you also have to be able notice what could be done better next time. But it would be unprofessional not to be able to see what is right, because then you might end up being what I call an ‘unpublished writer’. You finish a photo, you publish it. Then you go do other ones that – in your opinion – are founded on a better understanding of the medium. But don’t ignore that even when you are not entirely happy, people looking at them might be more than happy.

 

The Von Camera Pouch in MONO with gun metal zipper, and Leica Q2 Monochrom with Yosemite MONO strap and ventilated shade in matte black.
Here the Leica Q2 Monochrom descend into the The Von Camera Pouch in MONO with gun metal zipper, equipped with a Yosemite MONO camera strap and a ventilated shade in matte black.

 

Street Photography

Street Photography is like ringing a doorbell, you never know what’s approaching on the other side and what will happen next.

“Always Wear a Camera”, I say, and I do. It requires that you choose a camera you can actually wear, no matter what else you do. In other words, not the type of camera that requires a backpack and a heavy load of equipment to take photos. The Leica Q2 is made for that effortlessly mobile lifestyle.

It’s logical if you know that Leica is the grandfather of 35mm photography (by which is meant all cameras that used 24x36mm film – also known as 35mm film because the film is 35mm wide – which later became what we know as “full-frame sensors” which are 24x36mm sensor size).

 

Thorsten Overgaard out and about in New York with the Leica Q2. Photo by Federico Quintana.
Thorsten Overgaard out and about in New York with the Leica Q2. Photo by Federico Quintana.

 

The Leica Q is the direct descent of the 1925 original Leica that the inventor Oskar Barnack invented with the purpose of making “small camera, large print”.

In my world, the most important feature of a camera is that you can carry it with you, and in essence, that was the idea Oskar Barnack introduced 100 years ago. How strange it might sound, nobody had thought it possible to make the camera smaller than a wooden box. And the size of the negative was always the same as the final picture.

Oskar Barnack took the small negative format into use, put a lens in front of it good enough to capture the details, and invented an enlarger that could blow the pictures up to any size you wanted.

 

The famous movie "Blow-Up".
The famous movie "Blow-Up".

 

Always wearing a camera opens up the possibility of doing “street photography” which is not so much about whether you are on a street, but the fact that you have a camera with you and can take pictures anywhere and anytime you see an interesting person, some ‘human condition’ you want to document (a nicer word for photographing others’ misfortune), a particularly beautiful door, some beautiful colors or some magic light, a great face that deserves a frame, or simply that your spouse looks particularly photogenic today.

Maybe “casual photography” is a better expression for what has become very popular and has been labeled street photography. It implies that there have to be strangers. Nevertheless, the viewer of a photo actually doesn’t care if it’s a stranger or your spouse who’s in the photo, as long as it’s a good photo.

 

Thorsten Overgaard by Ray Kachatorian.
Thorsten Overgaard by Ray Kachatorian.


 

Be competent: Be proud in what you do

I saw a movie recently, the Apollo 11 documentary. They found some 70mm film rolls documenting the preparations of Apollo 11, the moon landing and the return, and they put together a documentary. It was a surprise that they did 70mm film behind the scenes as documentation. But what I enjoyed – because it was so obvious that I couldn’t help notice it – was the view into an age where things got done and people took things seriously. They were competent, involved and proud. They planned to go the moon, and the whole operation was planned and done the right way, the competent way.

 


Apollo 11.

Not a word about making America great again. But I noticed those were pretty great times, and the US involved the entire world and made it a project for mankind. The local gas station, in the small town in Denmark where I grew up, sold coins I could put onto an Apollo 11 poster I had in my room. It was a project for mankind. Back then – I was just 4 years old – I knew little of the organization, innovation and coordination such a project involved. But I was going to the moon, and so was everybody else.

What happened since then? How did it become cool to not care? When did it go out of fashion to be proud of what you do and make sure you do your best?

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Drugs entered the scene, television, special interests, the short-time idea that we only live once and it's going to be somebody elses problem what we leave behind. Somehow it slid and few people seem to be able to think a straight thought and carry out a mission that have a long-term positive effect. I see a lot of drivers that don’t know the traffic rules, proud not to care, busy texting with two hands. Nothing gets done if nobody is doing it. Nobody’s making space cars anymore, it’s just Toyota Prius and no fun.

 

San Francisco. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
San Francisco. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

You don't have to be like that. It has nothing to do with age. It has to do with attitude and the ability to dream. You can be a young and unexperienced photographer, but if you have an attitude to perform, you can learn the ropes and you can make it happen.

Don’t be a wannabe. Be somebody.

That’s what I miss in the world at large, and that is why I applaud a smart camera that takes real photographs of high quality, which in its overall design and attitude encourages the user to do it right. It’s a competent camera. It doesn’t take phone calls and you can’t message on it. It doesn’t try to be anything but a really good camera. It takes photographs.

Cameras like the Leica Q2 is for the smartphone generation that want to take photography to a higher level.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Thorsten Overgaard with the Leica Q2. Photo by Ealden Escanan.
Thorsten Overgaard with the Leica Q2. Photo by Ealden Escanan.

 

 

The Q-STRAP by Thorsten Overgaard on the Leica Q2 Monochrom.
The Q-STRAP by Thorsten Overgaard on the Leica Q2 Monochrom. See more here.

 

Your duty to preserve

You may think photography is something you do for yourself. And maybe it is. But it should be an exchange with other people.

With a camera you create something out of nothing, and even if you never share your photos with anybody, at least you got to observe something and create your view on it. It’s a creation.

It’s not that other people didn’t notice that it’s autumn and that the colors looked beautiful. The uniqueness is you, because you saw it. You decided to photograph it in a way that makes sense to others, and in a way they never saw it before. You not only preserved it, you also added your unique viewpoint to it.

When you photograph a friend or a stranger on the street, the person gives something and gets something in return. Photographing is an artistic exchange.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 


The Thorsten Overgaard Photoraphy Extension Course has been so popular it has been unavailable for the last couple of years. Now it is in a new design that allow more to participate, and you can start today.

 

What is Art?

That’s one of the big questions people go to universities for years to know, and then they’re not even sure. I’ll take you to school here and you’ll know in a moment exactly what it is.:

Art per definition is expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.

A photograph, and art at large, is the world seen through a soul. It’s not the camera that makes a photo, it’s you.

You buy a camera and use it, you make art. It’s as simple as that.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

Leica Q2 selfie. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2 selfie. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Smartphones are all right…

No, actually they are not. While the rise in smartphone cameras has allowed everyone to take photos and “Always Wear a Camera” (and thus created a very positive rise in photography), there’s a big problem ahead for those who use smartphones.

The problem with smartphones is that they have a built-in trap that will cause most people to lose most of their photographs. So many valuable documents pertaining to one’s life, and it’ll all evaporate sooner than later.

What am I talking about? Well, if you notice, the iPhone uses proprietary image formats that can’t be read and used outside the iPhone’s Apple OS. In short, this serves not to help you photograph and build an archive, but to keep you in the Apple system.

I have written articles on “How to clean out an iPhone for photographs” (which is quite a demanding affair) in my Lightroom Survival Kit and Capture One Survival Kit manuals on workflow and archiving. The iPhone – and Apple Photos on the computer – was simply not made to enable you to have a picture archive. They are deliberately sticky as heck so that you will say, “Well, I guess I’ll just get a larger iPhone next time and upgrade my iCloud subscription.”

 

The Emmys backstage. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Backstage of the Emmy Awards. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

This will work as long as Apple stays alive and/or stays loyal to the system they created. The philosophy behind being locked in a ecosystem is the same experience as being in an airport: There's the choices of food you see, and you don't have much other choices. If you want to get on a flight, you have to live with what is offeed.

While subscription-based business is not great for the free mind, it is unfortunately a great business model. Adobe makes terrible software solutions but are - financially - doing great! (And no, I am not talking about Photoshop which was developed 29 years ago when it was still in fashion to make a desireable product people would buy). The development of software today is not focused on making you productive, it's focused on how to keep you paying.

If you look through history, how many companies-that-will-be-around-forever can you name that are actually still around? But more relevant, the history of software shows how things evolve. You wrote a Word document in the 1990’s and you now discover you can’t open that document in the current version of Word. What the heck?


Good old brick phone. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Good old brick phone. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

In order to have organized photographs, and to be able to keep them and share them, to have recordings of today for posterity to look at and see how their parents or grandparents lived, you have to establish a workflow and an archive. It's one of my big things, and I've written and talked a lot about it, and eventually made fairly simple how-to manuals on how to accomplish it (as described in my Lightroom Survival Kit and Capture One Survival Kit). Unfortunately they are not free; but at least they are not aimed at locking you up, they are aimed at making you free and independent.

Parents that take photographs of their children today, generally speaking, those children will likely never see those photographs. Using a smartphone is like talking to a person with short term memory. Smartphones work actively against that. Any smartphone existing today is only designed to keep you hooked until the next model comes out in 12-18 months.

So, that is what is right about smartphones, and that is what is wrong about smartphones. They're set up as a dielletante tool. You need to grow out of using a smartphone and start using a camera.

 

The addictive Leica Q2

“What’s the point with 47 megapixels?”, I wondered. I noticed that the first few times I fired the Leica Q2, I felt that I might be wasting megapixels on something not worth the enormous volume of megapixels that are recorded with the soft click of the Leica Q2.


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

I took a closeup of a freshly made cappuccino just to test the detail, and immediately felt guilty of wasting megapixels. What an odd feeling!

After having used the camera for a while, the 47 MP sensor is simply addictive. In short I cannot wait for a Leica M11 and Leica SL2 to have this extravagant amount of megapixels.

The amount of detail, clarity and three-dimensional feeling from the relatively compact 28mm Summilux lens on the Leica Q2 is simply astonishing. See and feel the details in these photos, how you can almost touch the tiles on the roof. And, notice it is not edge-sharpness you get, it is the sense of real tiles and real textural details. It’s an optical quality of real things, not just a digital rendering that tries to make it look detailed. The actual details are there, and they are alive!


The details:Leica Q2detail sharpness test. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The full picture:Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.


More 47MP sensors coming for everything..?

To get a preview of how other Leica lenses (in particular the Leica M and Leica R lenses) would perform in front of a 47MP sensor, I bought what is expected to be a sister camera to the upcoming Leica SL2, the 47MP Panasonic Lumix SR1 (released April 2019) which I have reviewed here.

 

A lot of buttons. Granted, the Lumix S1R camera can do everything for anybody. But a little too many wheels, features and buttons for most people. See my review of the 47MP Panasonic Lumix S1R here.
A lot of buttons. Granted, the Lumix S1R camera can do everything for anybody. But a little too many wheels, features and buttons for most people. See my review of the 47MP Panasonic Lumix S1R here.

 

Go out and use it, then review, and you’ll get the hang of it

When you first take the Leica Q2 out to the streets, you’ll notice that after taking a photo the preview shown in the viewfinder looks blurry.

It confused me, and made me wonder if my manual focusing was off, but then it looked the same when I used auto focus. I felt the camera was underperforming, because I wasn’t able to see the details. It just looked like any other photo from any other camera.

But when I got home and was able to view the photos on a real screen and examine the details, I was in short blown away. I had gotten the 47MP fever.

 

Go out and use the camera, and review when you get home. Photo by Ealden Escanan.
Go out and use the camera, and review when you get home. Photo by Ealden Escanan.


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

That’s why I say, go out and use it and take it as it comes. Don’t try to examine the files or judge the quality. Focus on what’s in front of the camera to get some good photographs. Once home, you can review the images and that will remove any doubts you had, if you did it right.

Once home, I could see the amazing details on the screen, and that’s where I could see that both manual focus and auto focus would nail the focus sufficiently. 50% of Leica Q users tend to use manual focus, and the other half uses AF – but then again we go back and forth depending on what we do. What I’m saying is, go do some photos, but wait to judge what works until you get home to a larger screen.

 

Leica Q2: Stoked about the 28mm Summilux lens

Looking at 47MP images from the relatively small and innocent looking 28mm Summilux-Q ASPH f/1.7 that sits on the Leica Q2 gives you the utmost respect for Leica lens design. Not only is it detailed and sharp in every detail of the 47MP file, but more importantly and unique for Leica, it is lively and clear so you can almost touch the details.

 

The details:

 

Zooming out:

 

The full picture:


My benchmark for a good lens is that things look alive. Skin has to look moist and alive, a roof tile has to show the temperature and the rough texture of the tiles. That’s the real test of optics: does it look like the real thing?

Anyone who has tried to use a set of Leica binoculars has experienced the first moment of surprise when you see how the world looks clearer and more calm through a set of binoculars than with your own eyes. The isolation of the subject inside the dark view of the binoculars is one reason it looks “better than reality”, but the optics is the reason it looks so fresh and alive.

The view of Leica Q2 files are exactly that same experience of clarity. Frankly, it blows my mind how a tiny lens like that is capable of capturing so many details with such accuracy.

 

New York. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
New York. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
 

 

Leica Q2: A rebuilt classic

The Leica Q2 looks almost exactly as the Leica Q, but the odd thing is that the sensation of it in your hands tells of a more solid and sturdy camera. Like it is often with Leica quality, you can’t put a finger on one thing that explains the feel of German engineering and hand-assembled quality. It’s the sum of details, of each screw and each element fit exactly right to the next in the camera , that makes up a sense of overall quality.

To fit in a much larger battery in the Leica Q2, as well as a built-in diopter (for calibration of the viewfinder to your exact eyesight) next to the also re-designed viewfinder, the entire inside of the camera has been up for redesign.

I love this: The Leica Q2 looks exactly as the Leica Q, and it should. When something works, don’t mess with it. But the inside of the camera has been redesigned and improved into an overall tighter unit. Isn’t that impressive?

Part of that redesign was also to deal with the heat from 4K video. The original Leica Q (type 116) was in fact equipped with 4K video, but Leica Camera AG decided not to enable it due to heat considerations (The more a sensor is turned on, the more heat, and with heat comes noise and thus lower image quality).

 

Someone will be using your Leica Q2 in 10 years

It makes sense that Leica, long known for engineering and quality builds, strengthens exactly that parameter in a new Leica Q2. The engineering and metal works, let’s call it that.

After all, if there is one thing a mass-produced camera can’t compete with, it’s that touch of built quality. Leica Camera AG is based in Wetzlar, which was known for its metal production for many years, so no surprise that some of the know-how and skills in metal production have smitten even a modern electronic product as the Leica Q2.

Some might recall how Steve Jobs, when he introduced the iPhone, referred to the built quality of the original Leica as a benchmark for the feel and quality they had strived for in the original iPhone. And that’s exactly what Leica Camera AG is able to do. Where everybody else goes faster, lighter, cheaper and shorter lifespan, the Leica Q2 goes full metal jacket.

The Leica Q will remain a classic and likely stay in high esteem and highly priced, and so will the Leica Q2. Someone will be using your Leica Q2 in ten years, if not you. Here’s why I am saying that:

If you take a quick look back in time, you will notice that the now ten-year old Leica M9 and Leica M9-P (with 18MP sensors) are still in use by many fans. Not only that, the price has gone up in recent years as the cameras seem to find their homes with hardcore users who won’t let go of them. Which is why it’s not as easy to find a second-hand Leica M9 and (particularly) Leica M9-P as it was. The Leica M9 was $5,500 when it was released in 2009 and sells today, ten years later, for $3,000 – $3,500.

Leica M9 goes for around $3,500 ten years after it was released. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica M9 goes for around $3,500 ten years after it was released. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

There is also the odd thing that when Leica people want something new, they want something old. The philosophy, the design, the whole quality philosophy … it all points back to the good ol’ days. That is another reason older Leica cameras get a renaissance again and again. But to see a digital camera getting a renaissance? That’s something nobody expected. But a Leica digital camera does.

 

A Leica M3 being recycled in Paris. © Thorsten Overgaard.
A Leica M3 from 1954 being recycled in Paris. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Another strange thing happens with the great classics of Leica, and that is that people buy two or three of them! The philosophy seems to be “that if one stops working, I still have one”. Such is the case of the Leica Digilux 2 (a 5MP model from 2004 known for its excellent JPG files straight out of the camera), the Leica DMR (the 10MP digital back from July 2005), and the Leica M9 and Leica M9-P (the 18 MP CCD-sensor camera from 2009), and to some degree, the Leica MM (the monochrome 18MP version of the Leica M9 from 2011).

This will happen with the Leica Q series as well in the future – when it gets old enough to become a valued classic.

I mention this to comfort you, I think. That if you have cravings for a Leica, that’s one of the things you buy into when you join the Leica family. You will become sentimental and keep your old friends, the cameras you used to use and have had a good time with.

I would tell stories about people … but in fact I don’t have to go further than my own closet where the best models seem to grow in duplets.


Layla Bego with the Leica Q2 Monochrom . © Thorsten Overgaard.
Layla Bego with the Leica Q2 Monochrom . © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Leica Q2 is a 24mm with 51MP, not just 47MP and 28mm

I keep referring to the Leica Q2 as a 47MP and a 51MP sensor camera, and it is. The Leica Q2 is a 28mm camera with a 47MP sensor on the paper, but in the real world it has a 24mm frame and 51MP when you import the photo into Capture One Pro.

 

The 28mm frame (top) and how it looks when you import the photo to Capture One Pro. As you can see, you have a 24mm frame with the 28mm frame framelines marked.
The 28mm frame (top) and how it looks when you import the photo to Capture One Pro. As you can see, you have a 24mm frame with the 28mm frame framelines marked.

 

You see a 28mm crop (8368 x 5584 pixels) in Capture One Pro, but you also see more outside that 28mm frame. There is more space outside the frame, which you can include (9005 x 5715 pixels). Very helpful in the cases where you missed the top of a head or an elbow, because it might be there.

In Adobe Lightroom you see the cropped frame, but if you click on the photo with the cropping tool, you will see the entire 24mm frame with the 28mm crop.

In this way, the Leica Q2 is a 24mm camera with a 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 75mm crop.

 

Leica Q2: 150g of weather sealing

The Leica Q2 is a little more weight than the Leica Q, mainly due to very tight weather sealing. I was never afraid of taking a camera out in snow or rain (and nothing ever happened), but with the weather sealing on the Leica Q2 I guess it takes the question, "Will my camera be damaged?" out of it.

Leica Q2 is IP52 weather sealed.
Leica Q2 is IP52 weather sealed.

 

13.5 stops of dynamic range

The image quality is brilliant ... and easy to work with. It's out-of-the-box images to a large degree, and very elastic files you can stretch a lot in editing if you need to. Take into account also that you have so many megapixels, with so much detail in them (thanks to the excellent lens), that if you need only a portion of an image, you can make that work too. I find that it is very easy to take photos with he Leica Q2.

 

Leica Q2, Hasselblad X1D II 50C and Fujifilm GFX 50R?

The medium format Fujifilm GFX 50R cost $4,499 without a lens (8256 x 6192 pixels).

If you plan on doing wide angle landscapes, the Leica Q2 is ready as is. In comparison, the Leica Q2 does 9005 x 5715 pixels compared to the Fujifilm medium format that does 8256 x 6192 pixels.

The Hasselblad X1D II 50C (announced June 2019) does 50MP (8280 x 6208 pixels), and the body alone is $6,000.

They are three very different cameras in terms of handling and what you would use them for, but for high resolution landscapes, I guess they would be in your view. Or, if you just love megapixels.

 

I did a little bit of food photography also with the Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard I did a little bit of food photography also with the Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard

 

Editing 47MP Leica Q2 files

Editing my first batch of Leica Q2 files, I didn’t feel a lot of difference using Capture One Pro for the editing. It’s always been a fast software for working with 24MP files from the Lecia Q (model 116) and the Leica M10-P.

It’s the same with 47MP files, except that it takes longer to export the final versions. And you have to consider hard drive space. I export a 16-bit TIFF version, a high resolution JPG and some web formats. You easily forget that your files are now quite large, so sending just a single high resolution JPG by e-mail … well, they are just different sizes.

Bigger files require more computer power and more hard drive space. It’s part of the deal. If you want to work with big files, you’ll need to organize your workflow so it can handle the larger amount of data to be processed and stored.

In Lightroom, which is a slow boat compared to the jet-engine of the Capture One Pro, the 1:1 preview takes forever to make on import and the same bottleneck issue on export of final JPG and TIFF files happen. It just takes a lot of time, compared to 24MP files.


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The decisive moment for Leica: Simplicity

There’s a detail in the Leica Q2 that makes me smile, and that is that Leica Camera AG simply has decided to omit HDMI, Micro-USB and all other external connections.

This is very brave, and very sane in this day and age where camera manufacturers seem to think consumers just can’t get enough features and connections.

The only thing you might need connections for, is video. And once you go video, you need a lot of connections. More than a soulful, well-designed camera as the Leica Q2 should have. If you want to do video, get a real camera like the Leica SL (Leica SL2) that you can put real microphones, bigger screens, hard drives and all that onto it. Or get a Panasonic Lumix S1H video camera, or a Canon C300.

There’s also another detail, and that is that the Leica Q2 will still be around and be used by many in the year 2030, and who needs a micro-HDMI or any other connections by then (when they’re all going to be obsolete cable connections anyways)?

Leica Camera AG found just the right balance of connections – which was simply to skip them.
It’s very brave, and it’s awesome!

 

Leica Q2 on my The Von “New York” calfskin bag. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2 on my The Von “New York” calfskin bag. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

How far we have come

I started using digital cameras when I thought the digital quality was good enough to create a look similar to what I did with slide film (diapositive color film), and that was the Leica R9 digital back in 2007. I did use the Leica Digilux 2 since 2004, but that was mainly as a backup camera and for things with very short deadlines. Mainly, I trusted film to do the job.

But look at this. The 10MP R9 dSLR from Leica from 2007, compared to the sophisticated, well-designed and compact 47MP Leica Q2.

 


The Leica R9 with digital back from 2004, (10MP), the Leica M10-P from 2019 (24MP) and the Leica Q2 from 2019 (47MP). © Thorsten Overgaard.

But as I also ventured into the Panasonic Lumix S1R with 47MP when it came out in April 2019, to see what it could produce in terms of image quality. 47MP is impressive, and so is 100MP and 150MP from Phase One. But the Leica Q2 is quite a cool package.

 

The Leica Q2 will lead you to a Leica M

I might be wasting my breath here, but … Once you get the Leica Q2, you will most likely want a Leica M. That’s how this adventure often goes. You may tell yourself that “I’ll just get the Leica Q2 because I don’t need a bigger camera”.

You can keep saying that, and people do, and the same people are to be found with a Leica M around their neck before you can say, “I told you so”.

 

The Leica M11 bottom plate and battery?

For us who love and use the Leica M, any new design of a Leica is a hint of what we may see in future Leica M cameras. The Leica SL battery used in the Leica Q2 is an interesting feature, and it implies that there is then no need for a battery door or a bottom plate. Besides the battery power the Leica Q2/Leica SL battery holds (same model), it is also a unique design in that the battery holds part of the bottom plate of the camera. You insert the battery, and the end of the battery completes the bottom plate of the camera. No need for battery compartment doors and such.


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
New York by night. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 

       
 

The Future of EVF Cameras

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

Does the Leica Q2 show the route to a Leica M11 with electronic viewfinder?

The reason we haven't seen an electronic viewfinder built-in to a Leica M was that it wasn't possible to make them compact enough. That was the reason five years ago, and the Leica Q2’s excellent viewfinder (and I'm sure it will only get better in the future) shows that it is now possible.

Four years ago, the Leica SL viewfinder was the standard of a really good viewfinder – the best out there – but it was clear that one such large, magnificant viewfinder couldn't be fitted into a Leica M or any other compact camera.


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Back in October 2018, at a meeting at Leica Camera AG in Wetzlar, the product managers touched on the subject with a group of about 150 Leica collectors. They asked the room, how many would buy a Leica M with electronic viewfinder (instead of rangefinder; because both can't be fitted into one camera)?

I’m ashamed to say that only three people raised their hands – and I was one of them.

Well, truth be told, this was not exactly the focus group for such a question. It was mainly Leica collectors, and if they had asked this group if they would prefer a film camera to a digital, everybody would likely have raised their hands! In fact, if they had it their way, Leica would have to start producing the Leica M3 again.

In any case, this question to the audience, from the product managers of Leica, showed that this is a valid question. It’s something that Leica is considering.

My personal view is that I would buy one with traditional rangefinder and one with electronic viewfinder, because both make sense. An electronic viewfinder allows for a preview of exposure and tonality, and it also helps see in the dark - and perhaps the greatest selling point would be that it makes focusing easier.

The traditional rangefinder allows for more intuitive and faster use. You imagine the image in your head and quickly make it with the camera. There is no other preview than the one you imagine. It’s a very unique way to take pictures. So even though the reason the Leica has a rangefinder is that no other technology existed back then, it’s a unique and strong tool. SLR cameras had the WYSIWYG view in the viewfinder via a mirror so you saw rather exactly what you were making, and that was the next step in technology. Now electronic viewfinders have replaced that ‘mirrored preview’ with a more exact preview.

So yes, a Leica M with a built-in electronic viewfinder would be cool and would sell. And so would the version with traditional viewfinder, because they would exist side by side.

On most 'important portrait assignments' I do, I have two cameras, so as to have a backup. With the Leica M, I use EVF for some photos (to make sure I get accurate results), but then I also use a Leica M without EVF so as to be able to operate more intuitively and faster. With this setup I have a backup, but I also get the best of two worlds. And if a model with built-in electronic viewfinder existed, I would buy one of each. It would be perfect.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The Leica M10-D (without a screen on the back) is a step in that direction, because you can mount an EVF on top of it. Now, imagine that it was inside the camera and there was no screen on the back.

A Leica M with built-in electronic viewfinder would have one more advantage that is easily forgotten; and that is that a Leica M without the rangefinder won't need to go back to Wetzlar for adjustment of the focus mechanism. What you see is what the sensor sees, so there wouldn't be any mechanical focus mechanism that could go wrong.

 

Leica Q2: What I learned so far

The mix of old and new, of large and small cameras I’ve used recently has shown me that the soul of the camera has a lot to do with the result.

Well, actually it doesn’t only affect the final result, it also to a very large degree affects the feeling of creation, the feeling of who you are as well as what you feel you want to accomplish, using a certain camera.

Not a big surprise, you could say. No, but you know, you think that you see something, and it’s the new thing, so it must be good, and you can’t sleep before you get it. And you tend to forget where you came from and think that maybe it’s different now.

No, it isn’t. It’s the same. The feel and soul of a camera is what makes you want to use it, what inspires the kind of photos you want to do with it.

While I loved, and still love, the big cameras, they’re an invasion of spaces when you use them. Nobody goes unnoticed with a large camera; we just didn’t recognize this when it was the only choice.

Imagine being able to carry a tiny camera with you at all times, and it can do 47MP photos in high quality. Well, actually you don’t have to imagine it. It’s the Leica Q2.

 

Working in the kitchen. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Working in the kitchen. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Should I get the Leica Q2 ..?

When people ask me, what camera to get, there is not many to point at. You want a simple camera with a very few controls, those few controls should all be the outside of the camera, not hidden in 250 menus and buttons to get lost in.

Few essential controls and nothing more.

 

Leiac Digilux 2 and the Leica Q
The Leica Digilux 2 from 2004 and the Leica Q from 2015. Both Leica cameras primarily developed by Leica Camera AG, and both using only an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF), allowing the camera to use a central shutter in the lens and thus make the camera completely silent when it takes pictures. © 2015-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The last great camera that was so simple that the user could focus on what is in front of the camera, and could make photographs of high optical quality, was the Leica Digilux 2. This is a camera I have used extensively and written a lot about. The Leica Digilux 2 from February 2004 has become the first vintage digital camera in existence.

Other cameras I have referred people to to has been the Canon G and Ricoh GR cameras ... and that is about it. I don't think people are aware of what a painful question they ask when they ask someone to recommend a good camera.

But now the Leica Q and the Leica Q2 is here, and it is actually a good camera - just to understate it.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

What is a good camera..?

All digital cameras come on the market for a few years and go to the eternal consumer graveyard to be forgotten. Only the Leica Digilux 2 have uplifted itself to a what seems an infinity of life and use for a digital camera. Many still use it, and many still discover one for the first time.

Before digital, cameras lasted for a longer time. Leica M film cameras, Nikon F, Olympus OM10, Hasselblad 500 CM, and some others. The cameras made to make pictures with was the ones that stayed with us for a long time, and even when we stopped using them, we kept the idea of them with us.

We look for similar good cameras, and they are hard to find. The Leica Q is the type of camera you can do wonderful simple things with.

 

       
 

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Portable

  William Henry Fox Talbot (1800 - 1877)
  "My wife told me she would teach me real pain if I didn't bring the camera"

When I say that portable is the most important feature for a camera, I actually mean it.

I have met enough people to know that ambitious camera systems stay home and are only taken out when the demand for use is so high you have to live with the pain of carrying a heavy and complicated system.

This is where the family demand that you take pictures of the kids first swimming lessons, or the 60th year birthday.

The implied pain you will suffer if you don't take pictures is greater than the pain of carrying the precious camera system you bought that evening where you had the money and was all fired up on revitalizing your purpose to do real serious photography. You will be delighted to find out this is the best article you have ever read. Read on!

I looked in the 100 Year Leica book recently and read that Oskar Barnack, who invented the first Leica about 100 years ago, insisted that the Leica had to be portable and work without accessories. It simply had to fit into a pocket of a jacket despite the norm back then.

To give the full picture, the cameras used at that time were large boxes that absolutely didn't fit into a pocket of a jacket, and often they required tripod and extra film magazines (one for each picture). Some even needed additional light to take a picture.

 


Photography in the 1800's

 

Simply a camera

I must say, even now after years of use of the Leica Q and weeks of use of the Leica Q2, I am amazed that all I have to bring is ... the camera. This is really the (re-)fulfillment of the original vision for a new type of camera that would change photography forever after World War I.

No extra lenses, no electronic viewfinder to attach, no lens cap, no nothing. Simply a camera!

I know, who could have predicted that was the exact amount of features and accessories that you needed to make a man happy is: Nothing!

 

Stanley Kubrick with his Leica III
Stanley Kubrick with his Leica III

 

Black Calfskin Camera Strap with Orange Edge, by Thorsten Overgaard. Read more here.
Black Calfskin Camera Strap with Orange Edge, by Thorsten Overgaard. Read more here.

 

Leica Q2: A perfect reportage camera

I see the Leica Q2 as a reportage camera, more than an artistic tool. It follows more in the tradition of the original Leica in idea of being a mobile and compact camera that everybody could use to capture photographs with, rather than a specialized tool to create a special look.

The word reportage comes from the Old French reporter which means ‘carry back’ and that is what we always wanted to do. This is how serious we take the reportage photography in this day and age. Everybody does reportage photography with their phones and the amount of people with cameras is quite amazing.

Professional reportage photographers have gone from large dSLR cameras Canon 1D and Nikon D4 to smaller semi-pro dSLR cameras (Canon 5D and Nikon D700) to even smaller Mirrorless Cameras (Sony, Fuji, Olympus).

The Leica Q falls in the latter category, introducing more new ideas and technology than the current mirrorless camera models.

 

The Overgaard New Extension Course

 

Out and about with the Leica in the Overgaard Workshop Frankfurt. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Out and about with the Leica in the Overgaard Workshop Frankfurt. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Leica Q2: Always ready when you need a camera

The Leica Q2 is an always ready camera. You have it lying around and you grab it and it is ready to perform. No packing of bags, no changing lens, no nothing. Just ready.

I find that, with quite a few cameras lying around, when I want to simply take a photo, I pick the Leica Q2. It's not that the other cameras aren't ready, it's just that the Leica Q2 is easy-to-use-ready.

The Leica Q2 is a light camera that is easy to travel with and carry around for a long time without anybody actually noticing it.

 

Out in the rain with the Leica. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Out in the rain with the Leica. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Quiet as a Leica

It is soundless. As a trained user you will recognize the clicks and feel the vibration of the Auto Focus in your hand, but to everybody else you are just holding a camera. It is intuitive to use and after a few hundred shots you can use it in a dark room with gloves on.

There are no moving parts, except the small leaf shutter in the lens. What that means is that nobody hear you photographing, and also you can work handheld down to 1/15 second or 1/8 second because there is no internal camera shake from a mirror or shutter.

If anyone dream of a Leica Q or Leica Q2 with bayonet so they can change lenses, that camera would involve the need for a shutter. Hence shutter noise and camera shake. It's more likely that other version(s) with a fixed 35mm or 50mm lens appear.

In an interview with Digitalversus in July 2015, Leica Camera AG product manager Peter Kruschewski revealed that the 28/1.7 lens was chosen because it resulted in the most compact design:
"We looked at various options, including a 35mm and a 50mm, naturally. In the end, it was the 28mm f/1.7 that gave us the most compact lens, and therefore the smallest camera body." He then added, "We understand why this might surprise some people, but if our customers clamor for a 35mm or 50mm version, we're willing to make one. But not until we've successfully made the lenses more compact."

 

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark being briefed before an official opening. Leica Q at 800 ISO, f/1.7, 1/500 second. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark being briefed before an official opening. Leica Q at 800 ISO, f/1.7, 1/500 second. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Low light tradition

The Leica Q2 doesn't even have a built-in flash. There is no need to. It has a f/1.7 lens that does not require much light, high ISO that I would say goes up to 6400 ISO realistically, but 50,000 if you need to.

The 28mm lens can capture most scenes in small spaces, and on the other hand challenges you to move closer in large spaces. And auto focus that allow you to do those quick hand-movements to capture a photo without actually looking though the EVF.

On the other hand, you can knock out auto focus and go manual focusing. The same goes for F-stops and shutter times. I use mine with AF and the f-stop set to wide open at f/1.7 as general rule. And I add a 3-stop ND filter when in sunshine and strong light, just to make sure.


I make my own ventilated shade for the Leica Q and Leica Q2 (as well as most Leica lenses). Here it is with the RED ventilated lens shade. Available for sale here.
I make my own ventilated shade for the Leica Q and Leica Q2 (as well as most Leica lenses). Here it is with the RED ventilated lens shade. Available for sale here.

 

 

The Leica Q2 Will Teach You to Walk

You will miss your 90mm lens and your 50mm the first days with the Leica Q2. Now you got to move your feet and use your head to compose. One lens is all you got. It's brilliant. This is the camera for training of the eye and mind.

 

       
 

The Art of the 28mm Lens

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

Most prefer a 35mm or a 50mm lens as their standard lens. Very few have 28mm or 75mm as their standard lens. With standard lens, I mean the one that you use 95% of the time, which is what most people do. You see people collect lenses, but most of us use one lens 95% of the time.

For me, my standard lens is 50mm. I can do anything I want to do with a 50mm lens. It's only because I easily fall in love with nice optics that I occasionally get other lenses. I still use 50mm most the time no matter what other lenses I got.

 

Leica M10 with Leica 28mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica M10 with Leica 28mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

But the Leica Q2 is born with a 28mm lens.

If you use your iPhone for photography, you are actually using a 29mm lens. So you already know how to!

Composition is storytelling. What must be in the frame, and what should be omitted is the whole art on how to tell the story you want to tell. Obviously, the wider a focal length, the more there is to control. Buildings, trees, cars, posters, signs, people and all must be put into the frame and placed so they support the story and doesn't distract from the message. Composition means to put things together.

It's much easier to focus the message and story in with a 50mm or 90mm lens and blur out the background. Unless you have a wider story to tell. I've used 21mm quite a bit over the years.

It's demanding but fun to work with wide angle.

 

The Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt visits a school class. Leica M 240 with Leica 21mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. © 2014-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.
The Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt visits a school class. Leica M 240 with Leica 21mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. © 2014-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The 28mm is a focal length I have been curious about and wanted to work with for a while. I've been waiting for the Leica 28mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. Now I almost got it in the Leica Q2 for a fraction of the price. I don't know if it will satisfy me, but I will give it a go.

When you go wide angle, you have to get closer to tell a story. If you "stay at 50mm range", most people in the photo will be supporting characters with no main subject. When you go closer to a main subject, you tell a story and have the wide background to support to your story and tell more or add an atmosphere.

One of the inspirations I have to use the 28mm is The World Press winner 2008 by Anthony Suau who used a Leica M6 TTL and 28mm a lot. He is one of the few people I know of that have had 28mm as his standard lens.

 


The World Press Photo Award winner 2008 that was taken with by Anthony Suau with a Leica M6 TTL and 28mm. It is a really strong image when you know the context. As an image itself it raises more questions than it answers. But in the World Press Photo context, and as a news photo, hands down one of the best photos I have seen, considering the year 2008 and the story behind:
"The picture shows an armed officer of the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department moving through a home in Cleveland, Ohio, following eviction as a result of mortgage foreclosure. Officers have to ensure that the house is clear of weapons and that the residents have moved out."

 

  Anthony Suau with his 28mm Summicron-M f/2.0. 
© 2012-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.
  Anthony Suau with his 28mm Summicron-M f/2.0.
© 2012-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.
   

If you look up his other photos, you will see a lot of 28mm composition and storytelling that I admire and would like to do. It's not easy I think, but that's why it would be fun to work with.

If Leica Camera AG would have followed tradition, they would have added a 35mm f/2.0 lens which which is the most sold and used focal length on Leica cameras throughout all time. I think the 28mm is a result of size of the lens (a 35/1.7 would have been larger) as well as the fact that Leica have very good design traditions for 28mm lenses (see later).

 

 

The ideal
street photography camera

I think many will see the Leica Q2 as a great street photography camera. It's discrete, doesn't say a sound, it has amazing fast auto focus and it's a complete package.

Street photography is a term I seldom use because the idea of what street photography is, is very different from person to person. Some think it has to be provocative and in your face and/or document the human condition (as in rich and poor, homeless, etc).

Provokative is not my style because I want people to not notice me (and provokative is to call for a reaction).

I remember I was once talking to a person on the phone about "taking a walk around the block" which is an advice for getting ready for a good nights sleep. So you take a walk around the block which first clears your mind and makes your fresh, then make you calm down so you can sleep. This persons problem was that he didn't have any "block" in the small town he lived in!

I am reminded of that when we talk street photography, because what is a street? Does it have to be a New York street, or could a roadside out in New Zealand with sheeps saying hello and an occasional car passing by do?

My view on street photography is that it is carrying a camera with you when you are outside. And inside as well for that matter. I get lots of great photos when I am not photographing but hanging out with a cup of coffee in a cafe.

If you live in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, most people are inside in malls and walk in air-conditioned walking streets or tunnels. So is a mall within the definition of a "street"?

 

A countryside street in Bangladesh. Leica M240 with Leica 21mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. © Thorsten Overgaard.
A countryside street in Bangladesh. Leica M240 with Leica 21mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

That's why I generally don't use the term street photography. Because some people think there is rules to obey.

To me, street photography is everything that happens in front of the camera that wasn't planned or set up. It became a photograph because you happened to be there and was ready with your camera.

Elliottt Erwitt and Henri Cartier-Bresson are good examples of photographers who carried their camera with them and caught life in each their way. Elliott has a lot of dogs and humor in his photos. Henri has a lot of rhythm, timing and aestethic in his. They were both great photographers in the street. Richard Avedon worked more in the studio, and when he worked in the street, he set it up as a studio.

It's the photos that matters, and when you get the photo, nobody should care if you did it one way or the other, or followed the "rules".

In that sense, the Leica Q2 is a great street photography camera. Because you can carry it with you at all times, and nobody will notice it. It's a camera made for having with you when you are out and about shopping with the famiy, on holiday or at work.

 

At the juice bar with the Leica Q2 Monochrom. Leica M11 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. © Thorsetn Overgaard.
At the juice bar with the Leica Q2 Monochrom. Leica M11 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. © Thorsetn Overgaard.

 

 

 

         
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Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. Leica M 240 with Leica 28mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4. © 2015 Thorsten Overgaard.
Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. Leica M 240 with Leica 28mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4
. © 2015 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 

     
 

Understanding exposure

The correct exposure on a camera is ensured by three parameters that match so that the image you record looks like what they eyes saw. Now darker, not brighter. Just exact the correct exposure.

It's sometimes referred to as a triangle. Not because it's part of a conspiracy but because it has tree elements you can adjust: Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed.

Keep in mind that a camera is a dark box that doesn't let any light in, because photography is "painting with light" (which is the meaning of the words photo=light and graphy=drawing). So, when you take a photo, you are letting light in to draw the picture on the sensor. And the amount of light has to be exactly right. Too much light makes a white, overexposed picture, and too little light makes a too dark picture.

This is the fundamental of photography and how it's always been. It never changed, which is why I applaud any camera that keeps the controls and features of a camera to those simple few that enables you to just getting the right exposure.

 

It's all about light and there are just 3 controls for you to take control of so the picture looks right.
It's all about light and there are just 3 controls for you to take control of so the picture looks right.

Aperture

The aperture is a Latin word meaning “to open”. If you change the aperture ring, the ring inside the lens (made of metal blades) narrows the lens opening from wide open to small. When the aperture is wide open at 100% the maximum amount of light passes, and when “stopped down” the amount of light becomes as small as 2%. You can see the aperture blades inside the lens on the photo above.

The smaller the aperture "hole through" is, the more depth-of-field there is. The moew wide open, the more narrow-depth-of-field you have, and what some would say "a dreamy" or "artistic" look.

Shutter

The razor-thin metal curtain that separates the dark and the light is named after the shutters in front of windows that keep the sun out. In some cameras it's a curtain just in front of the sensor, in others (as the Leica Q2) the shuitter curtain sits inside the lens.

Shutter speed is how long the curtain is open and the sensor can be exposed to the light that goes through the lens.

The rest of the time, the curtain is closed and the sensor rests in the darkness. In the beginning of photography, the photographer's hand in front of the lens acted as the shutter to keep it all in the darkness.

ISO

ISO is a strange word because it is short for International Standard Organization. It's simply a measurement for how sensitive to light, something is. It goes from 100% to 50,000% (500 times more sensitive) in the Leica Q2. When you say 100 ISO, you are referring to an international standard of sensitivity to light.

See more in my “Leica and Photography Definitions”.

 
     

 


Leica Q2 with narrow Depth-of-Field: The plants are in focus, the house behind is out of focus. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2 with narrow Depth-of-Field: The plants are in focus, the house behind is out of focus. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

f/1.7 or Automatic Aperture..?

I start out with the aperture set to f/1.7 on the Leica Q2 because I generally shoot all my lenses wide open, because I hope to gain a somewhat artistic look with the DOF (Depth Of Field).

I love narrow depth-of-field, even there is not that much of it with a wide lens as with my usual lens, a 50mm. If you are like me on that, you may want to reconsider if wide open is actually a great strategy - generally - on a camera with a 28mm lens where most things could be in focus at f/5.6.

Maybe you want everything in focus, and then you should set the lens to f/2.8 or f/5.6.

  The aperture can be set to A, which is Automatic Aperture.
  The aperture can be set to A, which is Automatic Aperture.
   

You can also go Automatic Apterture (setting the aperture ring to A on the camera), and then the camera will decide what aperture should be used, not based on the look, but to control the exposure of light.

It's up to you, but I would recommend setting the lens to an aperture you find pleasing. You may then set the camera to Auto ISO as the exposure backup control, because Auto ISO will not really change the artistic look, only enable the camera to take pictures in darker places (where a locked ISO would result in motion-blurred pictures because a low ISO forces the exposure time to be slow in order to get the right exposure).

 

 

     
 

Why is it called a "camera"..?

The word Camera is today's short name for Camera Obscura (which originally means “a dark room”).

Origin of the word Obscura means "dark" or "covered", and the word Camera means Chambre and was used originally only as a Latin or alien word, actually only for Spanish soldiers' rooms, until popularized in connection with photography in 1727: “Camera Obscura”.

In 1793 the slang term “camera” was used by Sterne Tr. Shandy: “Will make drawings of you in the camera” and by Foster (1878), “The eye is a camera”.

Ibn-al-Haytham mentioned Camera Obscura in his "Book of Optics" in 1021.
Ibn-al-Haytham mentioned Camera Obscura in his "Book of Optics" in 1021.

The concept of Camera Obscura was described by Iraqi scientist Ibn-al-Haytham in his book, “Book of Optics” (1021) and by Leonardo da Vinci in 1500; popularized and made widely known in 1589 by Baptista Porta when he mentioned the principle in his book “Natural Magic”. Johannes Kepler mentions Camera Obscura in 1604.

Camera = chambre (room), Obscura = dark (or cover).

 
     

 

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Auto Focus (AF) and "Maximum Snapshot Success"

Auto Focus is supposed to be easy, right?

The Leica Q2 offers a few different Auto Focus systems, from 1-Point to 49-Point. Apparently Auto Focus isn't that automatic, even the user manual for the Leica Q2 promises "maximum snapshot success".

I must say the Auto Focus caused me a few problems at f/1.7 in that I some times unknowingly had been focusing at the background between two main subjects in the foreground that I thought I had nailed the focus on. As time has gone by, I have gotten the hang of it. I think.

I also was happy to lend my Leica Q2 to my daughters tutor Terry, knowing she didn't feel comfortable focusing her Leica M9 and 50mm Summicron manually. Yet, when I looked at the pictures she took, I noticed she had the same problem as I did: Many of the photos, the focus was nailed on the background rather than the subject in the foreground.

Auto focus isn't that auto, after all.

 

My daughters tutor Terry Garcia can focus fairly well with the Leica M9, but contrary to what I had expected, the Leica Q2 didn't make the focus a non-issue even with AF. Leica M 240 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. © 2015 Thorsten Overgaard.
My daughters tutor Terry Garcia can focus fairly well with the Leica M9, but contrary to what I had expected, the Leica Q2 didn't make the focus a non-issue even with AF. Leica M 240 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95.
© 2015 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

How to focus the Leica Q2

I think there are several ways to attack this, and I am not for manual focusing on the Leica Q2. The AF is a clear advantage of the Leica Q2, and if I don't use that, then why would I use it at all? Then the Leica M is faster, better and higher quality.

The Leica Q2 has a very fast focus for today's standard.

 
  The Leica Q2 has an AF focus lock on the lens. You unlock it and you can manual focus.
   

Of the people I meet with a Leica Q or Leica Q2, about 50% use manual focus on the camera, and the other use AF. And then we all tend to go back and forth between Manual and AF when it suits the situation. I also recently met a person that didn't know the Leica Q2 had AF. He wasn't aware that the focus ring could be locked into AF.

 

 


My young Italian friend with the Leica Q. She's 6 years and at that age many semi-pro cameras are acutally too heavy to hold up for kids. But the Leica Q works. Notice the RED Ventilated Shade, she liked that too! © 2017 Thorsten Overgaard. My young Italian friend with the Leica Q. She's 6 years and at that age many semi-pro cameras are acutally too heavy to hold up for kids. But the Leica Q works. Notice the RED Ventilated Shade, she liked that too! © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

I tend to hold the shutter release button half down to activate the focusing (and wait till the focus frame turn from white to green), then press it down to take the photo.

This is also the way I maintain the focus on a subject when waiting for the right moment to take the photo. I focus on the subject, press the release half down, and then it is locked. When the image I want is there, I press the release. If the subject moves meanwhile, I re-focus the same way and wait again with the focus locked.

If you point the camera and press the shutter release and expect the camera to focus and shoot, you may risk all you get is focus activation. If you run through what happens in slow-motion, it goes like this:

You point the camera to something where the subject is blurry. The first thing you activate when you start pressing the shutter release, is the focusing that will result in the white frame turning green. If you keep your finger pressed down, the camera will then take the picture. But if you just press quickly, all you get is activated focus, but no actual shutter release. So no picture.

This also means that by activating the focus first and (when you see it is green) then take the photo, there is practically no delay from you press the shutter release till you get the photo.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

If you press to focus and take the photo, there is a small delay. I don't know how long, but it's a delay. Enough for a face to change expression. Enough for a bicycle to drive out of the frame. It may or may not be important, but it is less control.

The AF cannot work with certain things. For example if you point the focus frame (in the viewfinder) to a white wall, it will go red. There has to be a contrast point for it to focus on. This may also be the case if there is smoke (as on a stage), it if rains, or if it is dark. I haven't experienced those things yet, but that's what usually confuses the AF in a camera.

If you take up the Leica Q2, point it to a white wall and take a picture, it will take the picture. The AF process before taking the picture will just fail and it will be out of focus.

So what I do is that I press the shutter release down a little and see I got focus on what I wanted, then I take the photo.

Hope this is helpful, for me it a complete habit. Also with other cameras where I make sure that way that the camera is awake and ready to take the photo and didn't go into power save or something while I was waiting for the subject to do something.

 

 

 

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How I use 1-Point auto focus on the Leica Q2

My Leica Q2 is set to AFs (not AFc which is continuous focus so that it would follow what the camera think is the subject). My AF is set to 1 Point in the menu, which means that there is just one small focus frame in the centre. I can move that focus with the thumb (on the arrow ring right to the screen). But I think I more tend to move the camera to a focus point, focus and then reframe.

Part of this is habit of using a Leica M where you have a focus point in the centre of the frame, so you have to move it, focus and then re-frame to the frame you want. It works very well for me.

This technique can be used, anticipating a certain expression or event, to be ready to shoot the camera. No matter what camera I use, I'm often following the event through the viewfinder with focus and exposure-time and all set and ready to go, waiting for the right expression or something to happen. With the Leica Q, part of that being ready is having the finger on the shutter and see that the camera is locked on the right subject in focus and the exposure correct.

The AFc where the focus is continuously might be good in some cases, for example if you are photographing a 100 meter runner running towards you and want his face to be in focus when he looks like he is fighting really hard.

But in most cases, I establish my focus first and then wait for the subject to arrive at that spot.


Doing portraits with the Leica Q2 in the Overgaard Workshop, using the screen to frame and focus.
Doing portraits with the Leica Q2 in the Overgaard Workshop, using the screen to frame and focus.

 

Focus first, then moving the focus point

The 1-Point focus point can be manually moved to the desired focus area. This method compared to focusing and recomposing, there is no issue with field curvation. In some cases you may want to use this method.

 

Here I pre-focus on the ground and lock the focus where I expect the bicycle will pass and then take a photo the moment the bicycle is in the frame. If I had done follow-focus (AFc) I am not sure where the focus would have been. Here I know where it is. Leica Q, ISO 200, f/1.7 1/500 second. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Here I pre-focus on the ground and lock the focus where I expect the bicycle will pass and then take a photo the moment the bicycle is in the frame. If I had done follow-focus (AFc) I am not sure where the focus would have been. Here I know where it is. Leica Q, ISO 200, f/1.7 1/500 second. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

How to set the focus when others use the camera

I think, based on my limited experience so far, the 1-Point focus is not that logical for most people. So I would make a rule of changing the focus if I lend out the camera:

 

Multi Point Focus (cluster)

Multi Point focus kind of throw out one or more focus points where the camera think the focus should be. It's kind of cluster-focus (cluster-fobic?). According to the manual the Leica Q2 has 49 focus points to choose from. It will actually pick one or several points in the frame and mark them with boxes.

If you see that the camera didn't throw out the focus points to the right places, you can press the shutter release half down again and it will pick some new ones. Again you can keep your finger half down on the shutter release and the focus won't change.

I used this focus a bit in the beginning and thought it was fun, but then I realized that it might be faster if I told the camera where to focus and didn't leave it to chance.

Also, if you lend out the camera to somebody else, they may not realize that they in fact have to check to see if the camera gets it right. People somehow think they have no responsibility or influence.

 

 

         
 

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Face Detection Focus

The Face Detection might be the most sure focus method for other users of the camera as is it likely they want the faces of people in focus.

When Face Detection doesn't work, it works like Multi Point Focus and simply throw out some focusing points to cables, books, walls and doors that is "sees" as possible faces.

A face can be too small in the frame, or dark perhaps, and the camera won't recognize the face. But when the face is well lit and the person is as close as 2.5 meters (8 feet), the camera recognizes the face and focus on it.

This must be the most idiot-secure method to get faces (or at least something) in focus.

 

Photogarpher Federico Quintana. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Photogarpher Federico Quintana. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Everything in focus

There of course is also the dead-sure method to get everything in focus, and that is to set the Aperture on the lens to f/11 and set the distance to 2 meters. This will make everything from 1 meter (3 feet) to 25 meters or more (80 feet) in focus.

On the lens, the numbers for DOF (Depth of Field) on top of the lens indicate what will be within focus at the different f-stops. If the line going from 11 goes directly into the middle of the infinity symbol (as in my photo below), then everything from infinity down to 0.9 meters will be in focus. The middle of the infinity symbol is always the infinity distance; on any camera.

 

Election night in Denmark. The press waiting at the parliament in Copenhagen. Leica Q (1600 ISO, f/1.7, 1/2000 second). © Thorsten Overgaard.
Election night in Denmark. The press waiting at the parliament in Copenhagen. Leica Q (1600 ISO, f/1.7, 1/2000 second). © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Or set the camera to f/5.6 and leave AF on and there is a great chance that quite a lot will be in focus.

The only thing in this setting that would cause you some pain would be that you have a f/1.7 lens that actually allow you to make things out of focus and use selective focus. Unlike a APS-C sensor camera or an iPhone, this is one of the things that make the Leica Q2 really nice.

But you might want to sacrifice that feature to give somebody else a success in using the camera.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 



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Educate people

Then again, why do the same error as the camera industry and try to make a camera do things the camera possibly can't know what to do about. The "AF-features" seem endless, and why is that so? Well, most likely because the camera industry try to give the users the impression that the camera is so smart it can do it automatically - when the camera actually can't.

But what about making it simple and put the user back in control?

The single point focus (called 1-Point) is rather simple if people know what it is and that the camera (naturally) doesn't know what the user is trying to do and wants in focus.

 


Skaterboy at "Godsbanen" in Aarhus, Denmark. Here I pre-focused on where his feet are and waited for someone to "jump into the picture." © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Tell people what it is and how it works and let them learn it: Point the focus to what you want in focus, press the release half down and compose the image. Then press it all down.

It becomes muscle memory very fast. Actually.

Every single other possibility, such as face recognition, are attempts from the camera industry to make things simple by complicating them. What if you photograph flowers or birds and doesn't know the camera is looking for faces? That's what I mean that it's complicated to make it simple.

The most simple setting to use, understand and get to work is the one that is simply focus on this and when it is in focus, shoot!

 

Leica Q. 800 ISO, f/1.7, 1/250 second. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q. 800 ISO, f/1.7, 1/250 second. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Understanding the Depth of Field scale on the Leica Q2 lens

All older lenses have a DOF (Depth of Field) scale, and so does most Leica lenses, even on compact cameras. The Leica Q2 is no exception and has a fine DOF scale. A lot of modern lenses, even the expensive ones, don't.

Most people who see your pictures will recognize DOF (Depth of Field) and ask how you managed to get the background (and foreground objects) out of focus. And often they will ask, "How can I get that?"

It requires a lens that can be opened up wide, and that you stay wide open at f/1.7 (in the case of the Leica Q2). Unfortunately it introduces the whole subject of focusing because a wide open lens has a very narrow focus field.

On the other hand, if you actually want to get more things in focus, you use the DOF scale on top of the lens.

Leica Q Macro Depth of Field Scale
DOF scale for Macro: It's elegant with the changing Macro scale when you turn Macro on. You will also see that the DOF scale affects a very little area of focus. at f/16 "everything" from 0.22 meter to 0.29 meter will be in focus.

 

The Leica Q2 Macro scale for Depth of Field

The neat thing is that when you change the Leica Q2 to Macro, the scale changes and the DOF scale is now in effect for that Macro scale.

Macro photography is a very special discipline, and all I can say is that what I usually find to look really nice in the preview, usually turns out to be too narrow focus in the final result. So in Macro you should think about what is in focus. If it is a flower, maybe the whole flower (and nothing of the background) should be in focus, and not just the centre of the flower.

 

My hairdressers Japanese scissor in Macro mode. © Thorsten Overgaard.
My hairdressers Japanese scissor in Macro mode. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Shooting series instead of singles

I always have my cameras set to Continuous mode so I am ready to shoot a series of 2-3 photos if needed. On the Leica Q2 that is when you set it to Continuous in the menu.

 

Three speeds for continuous

On the Leica Q2 the mode can be fine-tuned in the menu, from Single photo to different speeds of continuous shooting (burst) . I have set mine to Low Continuous which is 3 frames per second. Medium is 5 and High is 10 frames per second.

Some times a person changes face expression quickly and I take a series.

Some times I am trying to photograph a moving bicycle or person, so I take three photos and will decide later which one was the most accurate in expression and focus.

Or in low light where I may shoot at low shutter speeds that will cause motion blur if the camera or the subject moves. Often it is better to shoot at low shutter speed rather than high ISO if the high ISO causes noise and inaccurate colors.

A series of pictures, three in a row. Three different images; one blurred to the left, one sharp to the right. Now you got something to choose from.
A series of pictures, three in a row. Three different images; one blurred to the left, one sharp to the right. Now you got something to choose from.

 

Continuous shooting (3, 5 or 10 photos per second)

The Continuous Frames Per Second (fps) can be defined in the menu of the Leica Q2 to be 3 fps (Low), 5 fps (Medium) or 10 fps (High). 10 fps is impressive for such a small camera but hardly necessary in that many cases.

I would recommend 3 fps which gives you the possibility to take one photo, or keep the shutter release button down if for example a subject is moving and you wand several movements so as to decide later which looks the most pleasing.

 

       
 

White balance on the Leica Q2

   
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White Balance (WB) is the setting most people leave on Auto because they don't really know what it is. Another one of these "leave it to automatic" things that would improve a lot if you understood and used it.

No no, don't leave. Please stay with me. It's easy!

The light color changes all day from blue (cold) light to white light (daylight) to yellow light (sunshine) and into orange light (before sunset), and then "the blue hour" (the period where the sun is below the horizon and all the soft light you see is indirect sunlight that has a blue shade).

 

White balancing manually with a WhiBal card on the Leica Q2.
White balancing manually with a WhiBal card on the Leica Q2.

 

Our eyes adjust to this change of light, so we never really notice that the "color temperature" changes. For digital sensors like a video or digital camera, as well as the light recording we used to use (film), the change is rather drastic.

 

The Black Calfskin Camera Strap "Yosemite" with Orange Edge, made for the Leica Q2. See more here.
The Black Calfskin Camera Strap "Yosemite" with Orange Edge, made for the Leica Q2. See more here.

 

When we used film, all film we bought was adjusted to daylight as the only "white balance". One could buy special film for other types of light, or use color filters in front of the lens to adjust for it. There was a period of 30-40 years between when most was black & white photography in newspapers and everywhere and up till we got the first digital recorders where adjusting the colors to the correct white balance was really a science and took a lot of work.

Getting the colors right is really one of the things digital photography has made very easy, compared to the work it took doing it manually with filters or chemistry in the film days.

The simplicity of white balance is that if the camera is shown a white piece of paper, it can "read" the current color temperature of the light and adjust all color channels so the colors become 100% correct (as if the light was white light).

In dealing with the simplicity of white balance, you have to also deal with other peoples misunderstandings and complexities as regards to colors and white balance. The eye can differentiate between over 3 million colors but we only have names for 20-30 of them.

 


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Imagine if you were in a restaurant and the food tasted of curry but there was no name for curry. That's the problem with colors. Fundamentally.

Color accuracy is a very important part of aesthetics, and specifically, if a woman have bought a really expensive and nice dress, the photo of that dress should be accurate. Right?

If the white balance is not set, the color of the dress will have the color of the light. Reddish, orange, blue. But what is worse is that the eye color, skin tone, hair and everything in the image will have the same reddish, orange, blue look.

Here is what I am talking about. Below, I photoraphed my daughter Robin Isabella 10 minutes before the blue hour sets in (10 minutes before the sun disappear in the horizon).

How do you make her dress, her skin, her hair, her eyes, the grass and all look nice? You set the White Balance Manually so the light is "made white" no matter what it is.

This can be used indoor, outdoor and all, and it will always work and make the colors look natural and right.

Only exception is where there is mixed light sources. You can't adjust digitally for several different types (colors) of light in the same picture. It's a one-way street so to say. And this is why some people may complain about the Auto White Balance of a camera, when what they in reality face is impossible light conditions.

White balance is like Auto Focus in the sense that you cannot focus on several different distances at the same time. White Balance can be adjusted to one type of light at the time.

 

 
Daylight Setting (5500 Kelvin)   Shade Setting (7500 Kelvin)
     
 
Auto White Balance (7500 Kelvin)   Tungsten setting (3200 Kelvin)
     
 
Manual White Balance (21000 Kelvin)   Black & white (end of problem!)

 

What twists your brain is that the setting you choose have to match the actual light. Setting the White Balance to Tungsten (3200 Kelvin) won't make it look yellow-orange like Tungsten but will match Tungsten light and make that type of light white.

 

How to set the Manual White Balance on the Leica Q2

1) Press the FN button to the left of the screen (which is by deafult the WB button in the Leica Q2).

1.2) If you changed that FN button to have another function, you will have to use the menu: Press MENU and scroll down to the 2nd screen, 3rd line (yes, I know!) "White Balance" and press right arrow > and then scroll down to Greycard 1 and press right arrow > (and then go to point 3 below.

2) Use the arrow or the thumb wheel to move to the symbol for Custom/Manual Balance. Press

3) The screen now says "Press [SET] to abort"! Nice try, but we won't let us confuse by that irrelevant message. Hold a white paper or neutral grey card in front of the subject and then point the camera so that the white/grey is in the highlighted center. Take a picture.

4) Now the Manual White Balance is set and stays there will you change it or go back to Auto White Balance.

 

See more on this and color photography in my article "Color Photography and the Colors of the Leica"

 

Auto White Balance on the Leica Q2 will do in most cases

I most conditions, especially in daylight outside, Auto White Balance will do. I am not totally happy with the Leica Q2 yet on this but I think a firmware update will fix it so it becomes more accurate. I won't spend too much energy complaining about something that is likely to be fixed and improved. It works pretty well as it is.

 


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

To understand Auto White Balance, you can simply look at the images above. The one that says Auto White Balance (7500 Kelvin) is where the camera try to find something in the image that is neutral (often white or gray) that it can analyze the color temperature at. Auto White Balance depend on something neutral in the scene to get it right, and then of course that the firmware in the camera can analyze things and get it right.

Camera seem pretty smart in choosing the right small or large spot to adjust from, but some times the closest to neutral happens to be a white window frame that is the closest you get to white, but is actually a little yellow after some years. Hence, this adjustment based on a slightly yellow window frame will affect all the colors.

 

             
 

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Greycard?

One of the interesting confusions on White Balance is the greycard. A greycard is traditionally a medium gray card that was used (and some times still is on film sets, etc) to measure the amount of light to get the exposure right.

You see that in the Leica Q2 the Manual White Balance setting is named Greycard 1 and Greycard 2.

Exposure greycard
If you go into a photo store and ask for a "greycard", they will most likely find a greycard for exposure setting (also known as 18% reflective)This is not suitable for White Balance adjustment because it is not neutral gray. You might as well use a pair of blue jeans or an orange.

If you go into a photo store and ask for a White Balance card, they will likely come with the same greycard! Or they will come with a set of a black, gray and a white card that some produce to you can get the exposure right and check the black and white in your exposure (adjust so white doesn't become totally white in the image and black doesn't become totally black).

None of those are a white balance cards (not even when the Chinese factory writes "exposure", "digital", "white balance" and "premium" on the package). Don't believe anything you see in a photo store.

WhiBal
A white balance card is a neutral gray or white piece of plastic or paper. One good one is WhiBal that comes in a pocket size. It is not always easy to find and often a photo store will insist that their greycards are in fact greycards (and that greycards are the same as white balance cards). It's quite confusing.

White paper
A piece of white paper can actually be used, or a white wall that is getting the same light as your subject. The only thing is that white is not always white. Some types of paper has chemistry in them that make them more blue, others are more yellow. But at least it is a standard and will get you close.

 

Greycard   Greycard

A greycard for exposure setting. It's not the same as a white balance card.

 

 

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The electronic viewfinder (EVF)

  Leica Q2 Electronic ViewFinder
  Leica Q2 Electronic ViewFinder
   

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) in the Leica Q2 has been greatly improved, compared to the Leica Q. Now you can see the full frame even if you wear eyeglasses, which wasn't the case with the Leica Q.

Also the diopter adjustment (so the view can be adjusted to your eyesight) has been move to the right of the viewfinder and can be locked. Also an improvement over the Leica Q where it couldn't be locked and could change by accident.

I am all for electronic viewfinders. The Leica cameras became known for their very precise rangefinders (Meßsucher which is German for distance measurer) that from the Leica M3 was both a viewfinder and a distance measurer so you could frame and focus precisely at the same time.

A traditional rangefinder of high mechanical precision and optical quality is no longer necessary. It's a great piece of technology, bordering being an art piece.

 

San Francisco. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
San Francisco. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

An electronic viewfinder, however, has the advantage that you can preview the image depth of field, exposure and tonality/colors like if it was a final image. Further, by looking through a viewfinder rather than on a screen of a smartphone or the back of a camera, the image fills the viewing field as if it was a cinema screen. It is very easy to work with.

The Leica Q2 electronic viewfinder has the interesting feature that if you electronically change the lens from a 28mm to a 35mm, 50mm or 75mm, you still see the 28mm frame, but with crop lines for 35mm, 50mm or 75mm. This way you can see what is happening outside the frame, just as on a traditional rangefinder where the viewing field of the optical viewfinder is larger than the actual crop you are photographing.

Whilst reviewers have been raving about the high quality of the Leica Q2 rangefinder, I notice the actual amount of pixels and colors less. I was actually fine with the electronic viewfinder on the Leica Digilux 2 that was both rough in resolution and way off in colors (very bluish and not accurate colors). Thing is that you get used to any screen as part of the workflow: You learn to see when it is right, rather than requiring that you can see the final image quality (which is never possible anyway).

For me, the EVF has become a strong tool in that 1) it is always the same light inside the viewfinder (contrary to viewing a screen on the back of a camera in dark or sunshine), 2) the live picture gives a good idea how contrast, exposure and all will look like in the final picture and 3) I get a preview of the just taken picture in this "closed viewfinder environment" which I can use to judge the exposure and the overall picture.

I don't depend on the EVF or LCD to tell me how the final result looks. It's impossible - in my opinion - to judge sharpness, composition, potential, colors and all on a camera. That is done when you get it onto a computer screen (and some times you even have to make a print to see what to think of it).

My Leica Q2 is set to 1 second preview. I just need an instant (like 1/10 of a second) to see it and then I want to see my life view of what is in front of the camera again. I can always call the image I just took up on the screen again if I want to check it in details. Blocking the viewfinder for a second is a little too much.

 


Tunia Krzyszto out and about with the Leica M. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Tunia Krzyszto out and about with the Leica M. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

How I use the EVF on the Leica Q2

What I do use the EVF for, is to frame the subject and to preview the exposure. I use the EVF to focus and patiently waiting for the right moment to press the shutter release. Later I will see on the computer if it all worked out.

I can't tell anything else from the EVF, and even in a very bad EVF (which the Leica Q2 is certainly not), you get used to how it must look in the EVF or on the LCD for it to end up being right. Some LCD screens or EVF's are darker and you then know it has to look a little dark to be right on the computer. The main reason to have a preview on a camera for me is to see if the exposure is right. The rest you see later.

 

Adjusting the display brightness

In the under Display Settings, the LCD is adjusted.

I have set my LCD to Medium Low but according to the image comparison below, it should rather be set to Low (and so should the EVF if I could).

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 

EVF sharpness

The EVF has some extra sharpness that you see in the preview but not in the actual photo. If you point the Leica Q2 towards black text on a white page in a book and focus, you will see an outline of white (over-sharpening) around the black letters. In the actual photo, this is not there.

It's good to notice this effect because when you focus on a subject, the many small white outlines around everything makes the image look more sparkling and more bright than it actually will in the final picture.

If you have the preview set to 1 second, you can easily compare the preview in the EVF and the preview of the actual photo you get tight after and notice the difference.

 

         
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Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

How to use the LCD and EVF on the Leica Q2

I have set my Leica Q2 to LCD Off so I only use viewfinder and the screen on the back of the camera is not on when I walk about.

I only use the screen on the back for menu settings, and to view photos I have already taken.

 

LCD touch screen

The Leica Q2 has a touch screen but frankly I don't use it much. You can doublt-tab a preview and see it in enlargement. Youc an also set the camera so you can focus and take a photo by clicking on for example a face on the screen.

The Menu of the Leica Q2 doesn't react to touch so you cant change menu settings with your finger, only with the arrows and the thumbs wheel.

One of the secrets about touch screens on cameras is that the majority of small screens today are made as touch screens because of the demand from smartphone producers. So for a camera manufacturer like Leica Camera AG to get a screen that is not touch, it's really difficult. That is one reason touch screens are so 'popular on cameras'.

Emmy Awards red carpet. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Emmy Awards red carpet. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

       
 

Light metering on the Leica Q2

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

Light metering on the Leica Q2

The Leica Q2 has three methods of helping you measuring the light to get the exposure correct:


Center-weighted
 
Spot Metering
  Multi-field
   
               
               
               
               
               
               

Measures the center of the frame and adjust the exposure so as to make the average of all included in the center circle middle-gray.
 
Measures just a single spot in the middle and adjust the exposure so as to make what is seen in that spot middle-gray.
 
Measures a number of fields of the overall image, and based on how many highlights, and where they are, the Leica Q tries to choose the correct exposure.

 

I've been using Multi-field the most because the Leica Q2 is mostly a reportage camera and you photograph a lot of different and fast-changing subjects.

I sort of decided on this based on how I used the Leica Digilux 2 in the past, and there I used the multi-field metering. On the Leica M cameras I use the Center-Weighted metering as that makes most sense on that camera type (see page 31 of my Leica M 240 article and the Page 17 of my Leica M9 article).

In the Leica Q i find the Multi-field to make the most sense.

 


A note on light metering: As can be seen here not all subject are an average of middle-grey. With this rather simple subject, but tricky lightning, the spot meter hitting the shadow part will light up the whole thing to make that little spot look middle-grey. A lightmeter is always set so that what it think it measures, is a middle-grey scenery. So if you look into a cameras brain, what it is thinking is "if this is middle-grey, then I better set the time to 1/125 and the f-stop to f/2.0." The camera never think, "oh, I see a red wall darker than middle-grey, and with a highlight crossing [oh my!], so I better set time to 1/250 and f-stop to f/4.0 so as to get good contrast and both shadow detail and highlight detail." The camera doesn't think that way; that is what you are there for, the photographer.

The closest you get to this are "intelligent" metering methods such as Multi-field metering, "matrix metering," "multi-zone metering" and such new metering methods where someone try to implement this type of reasoning.

 

The center-weighted metering is useful with manual focusing ont he Leica M, but with Auto Focus it doesn't work that well. That's my experience. It's all good for mixed scenery, but shooting a scene with lots of bright snow around a person skiing, or a portrait with bright buildings behind, this type of metering simply can't comprehend such a scenery that is not even lighted in middle-gray tones. Group photos in grey weather or with the sun coming from behind it can do.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

         
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Manipulating the cameras metering logic

You can use the spot metering to point the small cross in the center of the Leica Q2's finder towards a middle-grey area and lock the light metering (by pressing the shutter half down) and then reframe with that metering locked, before you shoot. The spot metering should be pointed towards a middle-grey area (or similar tonality in blue, green, brown or whatever; it's the middle tone, not the greyness that does it). If you do this you will learn a lot about light in the process, and you will always be able to see in the viewfinders digital preview if it's right or not - and can then move the spot towards a slightly darker or lighter surface till you think it's right. It is a great learning experience about light and light metering, but with AF it is a little tricky because you lock the focus at the same time. But if you shoot for example f/8.0 most of your image is basically in focus anyway and you can play with the spot metering.

But more importantly, I do the same with the multiple field metering (which is the metering I use most of the time) where I point the small square in the center of the viewfinder (called 1-field metering autofocus in the manual) towards that area I want to measure; because even Leica haven't stated how that multiple field metering works, I guess it takes it's primary metering within that small square in the center

But mainly, what I do is that I look in the viewfinder (which is digital why I see a preview of the shot) what the picture will look like. I point that multiple field metering square towards something lighter or darker so as to fast and simple tell the camera to correct the metering up or down. And I am aware that I am also choosing a focusing distance, so I choose a subject at the right distance and with the right mix of colors to get the exposure right as well. When I press the release button half down, I have locked that and can change my composition and frame without loosing focus or exposure.

he alternative is to shoot the first series on Auto, look in the bottom of the viewfinder while shooting and notice that the camera goes for example f/1.7 and 1/250, then go manual by turning the shutter-wheel to 1/125 and shoot a series that will be brighter, and then eventually turn the wheel again to 1/500 to get a brighter as well.

The thumbs wheel is also there, and if I could get used to it or convince my self thumb wheels for focus adjustment is not an evil thing, that one could be used too. But I happen to think thumb wheels are evil.

The multiple field metering is very often correct , but it's you and not the camera who take the picture, so you're free to manipulate the cameras logic towards your desired result. And the above is a way to do so.

 

Leica Q test photos
The Litteraturhaus in Fasanenstraße in Berlin. Leica Q with Leica 28mm Summilux-Q ASPH f/1.7.(200 ISO, 1/800, f/1.7, Auto WB). © 2015-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Locking light metering separate from auto focus (AEL)

On the 3rd screen of the MENU you find the Zoom/Lock-Button and if you set it to AEL (Auto Exposure Lock), you will be able to lock a light metering by pressing in the "zoom" button by your thumb (above the display and to the left of the thumb rest on the back of the camera.

It goes like this: You point the camera to an area wher you want to pick up the light, then lock that metering by pressing in the Zoom/Lock-Button and holding it in. Then you turn the camera to the subject and press the shutter relase down a little. This will activate the focus only and not affect the light metering.

 

    AEL lock:
 
Exposure based on the full frame   AEL lock by turning the camera down (and away from the strong backlight)

 

Why use AEL to lock the exposure setting?

Say you are photographing a sofa with windows behind. The sofa is basically in shade but the light meter picks up the light coming in from behind as well; thus changes the exposure for the much light to make the overall scene midtone. The result is that the sofa is under-exposed.

Cameras' light meters doesn't distinguish what is the subjec and what is the background; not even if the subject is bright or dark. They just make the average into a midtone.

To compensate for this, you point the camera down to the floor or any other subject that has the same amount of light on it as the actual subject (the person in the sofa), lock that exposure and then re-compose to the frame you wanted. Now the shutter release button will zoom in on the person and the camera will not change the exposre.

 

    AEL lock:
 
Exposure based on the full frame   AEL lock by turning the camera down (and away from the strong backlight)

 

Exposure compensation with the thumb wheel

Let me begin with saying that the thumb wheel on the Leica Q2 is a great example of excellent design. It is so well-designed that you forget it is there. It's never in the way and is only touched or turned by accident when the camera gets some use and the wheel is a little softer in its movement. It is very easy to use when you wish to. It sits in the exact right place. And it feels good. It actually feels ... amazing!

Exposure compensation with a thumb wheel is a bad habit from other cameras that Leica Q2 now have adopted as part of the concept. The reason exposure compensation "wheel" has come about is that most cameras are so difficult to change exposure on that the manufacturers invented this new way.

The "right" way to compensate for exposure is to change the shutter time on the wheel on top that shows the shutter times. If the camera shows 1/250 but it looks too dark, you change the wheel with the shutter time control on top of the camera to 1/180 or 1/125.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

On the Leica Q2 the designers have decided to go with whole stops of 1/60 - 1/125 - 1/250 and so forth and not have 1/2 stops on the wheel (on most Leica cameras you can set the shutter wheel between for example 1/125 and 1/250 which will be 1/180 second).

Hence, the exposure compensation wheel is a "necessary" if you want to adjust with 1/3 of a stop.

This bad bad habit of compensating with a thumbs wheel is something I will keep fighting. It is simply wrong! (And let's see if I ever change my mind on this).

 

Shutter time

The shutter time dial on top of the camera goes from 30 seconds to 1/2000 as mechanical shutter, but in Aperture mode (the A on the dial on top), the shutter actually goes up to 1/40,000 of a second (which Leica refers to as shutter). That is fivet stops extra and will allow you to use the Leica Q2 in sunshine at f/1.7 and 100 ISO or 200 ISO within the shutter time, without getting over-exposed images.

 

Electronic shutter

The Leica Q2 has mechanical shutter up to 1/2000 second. Above that, all the way to 1/40,000 it is an electronic shutter.

The banding from flickering light (that the eye nomral doesn't see) can be visible with electronic shutter. But usually the flickering from light can be seen in the EVF. If you are below 1/2000 of a second, the flickering won't be visible in the photo. If you are above, the flickering you notice in the viewfinder may be visible in the photo as well (in one form or another).

One way to avoid it is to change settings so the shutter time comes down to 1/2000 or slower.

 

You will notice some banding that in part be explained by the electronic shutter under influence of the flickering from fluorescent light, the influence of LED light (both for television and as special effect in the room).  Leica Q sample photo
You will notice some banding that in part be explained by the electronic shutter under influence of the flickering from fluorescent light, the influence of LED light (both for television and as special effect in the room).

 

 

Manually setting the Exposure to 1/40,000

The shutter speed dial only goes to 1/2000, but the shutter speed of the Leica Q2 actually goes as high as 1/40,000.

The exposure can be set manually to 1/40,000, 1/32,000,1/16000, 1/12,500, 1/10,000, 1/8000, 1/6400, 1/5000, 1/4,000, 1/3200 and 1/2500 by setting the shutter speed dial to 1/2000 and then use the thumb wheel to turn to the desired shutter speed.

A similar method can be used to reach in-between shutter speeds of for example 1/400 in that if the shutter speed dial is set to 1/250, you can turn the thumb wheel till you see 1/400 in the viewfinder.

You have to press the INFO button (that’s the round one on the right of the screen) till you get an image in the viewfinder where the shutter speed is shown in the bottom. Else you won’t know where you turn the dial to.

This is applicable (and very good, actually) when you use an external light meter what will measure the light and tell you what your exact shutter speed should be.

The Leica Q2 with the lens shade that comes with the camera. I find the camera design "very decisive" by which I refer to the simplicity and the cuts in shapes. © Thorsten Overgaard.The Leica Q2 with the lens shade that comes with the camera. I find the camera design "very decisive" by which I refer to the simplicity and the cuts in shapes. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

       
 

The Leica Q2 lens shade

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       
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The Leica Q2 lens shade

The lens shade is mounted on the outside screw mount of the lens front. You have to remove a decoration ring before you can mount the lens shade.

I usually use lens shades as (the only) protection of my lenses. The lens shade is there to block out light that might cause reflections, halo effects and flare if there is a strong light source outside the frame that might hit the lens (from the side).

In my experience, outside light is seldom a problem with wide angle lenses (but can be with tele lenses). I don't use UV filters because they can cause reflections and collect two layers extra of surfaces to keep clean. And I like to look at the "naked" lens surface. I've had to get Leica to replace front glass twice on two lenses, and the cost was within what I could confront and afford (€250 for a 35/14 FLE front lens and €550 for a 90/2 ASPH front lens).

With the Leica Q2 I started out not using the lens shade because it makes the camera less compact and because I can't get a ND filter onto the lens without removing the lens shade first. But as I have moved on, I have actually put on the lens shade to protect the camera.

The Leica classic metal Leica lens cap that comes with the Leica Q2 is beautiful. It's made so it fits both on the front of the lens shade and the front of the lens. I personally consider the lens shade to be enough protection, so I never add the lens cap.

I ordered a 49mm ventilated lens shade (made in China) to see how that would work with the Leica Q. It looked awfull, so I decided to have my own designed, and since September 2016 it has been available here and also works for the Leica Q2.

 

The ventilated lens shade I designed for the Leica Q is now available in Black Paint, RED and Silver from my website. As you can easily see in this picture, the ventilated shade sits on the outside of the lens (like the original) and leave space to easily change filters on the lens' filter thread. In the picture is the red calfskin camera pouch from Tie Her Up and a strap from @ybputro.
The ventilated lens shade I designed for the Leica Q and Leica Q2 is now available in Black Paint, RED, matte black, Safari green and Silver from my website. As you can easily see in this picture, the ventilated shade sits on the outside of the lens (like the original) and leave space to easily change filters on the lens' filter thread. In the picture is the red calfskin camera pouch from Tie Her Up and a strap from @ybputro.

 

         
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Improved battery: 100% more power

Leica Camera AG have made a smart move in that they have taken the battery from the Leica SL (15.6 Wh) and implemented it in the Leica Q2. The Leica Q uses 8.7 Wh batteries, so this improves the power available almost doubled, making it possible to take 600 photos on a battery on the Leica Q2, versus 300 photos on a battery on the Leica Q.

 

Auto Off and battery life on the Leica Q2

I have set the battery time to 2 minutes Auto Off, the preview to 1 second and LCD off (if in use) to 30 seconds.

I never turn the camera Off but always have it on Continuous mode (the C next to Single and Off) as the camera will shut itself down after two minutes.

 

 

 

       
 

Video with the Leica Q2

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

Though, the Leica Q (model 116) of June 2015 was born with 4K video, Leica Camera AG decided not to put it into use due to battery and heat considerations. In the Leica Q2 we now have full 4K video, which is nice, but also a demand in this time and age where even the smartphones have 4K video and cinema movies are made with 8K Panasonic resolution.

 

Architect Irwin Miller of Los Angeles makes video short stories like the above with the Leica Q that he quickly edits in Final Cut Pro the same evening and then share with friends and family via text messages.

 

How to make sense of doing video with the Leica Q2

Doing video on a camera with quto-focus is never easy, and then there is the sound that comes from the two built-in stereo microphones on top of the camera. All in all this easily results in video recordings where the auto-focus changes when it's not supposed to, and sound where the users brething is very prominent in the recording.

The problem with video is that you soon want a large external screen to work with focus and all on, and external microphones to ensure proper sound. And while "auto-focus" sounds comforting, the fact is that professional video and cinema movies are done with manual focus.

The settings to make Video work on the Leica Q2 (and Leica Q):

To do video on the Leica Q2, the AF has to be turned on, and the 1-Point AF set to AFs.

If you set the AF to Continuous (AFc), the Leica Q2 will keep wobbling in focus trying to find new focus all the time.

You may also use Manual Focus and adjust focus as you move on; whenever you turn the focus ring, you see focus peaking in the viewfinder so you can focus accurately (the video continues to record full-frame).

You can also set the camera on a tripod or table and manual focus, to do an interview for example.

The Optical Image Stabilization of the Leica Q2 should only be used for video, not for stills.

       
 

Vlogging with the Leica Q2

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       
  More resources:    
  Leica Fotos App + in-app purchase of the remote feature.    
       

 

Here I'm setting the focus point to my face and can then press record and put the iPhone down as a monitor so I can see what the camera records while I am talking.
Here I'm setting the focus point to my face and can then press record and put the iPhone down as a monitor so I can see what the camera records while I am talking.


The Leica Photos App is another way to make video with Leica Q2 as the app offers (as an add-on) that you can remote control the video of the Leica Q2. This is great for using an iPad or smartphone as monitor. You set the focus point on the smartphone, then press record and can see what the camera records as it does so.

The problem with video for vlogging (blogging with short videos) and other similar where you film yourself, is to see what is happening, make sute the focus stays on the face, and to control the camera.

 

Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. Leica Q. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles. Leica Q. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

       
 

Leica Fotos app for sharing

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

The Leica Fotos App can be used to connect to the Leica Q2 and transfer photos to the phone. Thsi way you can instantly transfer photos and add them to Instagram, share them, and more.

 

Bluetooth or WiFi

The Leica Q2 has Bluetooth, which was supported from April 2019 in the Leica Fotos App. This gives the possibility for even faster and easier connection with a smartphone - and more importantly; uses much less energy than WiFi.

How-to connect a Leica camera to iPhone Leica Photos App

 

 

The tradition of Leica 28mm lenses

The 28mm lenses from Leica Camera AG traditionally has been of very high quality. I have speculated before if 28mm are very easy to make and if that could be the reason why Leica just make them very good, not matter the price. The Leica 28mm Elmarit-M ASPH f/2.8 ($1,980) is an really outstanding lens, and the almost twice as expensive Leica 28mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 [$3,780) is just a one stop better and offer the extra DOF (depth of field). The even more expensive Leica 28mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4 ($5,959) is also an extraordinary lens, with some extra soul to it - one of my favorite lenses. Look for samples at my Leica 28mm page. Also, Jono Slack did an article with samples based on the limited edition of the 28/1.4 that came out in May 2014.

The lens designer at Leica Camera, Peter Karbe, told me, "The 28mm lenses all has the same performance. The f-stop is the only differnce", referring then to the range of Leica M 28mm lenses.

The point I am making is that 28mm seems to be a lens format Leica has completely down how to make. Any of them are very good.

Leica 28mm Elmarit-M f/2.8 sample photo
Leica M9 with 28mm Elmarit-M ASPH f/2.8. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The 28mm on the Leica Digilux 2 (the 5MP digital camera released in 2004) was also very good, even it was a 28-90mm zoom f/2.0 zoom lens. Leica zoom lenses (except for the ones Minolta made for them in the 1980's) are known for being just as good at any focal length as the fixed focal length lenses. It's something that has been known to be true for many years.

 

My portrait of Former weapons inspector Dr. Hans Blix was made at 28-90mm f/2.0 at 28mm f/2.8 with the Leica Digilux 2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
My portrait of Former weapons inspector Dr. Hans Blix was made at 28-90mm f/2.0 at 28mm f/2.8 with the Leica Digilux 2
. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Young lady attending a wedding in Aarhus, Denmark. Leica Q with Leica 28mm Summilux-Q ASPH f/1.7. (800 ISO, 1/6400, f/1.7 with B+W 3-stop ND filter. Converted to monochrom in Lightroom from the DNG file.). 
© 2015 Thorsten Overgaard.
Young lady attending a wedding in Aarhus, Denmark. Leica Q with Leica 28mm Summilux-Q ASPH f/1.7. (800 ISO, 1/6400, f/1.7 with B+W 3-stop ND filter. Converted to monochrom in Lightroom from the DNG file.).
© 2015-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The 28mm on the Leica Q2 is outstanding

Without having gone into much detail on the actual design of the 28mm Summilux-Q ASPH f/1.7, the performance in the Leica Q2 with a 47Mp sensor behind it, is simply mind-blowing. Such a small lens with such a detailed performance. 

I'm not talking about sharpness only, I am talking about the clarity and 3D feel when you zoom in. As in this example:

 

The full 47MP frame from the Leica Q2.
The full 47MP frame from the Leica Q2.


Zoomed into the 75mm framelines


The details of the photo is mind-blowing.

Lens designer Peter Karbe once told me, "A good photo (or lens) is one that when you go closer, you see more". While it didn't make much sense (because I think one should look at a photo as a photo and not be concerned with how it looks when you zoom in), this is a great example of what he means. 

If you climb onto a mountain top to take a landscape photo, you want it to look pleasing and aesthetic. But once up there, wouldn't it be nice if the lens and camera also captured details you could admire in detail once you get down?

For some things you want to be able to zoom in and see more details, for others (like a face), you'd rather not get too many details. 

In any case, the 28mm Summilux f/1.7 on the Leica Q2, together with the sensor, can do this.

 

 

Leica 28mm lens comparison


Leica 28mm lens comparison

  Leica 28mm
Summilux-M
ASPH f/1.4
Leica 28mm
Summicron-M
ASPH f/2.0
Leica 28mm
Elmarit-M
ASPH f/2.8
Leica 28mm
Summaron-M
f/5.6
Leica Q2 28mm
Summilux-Q
ASPH f/1.7
Year Model 11 668
2015 -

Model 11 604
2000 - 2016
Model
11 672
2016 -

Model 11 606
2006 - 2016
Model 11 677
2016 -

2016 -

Model 11 695

2015 - 2019 (Leica Q)
2019 -
(Leica Q2)
Focus Manuel Manuel Manuel Manuel AF and Manuel
Aperture f/1.4 - f/16 f/2.0 - f/16 f/2.8 - f/22 f/5.6 - f/22 f/1.4 - f/16
Mount M Bayonet M Bayonet M Bayonet M Bayonet Fixed on Leica Q and Leica Q2
Closest distance 70 cm 70 cm 70 cm 100 cm 30 cm
Macro mode No No No No 15 - 30 cm
Weight 440g 270g 180g 165g
including camera
670g
including camera
Lens shade Included
(Metal screw)


(Snap-on plastic on model 11 604
or Leica ventilated
lens hood 12 466 fits the 11 604 model.
)

Metal screw hood on
model 11 672


(Snap-on plastic on model 11 606)

Metal screw hood on
model 11 677

Included
(Brass painted black)
Included
(Metal screw)
Filter size 49mm 46mm 39mm 34mm 49mm
Lens cap Plastic Plastic Plastic   Metal
Price $5,959

Amazon
BH Photo

$3,995

Amazon
BH Photo

$2,195

Amazon
BH Photo
$2,495

Amazon
BH Photo
$4,995
including camera

BH Photo
 
See my
article
       

 

The first Leica 28mm lens

The Leitz 28mm Hector f/6.3 that came out in 1935 in black and chrome for the Leica IIIa was the first ever Leica 28mm lens that came out. Since then Leica have made quire a few 28mm lenses.


Photo by Tom Gill: A Leica IIIc 1938 with the 28mm Hektor f/6.3, the first Leica 28mm lens.

 

 

OIS for video (Optical Image Stabilization)

The Leica Q2 has Optical Image Stabilization for video, which can be helpful for amateurs that doesn't use tripods for video. Without OIS the shaking on video can be quite visible. You can apply some sort of Image Stabilization when using Final Cut Pro and even when uploading to YouTube, but here it is in the camera which is helpful.

Professional video cameras and motion picture cameras doesn't have Image Stabilization.

 

OIS for still photos (is a no-no)

The Leica Q2 also offer the possibility for OIS for still photos, and by default it is set to Off from the factory. And it should stay that way. It will degrade the image quality a little, and there is no reason to turn ON Image Stabilization for a 28mm lens on a camera that goes high in ISO.

Image Stabilization is usually for tele lenses where where small movements at low shutter speeds can cause blur. I can't think of any condition where there would visible blur on a 28mm lens.

There is an ongoing discussion if OIS degrade image quality. In theory, of course it does. But usually you use OIS when not using it would be a worser choice.

OIS on the Leica Q doesn't seem to delay focus or exposure (there is no wait for it to "kick in" as in other systems).

Leave it off.


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

Image optimization in the background

The Leica Q2 applies Image Optimization/Distortion Correction to the images to make the overall quality and sharpness of the images better.

"There is a digital distortion correction for the images," product manager of the Leica Q2, Peter Kruschewski, told me. "We decided to implement it (in Leica Q and Leica Q2) in order to maximize the image quality while minimizing the size of the lens."


SDC Software Distortion Correction for Leica Q
In Lightroom the correction profile for the Leica 28mm Summilux-Q ASPH f/1.7 is applied automatically and cannot be turned off.
If you go into Develop mode in Lightroom and look under Lens Correction > Profile, you will see a message in the botton with an exclamation mark. When you click on that, you get this message (above).

 

This Distortion Correction (SDC Software Distortion Correction) is independent of the OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) which by default is turned off from the factory.

 

Landscape photography with the Leica Q2 and polarizing filter

The 28mm traditionally is a good lens for landscape photography, and the Leica Q2 isn't going to take up a lot of space.

A polarizer filter is used to remove the bluish haze you see in the air and which usually blur out distant subjects like mountains and buildings. A polarizer filter is also used to reduce or remove reflections in windows and any reflective surface like screens, cars, bottles, etc.

When you rotate the filter, the reduction of light rays change and the reflections are reduced gradually.

 


Leica Universal Top (Linear) Polarizer Glass Filter. This one is made so you can swing up the filter to see through a traditional viewfinder how the effect till be. You will need the 49mm adapter as well.

The Polarizer Glass Filter for M lenses is a good fit for the Leica Q2 if you want to use the filter for other lenses as well. The filter comes with a 46mm and 39mm ring, and then you have to remember to buy the 49mm adapter ring (Leica No 14218) as well to be able to use it n the Leica Q2.

If you only want to use a polarizer filter on the Leica Q2, you just need to look for a circular polarizing filer size 49mm. B+W makes a high transmission Polarizer that is a good option.

 

Circular or linear polarizing filter for the Leica Q2?

Circular. Read this article on Luminous Landscape about what polarizing filters does and why you need circular when you have an AF camera with TTL (Through The Lens metering).


Should you ever need to put the Leica Q2 on a tripod, the Leica table tripod is a good solution for a compact way to stabilize the camera, yet with ball-head so you can fine-tune the position.
Should you ever need to put the Leica Q2 on a tripod, the Leica table tripod is a good solution for a compact way to stabilize the camera, yet with foldable foot and ball-head (bought separately) so you can fine-tune the position.

 

Using Leica Q on a tripod

When you put the Leica Q on a tripod (should you ever do so), you’ll see that the battery can be changed without moving the camera. That’s good because it’s always annoying when you have a great setup, that you have to disassemble the great setup in the middle of it because you ran out of power.

The SD card cannot be changed without taking the camera off the tripod, so if you do video or stills, just make sure the SD card is large enough to hold the video footage or the stills you want to do.

I don’t do a lot of tripod work, but I do have the Leica table tripod and an even smaller one in case I need to stabilize a camera.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The Leica Q Macro Lens

The 28mm lens on the Leica Q go as close as 30cm (1 feet), but then you can turn the lens into Macro mode and that opens up for a whole new focusing scale where you can go as close as 17 cm (1/2 feet) to 30 cm (1 feet).

I'm sure someone will find some 49mm macro filters to screw onto the Leica 28mm Summilux lens that will enable even more enlargement. So far Leica hasn't made any. They did ELPRO macro lenses to add onto for example the Leica Digilux 2, and those are extremely sought-after. I saw one on eBay the other day for $500 (I have one in case I need money for my retirement).

 

In Macro mode you can go as close as 17 cm (1/2 feet). © Thorsten Overgaard.
In Macro mode you can go as close as 17 cm (1/2 feet). © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 

       
 

The Leica Glow and Leica philosophy on lenses

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

The "Leica Glow" is something you hear spoken about from time to time. When you use Leica every day, you don't notice it that much. If you use other lenses and then see a Leica photo, most people clearly notice that something is "glowing".

I can't recall that Leica Camera AG ever have described what this might be.

I have one explanation that I usually give: When I was scanning slide film photos for a book some years ago, I used a Nikon scanner ($1,200) and a Imacon scanner ($14,000). I used the Nikon for the less important ones as it would scan images in less than a minute. The Imacon I used for the images I really wanted to sing, because the Imacon takes 8 minutes to scan one image.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Same size of scan, different scanners. Imacon has been known for making the worlds best scanners and still does (they were bought by Hasselblad some years ago).

I decided to test the quality, so I did a scan of the same image on both scanners. When I zoomed in to 100% I was horrified: The Nikon scanning was sharper than the Imacon scan!

But then when I zoomed out to a larger potion of the image, the Imacon suddenly appeared sharper, more alive and more 3D. Fresh, I would say. And when I zoomed out to the actual size of the image on the screen, the Imacon was so much more alive, sharper, better colors and more sparkling details.

Imacon and Leica are the only two optics/photography companies where I have seen this "philosophy" on light rays. If I look at a Zeiss image, I see extreme sharpness but an overall dead image. For me, that is optics designed by a computer. What I think distinguish Leica and Imacon is that some human make decisions on the road to the final design.

A computer can figure out the sharpest lens, but only a human can figure out a lens that makes things look alive.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

             
 

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Leica Q (100 ISO, f/17, 1/1000). © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q (100 ISO, f/17, 1/1000). © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

This might be a accurate, or less accurate description of the phenomena. If you are into Leica lenses, you know of the Mandler era: That is lenses designed by Dr. Walter Mandler who worked at Leica Camera AG and who's lens designs are characterized by a soft look, but at the same time very detailed. He did the 75/1.4, the 50/2 version II, the Noctilux f/1.0 and many more lenses. If you said his lenses didn't focus on sharp edges, but on many details, you would be on the right track.

Since then, Peter Karbe has taken over and is the one in charge of the design of Leica lenses these days. The new lenses has much more control of micro-details, light-rays and the overall result is higher contrast, more accurate colors and an overall apparent sharpness. One other thing that distinguish Leica lenses from other brands is that they cut no corners in lens design and production. This is why - surprisingly - new lens designs are better than older ones. "They don't build them as in the old days" is true for many things in life, but not for Leica lenses.

Sharpness is not a sharp edge, but is perceived sharpness; meaning that the idea that something is sharp and detailed due to the light conditions. It comes down to the control of light rays (Red, Green and Blue) and how they meet on the sensor plane. See my article "What is Sharpness in Photography?" here.

If one have tried different binocular brands, one will know that Leica binoculars make you see almost better than with your own eyes. Bright, colorful,contrasty, well-defined and relaxed. Same philosophy.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

During an interview in 2013 with Peter Karbe on the Leica lens design and the Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0 he said something that might lead us to the human factor in lens design:

Peter Karbe: "At Leica we aim to reduce and minimize aberration within each element itself, with each surface and so forth. That is the concept and thinking behind everything we do."

"Look at the M system. We aim to keep it compact and each element has a certain task and this need to be selected carefully. That is the general description and the reason we try so hard."

So any other lens designer could do this, or do you have an extra secret?

”They need to understand why, and they need to know how to do that. That is our history of ideas at Leica. We have a history of ideas for photographic lenses. Max Berek (1886-1949) designed the first Leica 50mm f/3.5 lens for the Ur-Leica that Oskar Barnack made in 1911. That is our heritage. We learned from that."

"Everybody at Leica try to learn from that which others did before us,” he smiles. “It’s not learned at a university. We learned from them. Our first lens designer was Max Berek. His concept was to reduce the aberration of each element, or of each lens surface.“

 

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Electron night in Denmark. Leica Q. © 2015-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.
Electron night in Denmark. Leica Q. © 2015-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Black and white image quality of the Leica Q

First off, I am exited that the DNG files from the Leica Q2 very easily are simply converted to black & white in Lightroom or Capture One Pro, and that's about it.

What I do generally is that I finish the editing of the color image from the DNG, then I make a Virtual Copy in Lightroom or Capture One Pro, and then I make that copy into b&w.

 

Chasteau Marmont in West Hollywood. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Chasteau Marmont in West Hollywood. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

I often use my own presets for Lightroom, or Styles for Capture One Pro, to get the most pleasing 'translation of color into b&w'. Black and white is a translation of colors into a monochrome tone, so a red could be dark or light, depending on the engine behind it. In Lightroom there's a big difference between 'desaturationg' or clicking b&w, or use the 'Monochrome' setting. I prefer the 'desaturation', but in reality I prefer my own preset better (whihc is based on the way the Leica M9 made b&w tones).

In Capture One Pro, the 'desaturation' will work, but again, I use my my own styles mostly.

I never use the Leica Q2 to make black and white. You can set the Leiac Q2 to do DNG and JPG, and then choose the JPG to be black and white. It's cool that you can do it, but I generally find the black and white from the Leica Q2 to be too 'washed-out' tones. The skin tones are just too flat. So use the DNG and translate it to b&w in editing.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Color image quality of the Leica Q2

I was rather pleased with the colors of the Leica Q, and the Leica Q2 is even better. It is quite visible to the eye that the Leica Q2 sensor and image quality is very good. This is also confirmed in the DoX test. They test all new camera sensors and rate them, and the Leica Q2 is in the very top.

More important, and more down-to-earth applicable, it's very easy to take great photos with the Leica Q2. The DNG (raw) files from the Leica Q2 are somehow very close to final images very quick to finalize - surprisingly faster and easier to get right than with other cameras.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

The JPG quality of the Leica Q2

There was some forum discussions about the look of the Leica Q2 "out of camera JPG files" when the camera came out. I did not participate in these as I don't really see a need to photograph JPG straight out of camera from a 47MP camera. They should be recorded in DNG and edited in Lightroom or Capture One Pro.

I do (secretly) admire the very few people I meet who doesn't give a heck about raw DNG files and simply photograph JPG and thus save a lot of work editing photographs. They also miss out on a lot of improvements they could possibly make by spending time, software-education and all on editing their DNG files. But how easy and careless it would be to just take photos and use them as is. It's a possibility, I'm saying, but in the same breath I will also say that photographing in DNG and editing them in a software will give you the best results by far.

 

Chasteau Marmont in West Hollywood. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Chasteau Marmont in West Hollywood. Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

DNG versus JPG in the Leica Q2

I see no reason to use other than the DNG file from the camera. It's better quality than the JPG and allow more adjustments. Also for black and white, I use the DNG that I first edit to look good in colors, then I make a virtual copy and adjust that to black and white.

The camera can handle quite a bit of DNG files in the buffer, so there is not really any excuse for photographing and using the JPG file.

In some case I have set my cameras to do (color) DNG and (black & white) JPG at the same time. I tried in the Leica Q and Leica Q2 but quickly decided to simply photograph DNG files.

 

 

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It's not the same as Leica M

The Leica Q2 is for reportage and the Leica M is for art and reportage. I think it can be said as simple as that. What I miss in the Leica Q2 isn't speed, reliability, quality or anything. It's when compared to the Leica M photos I did at the same time and I saw an entire different level of aesthetics.

The Leica M is for creating photographs, the Leica Q2 is for capturing events and moments. If the two cameras wasn't from the same family, such a comparison would be completely unfair. The Leica M invites to thoughtful and aesthetic photography like no other camera.

But that was what I noticed, and what will be a deciding point every time I have to decide which camera to bring. Do I want to bring the Leica Q2 to get it all with me home, or will I bring the Leica M so I don't miss some beautiful photographs?

 

Leica M: Election night with Leica M and Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. Mette Frederiksen, Danish Prime Minister to be. © 2015 Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica M: Election night with Leica M and Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. Mette Frederiksen, Danish Prime Minister to be. © 2015 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Election night with Leica Q. Danish Prime Minister to be Mette Frederiksen. © 2015-2019 Thorsten Overgaard.
Election night with Leica Q. Danish Prime Minister to be Mette Frederiksen. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Now, lets not fool our self. It has to do with a shooting style as well, and if one wants to adopt or create an artistic style with the Leica Q2, utilizing the DOF and the possibilities that 28mm super wide lens gives, that too is possible. Choosing a Leica Q2 or Leica M to begin with, instead of the mandatory Canon or Nikon dSLR with a zoom lens, already say something about character and what you aim to make.

It has to do with access and how close you can get as well. Or how far or close you decide to be.

 

 

Made in Germany

The Leica Q2 is being assembled in Wetzlar, Germany. Not many Leica products are. The big Leica factory in Portugal manufacture almost everything which is then sent to Wetzlar for the final adjustments and quality checks. The Leica X is made in Vietnam and likewise ssent to Wetzlar for the final adjustments and quality checks. Only the Leica Q2, the Noctilux lenses, the 50mm APO-Summicron and the Leica Cine lenses are actually fully made in Wetzlar.

 

The entrance to the Leica Camera factory in Portugal.
The entrance to the Leica Camera factory in Portugal.

 

The Leica Camera "mothership" in Wetzlar, Germany. Read my article here.
The Leica Camera "mothership" in Wetzlar, Germany. Read my article here.

 

 

Small camera, Large print

The original slogan of Oskar Barnack when he made the first Leica in 1908 was "small negative, large print". The camera was small and portable (which was a brand-new concept back then), and the lenses were designed to be of such quality that one could enlarge the negative to a large print. Hence, Oskar Barnack also had to invent and design an enlarger for the darkroom so one could enlarge the prints.

With the Leica Q and Leica Q2, this philosophy rolled out in a very logical way: a 24 MP and 47MP sensor on camera with a 28mm f/1.7 lens – and then the possibility of "digital crop" in the camera. Hence, looking through the viewfinder one will see either a 28mm, 35mm or 50mm picture (and in the Leica Q2, a 75mm picture) depending on which setting one uses.

 


Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

While this concept hasn't been widely popular amongst users (who generally think that if they have a 24MP or 47MP sensor, the images should all be 24 or 47megapixels), I like the concept. With 47MP, I think you will see that you can crop the picture quite a bit, without missing anything. But you have to change your mindset to it.

In my article, "Small camera, Large prints (and Large lenses)", I discuss this with lens designer Peter Karbe of Leica Camera AG. He has long contemplated and prepared lens designs for much more resolution in future sensors. The Leica L lenses are prepared for much more than 100 megapixel sensors, and so was the 28mm Summilux on the Leica Q2 obviously. We see that now, but Peter Karbe knew it already 5-6 years ago when his team designed it.

 

When the first rangefinder cameras came out a little over 100 years ago (as seen on top of this 'traditional camera' of the times), the camera became small and portable. It was a breand-new concept.
When the first rangefinder cameras came out a little over 100 years ago (as seen on top of this 'traditional camera' of the times), the camera became small and portable. It was a breand-new concept.

 

         
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Get used to it

In other words, start getting used to the idea of a compact camera with a fixed wide angle lens that also captures stunning, high-resolution, rich and detailed 35mm (30MP), 50mm (16MP) and 75mm tele images (9MP).

Or a 28mm lens and camera with so much resolution power that you can take one corner of the image and call it a picture.

 

© Thorsten Overgaard.
© Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Your smile all the way to your fingertips

The Leica Q2 is different. It’s ahead and it is simple and it is smart.

Leica have made a best-selling camera that doesn't try to be an iPhone and doesn't try to be an Audi. It’s simply a Leica camera, and it simply works.

 

Thorsten Overgaard with the Leica Q2. © Ealden Escanan.
Thorsten Overgaard with the Leica Q2. © Ealden Escanan.

 

 

       
 

Where and when can I get a Leica Q2...?

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

In April-May-June 2019 there had been shipped an estimated 200 Leica Q2 cameras a week worldwide. As time has gone by, the Leica Q2 has become easily available, and now you of course can find it second-hand (and even sometimes brand new in the box even the model was replaced by the Leica Q3 in May 2023). The Leica Q2 Monochrom is still a current model.

The Leica dealer Ken Hansen New York Inc usually have them available for shipping same day, as wel as acessories. E-mail him at khpny19@aol.com

Else, when it is hard to get a leica Q or any other Leica product, I would do is contact a smaller dealer that doesn't have a long waiting list. Obviously, "everybody" goes with the large dealers who thus have the longest waiting lists; and so there you are looking at being number 50 or 300. If you just don't care, you can of course also go look at eBay and similar places for new cameras sold at a premium.

I was wondering if some part was missing that prevented Leica from shipping the Leica Q, but that doesn't seem to be the case. There have been a few stops, but generally they drip out of the factory every day. It just looks like a faulty estimate - bordering disaster - of estimated supply chain needs. Many of the parts of the Leica Q2 are not off-the-shelf parts, so the production has to be carefully planned internally, as well as with sub-suppliers. Leica Camera AG might feel they have done so well, but then they must have estimated a much lower market demand than what is the reality.

The Leica Q was difficult to get in a hurry for the first two years after the relase, and then it became easier. Back then Leica "expected to sell a few thousands a year, but the demand was that a month", as I was explained in the headquarter - which explains the difficulties back then. Today it's rather easy to find a Leica Q or Leica Q-P either new or second-hand.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 

The Leica Q or the Leica Q2..?

Right now, there is a choice to get a Leica Q (or Leica Q-P if you like the matte black version) from new, or try to get a Leica Q2.

The Leica Q is still an awesome camera, and it would get you going. Once you upgrade to a Leica Q2, having had the Leica Q would maybe have cost you $1,000 in difference between the new price $3,995 and the second-hand price.

In more practical terms, the Leica Q's 24MP files is easy to deal with, compared to the Leica Q2's 47MP files, and the few improvements on the Leica Q2 over the Leica Q (the viewfinder, diopter adjustment and the battery) wouldn't mean a lot. Probably the biggest setback on the Leica Q would be that every day, you would be spending time checking when you can get the Leica Q2. One reason to bite the bullet and pay a premium price on eBay ($6,000 usually) and just get on with it. In terms of money, it's going to cost the same in the end.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

There are other camera models, like the Ricoh GR, where older models sometimes are more desirable than the newer models. But in the Leica Q they are very similar, and the Leica Q2 features more megapixels, improved dynamic range, and slicker controls.

Leica made the somehow not that awesome choice to reduce the price of the Leica Q from $4,995 to $3,995 when the Leica Q2 was introduced. Well, on one side it's awesome that the new Leica Q2 doesn't cost more than the previous model, the Leica Q, but it also took 20% off the value of all the Leica Q cameras in the second-hand market. Good if you don't have any Leica Q, not so great if you had a Leica Q and planned on selling it to get the Leica Q2. Everything considered, it would almost have been better to introduce the Leica Q2 at $5,559 and leave the Leica Q price alone. Or to sell out every Leica Q before the Leica Q2 had been introduced. One should think that with just-in-time (JIT) production these days, it should be possible to control the phasing out of a model. Or do as Apple does; allow electronics stores to sell older models as "special offers" (except that the trick of that is that consumers think they’re getting the current model at a better price, while it's the previous specifications in a model similar-looking to the current one).

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 

 

       
 

Leica Q2 Monochrom camera review

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

       
 

Leica Q2 Limited Editions

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

The Disney Leica Q2 Edition

March 30, 2023: This limited edition (500 pcs) of Leica Q2 is celebrating 100 years of Walt Disney. Walt Disney used the term "Leica Reel" for what is called "animatics" storyboards, so there is the connection.

Leica Q2 Disney '100 Years of Wonder' is limited to 500 Pieces Worldwide.
Leica Q2 Disney '100 Years of Wonder' is limited to 500 Pieces Worldwide.


The Leica Q2 "Ghost" Edition by Hodinkee

November 15, 2022: This limited edition is made together with the Hodinkee watch platform. They made a Leica M10 version as well in the past, and it ties in with the marketing of the Leica watch. 150 pieces made, price $5,995.00.


Leica Q2 Ghost edition.

 

The Seal + Japan Edition "Dawn"

September 21, 2022: This limited edition (500 pcs) of Leica Q2 is from the singer SEAL and incorporates Japanese made texture that make each camera individual gold/black texture. It also comes with a scarf designed by Annina Roescheisen and a strap with gold inscriptions ofSeal lyrics.Apart from that, it is the same camera as the Leica Q2. The look is different, the performance the same, and the price only $200 above list price for an ordinary Leica Q2 at release time.

Seal is a longtime Leica collector, fan and photographer. At the same time as the release, the Seal photo exhibition opens in the Leica Gallery LA.

 

Seal's "Dawn" Leica Q2 limited edition. Model no 19069.
Seal's "Dawn" Leica Q2 limited edition. Model no 19069.

 

The "Reporter" Q2 Limited Edition

March 3, 2022: It might not look very special, but when you touch the texture of Armid Fiber, it feels like a sort of hand-knitted texture. As it gets used, it changes color and becomes softer. This is a really special edition and very hard to get. The body and lens shade is painted in a green color.

Leica Q2 "reporter" model no 19063.
Leica Q2 "reporter" model no 19063.

 

The Greg Williams & Daniel Craig (James Bond) Leica Q2 Limited Edition

March 2021: This limited edition (750 pcs) of Leica Q2 is beautiful with brass (gold-looking) fittings, and that alone might be the worth the premium price of about 1,000 above the normal black Leica Q2. This is not an actual 007 edition, but a Daniel Craig x Greg Williams edition.

Daniel Craig is James Bond, and a fan of photography and Leica. Greg Williams is a photographer often seen with two Leica Q cameras around the neck as his professional choice of weapon, one resting on top of the chest (above each other as it is in a shorter strap).

The Leica Q2 model 19058.
The Leica Q2 model 19058.

Greg Williams with his two Leica Q cameras he often uses (sometimes Leica SL with 90/2 APO as well).
Greg Williams
with his two Leica Q cameras that he often uses (and some times a Leica SL with 90/2 APO as well).

 

Another 007 camera: Leica also released a 007 edition of the Leica Q2 at the same time as the premiere of the "A Time to Die" movie. A kitch version of the black Leica Q2 with a lens hood saying 007 (model no 19060). Google it if you want to know more.

 

 

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When is the Leica Q3 coming?

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

How did I know you would be asking that? The answer is that the Leica Q3 was released on May 25, 2023.

What you should be worried about yourself, is that once you get a Leica Q or Leica Q2 (or Leica Q3), the next thing you will dream about is the Leica M. Start reading about the Leica M11 here is you want to test your resistance:

 

Read articles about the Leica M11 here.
Read articles about the Leica M11 here.

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

       
 

Quick setup and questions about the Leica Q2

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

Does the Leica Q2 come with SD card?

No, the Leica Q2 unfortunately does not come with an SD card. You should order one, like a 128GB or 256GB card with a 250MB/sec or 300MB/sec speed.

Does the Leica Q2 have buil-in memory?

No, the Leica Q2 does not have any memory built in to store images.

I just got the box with the Leica Q2, what do I do first?

Setting up the Leica Q2 or Leica Q2 Monochrom naturally is exciting and can also be a little confusing with the different parts. Here's a quick quide:

Opening the box

Take out the camera of the box, then
1) Take off the lens cap and store it in the box. You don't need a lens cap. (You are going to use the camera in life. Having a lens cap to protect the camera and have to take it off each time you want to take a picture is like having an iPhone in a leather pouch and have to take it in and out each time you want to use the phone or see what time it is).

2) Open the drawer in the box with the black pouches: One is the battery that you can insert in the camera (it is usually 20%-30% charged so will get you started). If you have a Leica SL, it's the same battery.

3) Another pouch is the battery charger. Put it aside for charging the battery in a bit.

  Use an Apple plug for the Leica cahrger and leave the black cables in the box
  Use an Apple plug for the Leica cahrger and leave the black cables in the box.
   

4) The power cables in the drawer you can leave in there. Use instead an Apple plug to plug your charger into the wall. You can also get a Apple World Travel Adapter Kit from Apple so as to have a compact way to travel the world and always have plugs that fits a Leica charger, iPhoen charger and MacBook charger.

5) Another pouch contains a matal ring? Yes, this you can leave in the box. It is for the lens if you remove the shade. The Leica Q model (2015) came with the lens hood as an accessory, and people wondered how wo put it on, because one had to remove a protective metal ring first. Nobody could figure that out. So the Leica Q2 comes with the lens shade mounted, and only if you take it off, you will discover that there is now an unprotected screw - and that is where you would put the metal ring: To protect the outside screw mount.

6) Take out the camera manual (the thick one) and put it somewhere handy for later. At some point you should look at the camera and study symbols and buttons, and then you'll need the manual to explain what those things are.

7) Find the Quick Guide in the box for the next step of turning on the camera.

 

Turning on the Leica Q2 for the first time

1) Once you switch on the camera, a "welcome jingle" is shown on the screen, and you may enjoy it as it is an one time performance (only played when new firmware is installed):
2) Now set the language you want the menu to be in.
3) Set the current date, the current time, and the time zone (which place in the world you are).
"Time format"
refers to that you must choose either 24 hour format or 12 hour AM/PM format.
4) After setting up, the camera shows a menu with text lines of what you just did. Simply press the MENU button to get out of that.

The Leica Q2 camera is ready

1) Use the Quick Guide to get familiar with the camera.

You may wonder what "diopter" means, and it's (from Latin "through optics") and is a button to the right side of the viewfinder so you can adjust the viewfinder to your exact eyesight (press the botton so it pops out, then look through the viewfinder while you turn the botton left and right: When the text in the viewfinder is crisp and clear, it is the correct setting. Then press the diopter button back into the camrea so it is not moved by accident).

"Fn" is short for Function and is different buttons on the Leica Q2 that can be programmed to have any function you want them to.

WLAN in the camera menu is the German word for WiFi. (WLAN stands for Wireless Local Area Netword, what the rest of the world calls Wi-Fi (which is in fact a trademarked phrase that refers to IEEE 802.11x standards).
WLAN more importantly enables you to download the Leica Fotos App and transfer previews of the pictures taken on the camera to your smartphone so you can text them, email them or post them while taking a coffee break (instead of having to get back to a computer to download and edit them). The app can also be used to remote control the camera so you can take selfies via a smartphone preview, or preview and start and stop a video recording. Very neat.

The MACRO on the lens is a ring you turn to be able to take really near-close photos of your nails, a flower or other small things. Try and turn it so MACRO is in front of the dot. To have the camera in nomral focusing lenghts, the two dots must be facing each other (and the MACRO inscription is to the laft side when looking at the camera from above).

"Light Balance" is a made-up term that refers to the line inside the viwfinder with 0 in the middle and -1, -2, -3 on the sides (see the manual page 82). It is not that relevant for now but shows if the light is right (according to the camera) or is over- or under-exposed. However, you can simply look at the image. Does it look right?

AE-L refers to Auto Exposure Lock, and AE-F refers to Auto Focus Lock (see the manual page 85).

 

Settings on the Leica Q2 to begin with:

Here is the "professional setup" of the Leica Q2 or Leica Q2 Monochrom:

1) Leave the lens on AF which means it does auto focus. You can later try to turn that ring to manual focusing (looking through the viewfinder you will see that when you turn that ring, the image is anlarged so you can easier see when it is in focus).
2) Turn the aperture ring from A to f/1.7.
3) Leave the shutter speed dial on top of the camera on A.
4) Go into the camera menu and find ISO and set it to 100 ISO (when daylight). Indoor or in dark spaces, set it to 3200 ISO).
5) Go into the menu and find Auto Focus: Set it to Spot. (if you stumble over AFs or AFc, set it to AFs). Try to point the small spot/cross inside the viewfinder to something on a table nearby, pres the shutter relase slightly down and you will see that the camera locks focus on where the spot/cross is. Keeping the release half down, you can now move the entire frame so as to have the thing on the table in the bottom of the frame and the background futher away will stay blurred. The focus stays, so take a photo like that. Then now, point the cross to something outside, far away. Now it focuses on this. This is the way for you to control focus. Otherwise, the AF will find something by itself to focus on, and that is not good control; because then it can be anything. Drill a bit to focus on things, hold the focus locked and making photos this way. For a portrait, this allow you to lock focus on the eyeball, whereas most AF cameras will choose to focus on the tip of the nose or the frame of the glasses.

With this above setup you have narrow depth of focus (the background is blurred), and the only parameter that changes, is the shutter speed. You are in control of the camera (the aperture, ISO and other stuff doesn't change).

 

 

       
 

Quick setup and questions
about the Leica Q2 Monochrom

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

Leica Q2 Monochrom: Same setup as the Leica Q2

The Leica Q2 Monochrom is set up as the Leica Q2 for the most part. Only one change:

Underexposure on the Leica Q2 Monochrom

It is a good idea to set the Leica Q2 Monochrom to -1/3 under exposure so as to maintain definition in the most white areas. A monochrome sensor tend to "burn out" the whites beyond recovery, more so than a color sensor. Hence it has been a good advice to set any monochrome camera to -1/3 stop underexposure (such as Leiac M9 Monochrom (2012), Leica M246 (2015) and Leica M10M (2020)).

Editing monochrome images from the Leica Q2 Monochrom

When editing the monochrome DNG file (raw file in the Adobe Digital NeGative format) in Lightroom or Capture One, you may even start with reducing the exposure a litlte to make the file look even more grey and dark, before you grab the tools to make it sing:

Editing monochrome images in Capture One Pro:
Increse Shadow details, then add Black.   Or use the Courve tool to increase black. You may also as a finishing touch increase white by moving the top right marker to the left a bit till the image pops.
 

The first tool is to increase Shadow Details considerably to a degree that the image looks a bit washed out, becasue then the next tool is to increase Black. This will result in increased shadow details, but maintain a high level of contrast and blackness. A monochrom image should have contrast from almost all white to dark deep black; it shouldn't be a grey in grey image. This can be done with either the Black slider, or using the Courve tool (moving the left buttom marker to the right while observing the image and drag it so far that the image gain back a healthy contrast, and nice black areas; but without getting heave to look at).

Read more in my Capture One Survival Kit or Lightroom Survival Kit on how to edit imags and how to manage an archive of images.

 

A monochrome image should go from dark deep black to almost white. If an area goes to completely white without any definition in it, it is called "burned out" as an expression from when using film and the emolusion on the film was burned away by light. © Thorsten Overgaard.
A monochrome image should go from dark deep black to almost white. If an area goes to completely white without any definition in it, it is called "burned out" as an expression from when using film and the emolusion on the film was burned away by light. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

       
 

Possible errors on the Leica Q2

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       

 

Leica Q2: Dust on sensor

Despite the Leica Q2 is a closed camera, dust can enter and sit on the sensor. In the Leica Q there was a few cases, and the only way to get rid of it is to send the camera to Leica Camera AG in Wetzlar, Germany to get it cleaned. Write to cs@leica-camera.com for advice on how to send it in.

Leica Q2: Dust on the EVF

In rare case, dust can enter to the EVF and sit on the image. It doesn't affect the image itself, but it's annoying to look at. The only way to get rid of it is to send the camera to Leica Camera AG in Wetzlar, Germany to get it cleaned. Write to cs@leica-camera.com for advice on how to send it in.
Some have mentioned that the dust may come in via the microphone or loudspeaker holes on the Leica Q2 body. I personally doubt that as the Leica Q had the same and didn't get dust on the EVF. I'll be waiting for word from Leica what could cause this, and if they are doing something to avoid it. boud it.

Leica Q2: Flickering

The Leica Q2 doesn't flicker, but light does. This may result in "banding like" horizontal stripes in an image, or simply that the light you see isn't in the picture, or it looks different. You take a photo in light, and the result is darker, for example. Here's the difference within one second (notice how the light in the room, the wall light and the sign light all flicker):

Flickering light causing different result in each frame becasuse the light blinks faster than the eye sees, but slow enough to be caught on camera. Here at shutter time 1/1500 sec. 
Often you will see that you take a portrait indoor in an office, and from frame to frame the person has shade on one side of the face in one photo, but not the next.   Flickering light causing different result in each frame
     
Flickering light causing different result in each frame becasuse the light blinks faster than the eye sees, but slow enough to be caught on camera. Here at shutter time 1/1500 sec.   Flickering light causing different result in each frame becasuse the light blinks faster than the eye sees, but slow enough to be caught on camera. Here at shutter time 1/1500 sec. 
Often you will see that you take a portrait indoor in an office, and from frame to frame the person has shade on one side of the face in one photo, but not the next.
Flickering light causing different result in each frame becasuse the light blinks faster than the eye sees, but slow enough to be caught on camera. Here at shutter time 1/1500 sec.
Often you will see that you take a portrait indoor in an office, and from frame to frame the person has shade on one side of the face in one photo, but not the next.
     

Flickering ligh is a new challenge that photographers face, which is flicering light that looks good to the eye, but result in different results in a photo. Through cinema and photography history, the three standard high-quality light soruces have been daylight (from the sun), daylight HMI (5400 Kelvin Hydrargyrum medium-arc iodide lamps) and tungsten lamps (3200 Kelvin). When I say high-quality, it's because those are the light types that ensure high color quality (see the definition of CRI - Color Rendering Index in my "Leica and Photography Definitions page") and how quality light traditionally has a score above 90 CRI).

In recent years we have seen "light that flickers" because it has a pulse, such as stage light, photo lamps, video lights and of course indoor and outdoor late night lamps using LED (Light-emitting diode), compact fluorescent lightbulp-shaped lamps and other low-energy lamps (such as halogen). These light also generally have lower CRI (Color Rendering Index) below 90, and even lamps that are stated to have 90 CRI or higher, may mis out on the important red and blue tones, which will make it impossible to get the colors right, espoecially skin tones). If a stage has one or more low-quality lights (which they thend to have), these will pollute the colors of the scene to some degree.

  Flickering horizontal stripes (or "banding"-looking stripes) may appear when you use electronic shutter, and you are photographing with one or more light sources that flickers.
  Banding as result of electronic shutter, and often also if the ISO is high.

Flickering horizontal stripes (or "banding"-looking stripes) may appear when you use electronic shutter, and you are photographing with one or more light sources that flickers.
When the electronic shutter is on, you are usually at higher shutter speeds than 1/2000, which means there it would be possible to go down to a lower ISO, and to activater the mechanical shutter. (In some cameras you can choose to use electronic shutter throughout the entire range, which would make the camera completely silent; and this alone may cause horizontal stripes/banding if one or more lights in the room flickers).

Flickering in the EVF is very normal and will apear often without the vertical lines you see in the EVF will be in the picture.

 

See also:

"To Be or Not to Be, That is the Q" user report by Thorsten Overgaard on the Leica Q

Thorsten Overgaard: "Leica Digilux 2, the vintage digital rangefinder"

 

Jono Slack Leica Q2 review and test photos

Jono Slack has published his test photos and initial thoughs as a beta tester of the Leica Q2.

Jono Slack Leica Q2 article and test photos.
Jono Slack
Leica Q2 article and test photos.

 

Leica Q2 Lifestyle Video (filmed with Leica SL)

You watch this video made by Golpe Films for Leica Store Porto and you're toast. No way back then ...

The Camera Store Reviews the Leica Q2

Getting around much of the features, why the red dot cost more. Three different persons perspective on the Leica Q2.

The Leica Q2 video presentation from Leica Camera AG

 

Comments or ideas?

As always, feel free to send an e-mail to Thorsten Overgaard if you have questions, comments or suggestions.

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

 

       
 

Shopping list for Leica Q2

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       
  The camera comes with integrated lens, lens shade and black leather strap. So you only need a few things to complete it. Here are the things I got for mine:    
       
  Get a Leica Q2 special offer from Ken Hansen New York Inc by email    
       
  - Extra battery (BP-SLC4 for Leica Q2 and Leica SL).    
  - SD card 128GB Angelbird, or similar.    
  - Leica Q2 Ventilated lens shade from my store.    
  - Leica Q2 Strap 125 cm "Yosemite" by Thorsten von Overgaard.    
  - Slim Classic Rock'n'Roll Camera strap from Rock'n'Roll Camera Straps and Bags.    
  - Thumbs Up.    
  - Leica Q2 handgripfrom Leica.    
  - Leica tripod and ballhead (tabletop).    
  - WhiBal card white balance card.    
  - 5-in-1 reflector 24" or better, 5-in-1 reflector 32"
for portraits and product photography.
   
  - No actual need for an ND filter as the Leica Q2 goes to 1/40000th of a second.
But in case you want one anyways, buy the B+W 49mm ND-filter (F-Pro MRC 3-stop/8X/0.9), or the TIFFEN ND filter pack 49mm.
   
       

 

 

This Leica Q-P got it all, and the same things will fit any Leica Q and Leica Q2 model. A Thumbs Up Grib of brass , a Leica Q2 handgrip, a nice camera strap from Annie Barton in Hong Kong and (to blow my own trumpet), a beautifully brassed ventilated shade that I design and sell. Photo by Frank Wittmer
This Leica Q-P got it all, and the same things will fit any Leica Q and Leica Q2 model. A Thumbs Up Grib of brass , a Leica Q2 handgrip, a nice camera strap from Annie Barton in Hong Kong and (to blow my own trumpet), a beautifully brassed ventilated shade that I design and sell. Photo by Frank Wittmer

 

 

       
 

Downloads for the Leica Q2

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       
  More resources:    
  Leica Q2 Technical Specifications    
       

 

       
 

Leica Q2 test files for free download:

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
    Add to Cart  
  FREE Leica Q2 DNG raw test files    
  Simply clikc on file and check out and it will be sent to you instantly    
       

 

 

 

 

 

         
 

Was ist das? - The Leica Q2 Explained in Details

A walk-through of the features and buttons of the Leica Q2

 
         
 

Leica Q2 shutter speed dial

The shutter speed dial can be left at A (aperture priority) and the Leica Q2 will suggest a shutter speed to get the exposure right.

If you want to 'go manual' and set the shutter speed manually you simply turn the shutter speed dial to the desired speed.

The mechanical shutter speed goes to 1/2000th of a second, but the Leica Q2 can go to 1/20,000th of a second with the internal electronic shutter that will take over if needed (when there is a lot of light).

  Shutter speed dial

The shutter speed dial can be left at A (aperture priority) and the Leica Q2 will suggest a shutter speed to get the exposure right. 

If you want to 'go manual' and set the shutter speed manually you simply turn the shutter speed dial to the desired speed.

The mechanical shutter speed goes to 1/2000th of a second, but the Leica Q2 can go to 1/20,000th of a second with the internal electronic shutter that will take over if needed (when there is a lot of light).  
         
 

On/off

The Leica Q2 is turned on by moving the ring clockwise so it points to the white dot.

Shutter release

The button in center of the on/off button is the shutter release.

Thumbs wheel/
ISO button

To the bottom right is the thumbs wheel that can be used for adjusting the exposure 'the easy way', and more interestingly the center of it is the ISO button (you press it and you see the ISO scale on the screen so you can change the ISO).

  On/off

The Leica Q2 is turned on by moving the ring clockwise so it points to the white dot. 

Shutter release

The button in center of the on/off button is the shutter release.

Thumbs wheel/
ISO button

To the bottom right is the thumbs wheel that can be used for adjusting the exposure 'the easy way', and more interestingly the center of it is the ISO button (you press it and you see the ISO scale on the screen so you can change the ISO).  
         
 

Flash shoe

There's not much reason to use a flash shoe on a Leica, but it has one. It's covered by a plastic cover so you don't have to look at it.

(The white line on the flash shoe is the marking for the shutter speed dial to the right).

  Flash shoe

There's not much reason to use a flash shoe on a Leica, but it has one. It's covered by a plastic cover so you don't have to look at it.

(The white line on the flash shoe is the marking for the shutter speed dial to the right).  
         
 

Diopter adjustment

Next to the viewfinder is a button you press, and then a diopter adjustment wheel pops out.

You look through the viewfinder and adjust the diopter until the text in the top and bottom of the screen is crisp and sharp. 

Then you press the diopter adjustment back in, so it's in the locked position.

  Diopter adjustment

Next to the viewfinder is a button you press, and then a diopter adjustment wheel pops out. 

You look through the viewfinder and adjust the diopter until the text in the top and bottom of the screen is crisp and sharp. 

Then you press the diopter adjustment back in, so it's in the locked position.  
         
 

Joystick and SET

The arrows are used to navigate the menu or to move the focus point on the screen, and such. The round button in the center is pressed to "SET" (save) a chosen setting.

Selecting video mode

When the Leica Q2 is turned on, the center button circles through three screen modes: 
1) Screen with full info, 
2
) Screen with limited information and 
3
video screen mode: When you want to do video, you press this small round button until you see the video screen (best recognized by a stereo microphone symbol in the top of the screen).  If you’ve accidentally pressed this button, you may have changed to video mode, thus your next photos will be video clips instead of stills. I would expect Leica releases a firmware with an option to disable video. I would also suggest that the video window should have a different color frame.

  Joystick and SET

The arrows are used to navigate the menu or to move the focus point on the screen, and such. The round button in the center is pressed to "SET" (save) a chosen setting.

Selecting video mode

When the Leica Q2 is turned on, the center button circles through three screen modes: 
1) Screen with full info, 
2) Screen with limited information and 
3) video screen mode: When you want to do video, you press this small round button until you see the video screen (best recognized by a stereo microphone symbol in the top of the screen).  If you’ve accidentally pressed this button, you may have changed to video mode, thus your next photos will be video clips instead of stills. I would expect Leica releases a firmware with an option to disable video. I would also suggest that the video window should have a different color frame.  
         
 

Shutter release

The button in the center of the on/off button is the shutter relase.

Video start/stop

The shutter release is also the start/stop for video as there is no dedicated video button. You select the video mode, and then the shutter release button becomes the video start/stop button.

  Shutter release

The button in the center of the on/off button is the shutter relase.

Video start/stop

The shutter release is also the start/stop for video as there is no dedicated video button. You select the video mode, and then the shutter release button becomes the video start/stop button.  
         
 

Red LED lamp

The small round thing above the joystick is the red LED light that flashes when the camera is turned on, when it writes to the SD card, and if something is really wrong (constant red).

Loudspeaker

The three small holes below the 'joystick' is the loudspeaker, used for playback of video.

  Red LED lamp

The small round thing above the joystick is the red LED light that flashes when the camera is turned on, when it writes to the SD card, and if something is really wrong (constant red).

Loudspeaker

The three small holes below the 'joystick' is the loudspeaker, used for playback of video.  
         
 

Stereo microphones

The small series of holes on top of the camera is the stereo microphones for recording video. 

  Stereo microphones

The small series of holes on top of the camera is the stereo microphones for recording video.   
         
 

Shutter release and
Video start/stop

The shutter release button takes a photo when pressed.

Shutter half pressed

The shutter release button also has functions such as locking autofocus and/or exposure when half pressed. 

  Shutter release and
Video start/stop

The shutter release button takes a photo when pressed. 

Shutter half pressed

The shutter release button also has functions such as locking autofocus and/or exposure when half pressed.   
         
 

Play

The 'Play' button shows the most recent photo taken, and you can double-click the touch screen to zoom in. 

Fn

The Fn button is a 'Function' button that can be programmed to which function it has. I propose to have White Balance pop up when you press it.

Menu

The menu button prompts the menu onto the screen

  Play

The 'Play' button shows the most recent photo taken, and you can double-click the touch screen to zoom in. 

Fn

The Fn button is a 'Function' button that can be programmed to which function it has. I propose to have White Balance pop up when you press it.

Menu

The menu button prompts the menu onto the screen  
         
 

Frame selector

Next to the thumb rest sits a small button. When you press it, it shows the 35mm, 50mm and 75mm frame lines.

  Frame selector

Next to the thumb rest sits a small button. When you press it, it shows the 35mm, 50mm and 75mm frame lines.  
         
 

Thumbs rest

The thumbs rest works as a built-in handgrip.

Handgrip

You can also buy a real handgrip ($125) as an accessory (screws onto the bottom of the camera and has a handgrip on front of the cameras that the four other fingers grip around). The handgrip for the Leica Q will also fit, in case you have that in your closet, though it is slightly different. But if you buy one for the Leica Q2, get the right one.

 

  Thumbs rest 

The thumbs rest works as a built-in handgrip.

Handgrip

You can also buy a real handgrip ($125) as an accessory (screws onto the bottom of the camera and has a handgrip on front of the cameras that the four other fingers grip around). The handgrip for the Leica Q will also fit, in case you have that in your closet, though it is slightly different. But if you buy one for the Leica Q2, get the right one.  
         
 

ISO button / Fn button

The center of the 'thumbs wheel' is a button, and when pressed, the ISO can be changed by using the dial. Pretty cool.
It's a Fn (function) button and can be programmed for other features.

Exposure dial

The thumbs dial is set to change exposure, should you prefer to do it that way. On the Leica Q2 there’s a new design that sits so it's not turned accidentally, and it's stiff too.
If you start (the bad) habit of using the exposure compensation wheel (rather than the shutter speed dial), remember to set it back to 0 after you've used it at -2/3 or +1 and such.

  ISO button / Fn button

The center of the 'thumbs wheel' is a button, and when pressed, the ISO can be changed by using the dial. Pretty cool.
It's a Fn (function) button and can be programmed for other features.

Exposure dial

The thumbs dial is set to change exposure, should you prefer to do it that way. On the Leica Q2 there’s a new design that sits so it's not turned accidentally, and it's stiff too.
If you start (the bad) habit of using the exposure compensation wheel (rather than the shutter speed dial), remember to set it back to 0 after you've used it at -2/3 or +1 and such.  
         
 

EVF

The electronic viewfinder on the Leica Q2 is quite brilliant, large enough to see through with eyeglasses without losing the edges, and has rubber around it so it won't scratch your glasses if you wear some. 

Eye sensor

The slightly highlighted area to the right of the viewfinder is the sensor that detects when your eye is in front of the viewfinder so the camera can turn off the screen and turn on the EVF.

  EVF

The electronic viewfinder on the Leica Q2 is quite brilliant, large enough to see through with eyeglasses without losing the edges, and has rubber around it so it won't scratch your glasses if you wear some. 

Eye sensor

The slightly highlighted area to the right of the viewfinder is the sensor that detects when your eye is in front of the viewfinder so the camera can turn off the screen and turn on the EVF.  
         
 

Serial number

The serial number is engraved onto the bottom plate of the Leica Q2 camera.

  Serial number

The serial number is engraved onto the bottom plate of the Leica Q2 camera.  
         
 

Tripod screw

Under the camera, in the center, is the screw mount for a tripod.

If you buy a handgrip, this is screwed onto the camera using this screw as well.

  Tripod screw

Under the camera, in the center, is the screw mount for a tripod.

If you buy a handgrip, this is screwed onto the camera using this screw as well.  
         
 

Battery release

Next to the battery sits a small aluminum arm. When you turn it, the battery pops out.
You press the battery slightly down again, which then releases it so you can take it out and charge it. 

The battery is the same as used in the Leica SL, and the bottom of it aligns with the bottom of the Leica Q2. Very neat design, very fast and intuitive to work with. 
  Battery release

Next to the battery sits a small aluminum arm. When you turn it, the battery pops out.
You press the battery slightly down again, which then releases it so you can take it out and charge it. 

The battery is the same as used in the Leica SL, and the bottom of it aligns with the bottom of the Leica Q2. Very neat design, very fast and intuitive to work with.   
         
 

AF/Manual focus lock

On the lens sits a lock that locks the focus to AF. If you want to use manual focus, you release it and can then turn the focusing ring.

  AF/Manual focus lock

On the lens sits a lock that locks the focus to AF. If you want to use manual focus, you release it and can then turn the focusing ring.  
         
 

Outside shade screw

On the front of the Leica Q2 lens is an 'outside screw' so you can screw on a metal lens shade, or the Overgaard Ventilated Shade that I designed.

49mm filter screw

The 49mm filter screw sits inside the lens, independent of the shade screw. Not much reason to use an UV filter on the Leica Q2, or an ND filter (neutral density).

  Outside shade screw

On the front of the Leica Q2 lens is an 'outside screw' so you can screw on a metal lens shade, or the Overgaard Ventilated Shade that I designed. 

49mm filter screw

The 49mm filter screw sits inside the lens, independent of the shade screw. Not much reason to use an UV filter on the Leica Q2, or an ND filter (neutral density).  
         
 

Aperture ring

The maximum aperture of the Leica Q2 lens is f/1.7. In my opinion, that's where the aperture should be set so as to utilize the full potential of bokeh and depth of field.

The aperture can be turned to more depth of field by going to f/5.6 or such, for example when doing macro.

The aperture ring can also be locked in A (Auto) which will make the Leica Q2 determine the aperture, not based on depth of field, but as a measure to control light. 

 

  Aperture ring

The maximum aperture of the Leica Q2 lens is f/1.7. In my opinion, that's where the aperture should be set so as to utilize the full potential of bokeh and depth of field.

The aperture can be turned to more depth of field by going to f/5.6 or such, for example when doing macro.

The aperture ring can also be locked in A (Auto) which will make the Leica Q2 determine the aperture, not based on depth of field, but as a measure to control light. 

 
         
 

AF and Manual Focus

The focus can be set to AF, and the Leica Q2 will use auto focus.

You can also go into manual focusing by turning the focusing ring, and if you do so, you will see a zoom frame inside the EVF that makes it easier to set the focus.

The number of Leica Q users who use manual focus is about 50%, so no matter if you use AF or MF, you're on the right side of it. I go back and forth, depending on what I am doing. 

Depth of field scale

The depth of field scale shows how deep the 'acceptable focus' is at different aperture settings. It's a Leica tradition to keep these on the lenses, and it's useful if you want to find a way to get a person in front and a house in the back in focus: With the scale you can see what your aperture has to be to get both in focus.

  AF and Manual Focus

The focus can be set to AF, and the Leica Q2 will use auto focus.

You can also go into manual focusing by turning the focusing ring, and if you do so, you will see a zoom frame inside the EVF that makes it easier to set the focus.

The number of Leica Q users who use manual focus is about 50%, so no matter if you use AF or MF, you're on the right side of it. I go back and forth, depending on what I am doing. 

Depth of field scale

The depth of field scale shows how deep the 'acceptable focus' is at different aperture settings. It's a Leica tradition to keep these on the lenses, and it's useful if you want to find a way to get a person in front and a house in the back in focus: With the scale you can see what your aperture has to be to get both in focus.  
         
 

Macro

The Leica Q2 has built-in macro, and it's very neat. As you can see in the pictures to the right, when you turn the ring to MACRO, the distance scale changes to macro measurement.

It doesn't have a lot of practical meaning, but it's very neat.

  Macro

The Leica Q2 has built-in macro, and it's very neat. As you can see in the pictures to the right, when you turn the ring to MACRO, the distance scale changes to macro measurement. 

It doesn't have a lot of practical meaning, but it's very neat.  
         
         
 

SD card port

Under the camera you can open the port to the SD card. The card is ejected by pressing it in slightly; then it springs out.

A new card is inserted by pressing it gently in until it locks. 
  SD card port

Under the camera you can open the port to the SD card. The card is ejected by pressing it in slightly; then it springs out.

A new card is inserted by pressing it gently in until it locks.   
         
 

Auto focus assistant lamp

The odd square 'window' on the front of the camera is the AF light. If turned on in the menu, it will assist to get focus in dark surroundings by lighting up the scene with red light. 

It will also alert everybody that you're taking a photo so I suggest turning it off in the menu. 
  Auto focus assistant lamp

The odd square 'window' on the front of the camera is the AF light. If turned on in the menu, it will assist to get focus in dark surroundings by lighting up the scene with red light. 

It will also alert everybody that you're taking a photo so I suggest turning it off in the menu.   
         
 

Camera strap

The Leica Q2 has the traditional camera strap lugs which are known from other Leica cameras over the last 10 years: A small lug that you attach a ring to. It's very simple, very classic and very cool. 

There's a great number of straps to choose from online, from Leica Camera AG and many third parties around the world: Such as my "Yosemite" black calfskin leather strap handmade in Italy, or Rock'n'Roll Strapsmade in Greece. 
  Camera strap

The Leica Q2 has the traditional camera strap lugs which are known from other Leica cameras over the last 10 years: A small lug that you attach a ring to. It's very simple, very classic and very cool. 

There's a great number of straps to choose from online, from Leica Camera AG and many third parties around the world: Such as my "Yosemite" black calfskin leather strap handmade in Italy, or Rock'n'Roll Strapsmade in Greece.   
         
         

 

The Black Calfskin Camera Strap "Yosemite" with Orange Edge, made for the Leica Q2. See more here.
The Black Calfskin Camera Strap "Yosemite" with Orange Edge, made for the Leica Q2. See more here.

 

Soft leather camera pouch for Leica Q, Leica Q2 and Leica M. See more here.
Soft leather camera pouch for Leica Q, Leica Q2 and Leica M. See more here.

 

Leica Q 28mm Summilux wide angle lens

 

 

       
 

Leica Q2 Definitions

   
  By Thorsten von Overgaard  
       
  More resources:    
  Leica and Photography Definitions by Thorsten Overgaard    
  Leica Camera Compendium article by Thorsten Overgaard    
  Leica Lens Compendium article by Thorsten Overgaard    
       

 

Leica Q2 Definitions:

 
  1:2/50 the description says. But what does it mean?
   

 

1: - Basically means 1 divided with. But why is it on the front of the lens? If you look close, a lens will often say 1:2/50mm on the front, meaning it is a 50mm lens with an f/2.0 apterture. The 1: itself is a ratio, that indicates that the aperture diameter (25mm) is the ratio of 50mm divided with 2.
It's a strange way of writing product information on modern products, but here's how it's right:
a) A lens is called a 50mm lens because there is 50mm from the sensor to the center of focus inside the lens.
b) A lens is f/2.0 when the widest opening is 50mm divided with 2 = The lens opening is 25mm in diameter at it's widest. Had it been an f/2.8 lens (1:2.8/50), the widest aperture opening would be 50mm divided with 2.8 = 17.8mm.

 

AEL = Auto Exposure Lock. This is a function that can be used when you want to reframe the scene, but keep the current exposure from changing. By default the Leica Q locks both Exposure and Focus when you press the release button half down.

AFL = Auto Focus Lock. This is a function that can be used when you want to reframe the scene, but keep the current focusing from changing. By default the Leica Q locks both Exposure and Focus when you press the release button half down.

AF = Auto Focus. The idea is that the camera does the focusing itself (the word auto comes from Greek "self").

AF Assist Lamp = The little red lamp on the front of the Leica Q that will light up in dark places so as to help the Auto Focus to see in the dark. If you put a hand in front of the lens and press the shutter release button you can see it in action.

Aperture = The f/ stop on the camera that regulates how much light passes through the lens. On a f/1.7 lens the lens is fully open" at f/1.7. At f/2.0 the aperture inside the lens make the hole through the lens smaller so only half the amount of light at f/1.7 passes through. For each f/-stop (4.0 - 5.6 - 8.0 - 11 - 16) you halve the light. The aperture of the lens is basically the focal length divided with the f/-stop = size of the hole (28mm divided with f/1.7 = the hole is 45 mm).
ORIGIN: Late Middle English : from Latin apertura, from apert- ‘opened,’ from aperire ‘to open’.

 
  The camera in Aperture Priority Mode
   

Aperture Priority Mode. When the shutter speed dial on top of a Leica camera is set to A, it is short for “Aperture Priority” and allows the user to set a specific aperture value (f-number) while the camera selects a shutter speed to match it that will result in proper exposure based on the lighting conditions as measured by the camera's light meter. In other words, you set the aperture as priority (f/1.4 for example), and the camera calculates a shutter speed (1/250 of a second) that matches that. If you change the aperture to f/2.0 by changing the aperture ring on the lens, the camera will re-calculate the speed to 1/125 so as to get the same amount of light to hit the sensor (f/2.0 is half the light through the lens as f/1.4 and 1/125 if twice the amount of light on the sensor as 1/250).

 

  spherical (ball)
spherical (ball)
  a-spherical (non-ball)
a-spherical (non-ball)
   

ASPH = (Aspherical lens) stands for "aspheric design". Most lenses have a spherical design - that is, the radius of curvature is constant. These are easy to manufacture by grinding while "spinning" the glass. This design however restricts the number of optical corrections that can be made to the design to render the most realistic image possible. ASPH lenses (a-spherical, meaning non-spherical), however, involve usually 1 element that does *not* have a constant radius of curvature. These elements can be made by 1) expensive manual grinding, 2) molded plastic, or 3) Leica's patented "press" process, where the element is pressed into an aspherical ("non-spherical") shape. This design allows Leica to introduce corrections into compact lens designs that weren't possible before. Practically, the lens performs "better" (up to interpretation) due to increased correction of the image, in a package not significantly bigger than the spherical version.

There is another Aspherical lens manufacture technique: an uneven coating layer is applied to a spherical lens. The coating is thicker on the edges (or on the center, depending). Canon "Lens Work II" calls these "simulated" aspherical lenses. Simulated and Glass-Molded (GMo) asphericals show up in non-L Canon lenses, while the L lenses have actual ground aspheric elements.

A- means non, or without. From Latin, ex.

Sphere: ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French espere, from late Latin sphera, earlier sphaera, from Greek sphaira "ball".

     
Normal spheric lens (grinded)   ASPH (note the shape of the glass as result of pressing rather than grinding)

 

Auto- means “self”. The idea is that when a camera has auto-(something), it does that (something) by itself.

Banding = Noise in digital images. Horizontal lines in a horizontal picture (if the camera is in portrait mode/vertical, the lines will obviously be vertical). It's simply noise; the result of uncontrolled algorithms working overtime with an image the sensor really can't see because it's very dark. (If your image has vertical lines in it, it is more likely that the sensor needs remapping).


This image at 6400 ISO, underexposed and then brought up to correct exposure in Lightroom, displays banding: Horizontal lines in the image. Leica M-D 262 with Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0.
This image at 6400 ISO, underexposed and then brought up to correct exposure in Lightroom, displays banding: Horizontal lines in the image. Leica M-D 262 with Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0.

Base ISO = The ISO the digital sensor was born with. Even a digital sensor goes from say 50 ISO to 25,000 ISO, it only has one base ISO. Any other setting is an algorithm that figures out how the image whould look if there was 64 times more light, or half the light, etc.
When you go down from Base ISO (for example 200 to 100 ISO), you can expect a decrease in quality. When you go up, the decrease is much less. For some sensors, you loose 2-3 stops by going down 1 step in ISO, but can go 8 steps up and only loose 1 stop in dynamic range. Basically, your ISO range should be from Base ISO and as far up as you can, before you see visible decrease in quality (mostly 3200 ISO - 6400 ISO).
Base ISO for Leica M9 is 160 ISO, for Leica M240 it is 200 ISO. For Leica M10 it is around 160 ISO. For Leica M Monochrom it is 320 ISO. For Leica Q and Leica Q2 it is around 100 ISO. For Panasonic Lumix S it is 200 ISO. For most Canon cameras the base ISO is around 100, for most Nikon cameras it is around 200 ISO.

 

  Barrie Gledden
  Bokeh of a Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. British composer and producer Barrie Gledden.
© 2013 Thorsten Overgaard.

Bokeh = The visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens: It's a matter of taste and usually photographers discuss a 'nice' or 'pleasant' bokeh (the out-of-focus area is always unsharp, which is why the quality discussed is if one likes the way it renders or not by a particular lens). The closer you get to something, the 'more' bokeh' you get (in that the focus becomes less for the background and foreground at close distances than at long distances). ORIGIN from Japanese 'bo-ke' which mean 'fuzzines' or 'blur.'.

 

Bokeh: The visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image. Photo at Bar del Fico in Rome. Leica TL2 with Leica 35mm Summilux-TL ASPH f/1.4. © 2017 Thorsten Overgaard.Bokeh: The visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image. Photo at Bar del Fico in Rome. Leica TL2 with Leica 35mm Summilux-TL ASPH f/1.4. © 2017 Thorsten Overgaard.

Camera - is today’s short name for Camera Obscura (meaning “a dark room”). Camera means Chambre and was used only as a Latin or alien word, actually only for Spanish soldiers’ rooms, until popularized in connection with photography in 1727: “Camera Obscura”. In 1793 the slang term “camera” was used by Sterne Tr. Shandy: “Will make drawings of you in the camera” and by Foster (1878), “The eye is a camera”. Camera Obscura was described by Iraqi scientist Ibn-al-Haytham in his book, “Book of Optics” (1021) and by Leonardo da Vinci in 1500; popularized and made widely known in 1589 by Baptista Porta when he mentioned the principle in his book “Natural Magic”. Johannes Kepler mentions Camera Obscura in 1604.
Camera = chambre (room), Obscura = dark (or cover).

 

     
 

Why is it called a "camera"..?

The word Camera is today's short name for Camera Obscura (which originally means “a dark room”).

Origin of the word Obscura means "dark" or "covered", and the word Camera means Chambre and was used originally only as a Latin or alien word, actually only for Spanish soldiers' rooms, until popularized in connection with photography in 1727: “Camera Obscura”.

In 1793 the slang term “camera” was used by Sterne Tr. Shandy: “Will make drawings of you in the camera” and by Foster (1878), “The eye is a camera”.

Ibn-al-Haytham mentioned Camera Obscura in his "Book of Optics" in 1021.
Ibn-al-Haytham mentioned Camera Obscura in his "Book of Optics" in 1021.

The concept of Camera Obscura was described by Iraqi scientist Ibn-al-Haytham in his book, “Book of Optics” (1021) and by Leonardo da Vinci in 1500; popularized and made widely known in 1589 by Baptista Porta when he mentioned the principle in his book “Natural Magic”. Johannes Kepler mentions Camera Obscura in 1604.

Camera = chambre (room), Obscura = dark (or cover).

 
     

C = Continuous shooting. In the menu of the Leica Q2 under the menu point Continuous Shooting you can define if the Continuous should be Low (3 fps), Medium (5 fps) or High (19 fps).

Central Shutter = Some lenses, for example the Leica S lenses and the Leica Q where a shutter is located in the lens itself. In most cameras there is a shutter curtain just in front of the sensor, and in SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras there is also a mirror in front of the shutter curtain.
In the Leica T/TL/TL2 the shutter is in front of the sensor, but only acts to "refresh" the sensor. In the Leica TL2, there is a mechanical shutter curtain from 30 sec. to 1/4000 shutter times, and digital shutter from 1/4100 to 1/40,000 shutter times. A digital shutter is simply "turning on/off the recording of the sensor.

CMOS sensor (as used in Leica CL, Leica T/TL/TL2, Leica M 240, Leica M Monochrom Typ 246, Leica S Typ 007, Leica SL, Leica Q, Leica Q2, Leica M10, Leica X, Leica D-Lux, etc.) = (Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) chips use transistors at each pixel to move the charge through traditional wires. This offers flexibility because each pixel is treated individually. Traditional manufacturing processes are used to make CMOS. It's the same as creating microchips. Because they're easier to produce, CMOS sensors are cheaper than CCD sensors. CMOS allow Live View and use less energy than CCD.

Contrast - The degree of difference between tones in a picture. Latin contra- ‘against’ + stare ‘stand.’

CS = Central Shutter = As in the Leica S lenses for the Leica S where a shutter is located in the lens itself. In most cameras there is a shutter curtain just in front of the sensor, and in SLR (Single Lens Reflex) cameras there is also a mirror in front of the shutter curtain.
In the Leica Q and Leica Digilux 2 the shutter is in the lens which makes the camera mirrorless as well as very quiet because there is not a metal shutter curtain going up and down in front of the sensor.

Depth - Distance between front and back. Distance from viewer and object.

Digital Zoom = Refers to zooming in on a scene digitally. All that happens is that the camera zooms into the area of the sensor and records only that. The quality will be less as it's a smaller part of the same recording. Zoom is originally used for an optical zoom lens where optics move inside the lens so as to enlarge the subject optically. This does not reduce the image quality/resolution the same way as digital zoom does. Generally, digital zoom can be performed on any picture later in the computer as it's in essence simply a crop.
In the Leica Q Digital Zoom refers to the possibility to change the crop from 28mm to 35mm or 50mm (and for the Leica Q2, 75mm as well). Choosing a different "digital zoom" simply shows frame lines for the chosen focal length in the EVF and in the final image (that is in fact the full 28mm frame), there is a pre-selected crop for the chosen frame when you open the image in Lightroom or Capture One Pro.

Digital zoom is in essence a crop of the image to make the scene appear closer. © 2017 Thorsten Overgaard.
Digital zoom is in essence a crop of the image to make the scene appear closer. © 2017 Thorsten Overgaard.

Digital Shutter = A digital shutter is simply "turning on/off the recording of the sensor. In the "old days" this had to be done with an actual mechanical shutter curtain; a metal curtain in front of the sensor (or film) that goes up for 1/125th of a second, for example. In the Leica TL2, there is a mechanical shutter curtain from 30 sec. to 1/4000 shutter times, and digital shutter from 1/4100 to 1/40,000 shutter times.

DIS = Digital Image Stabilization. This is a feature often offered in video recorders and some times for tele lens still photography (so as to avoid motion blur when the lens is moving during slow shutter speeds).

 
  Lens distortion looks like this. The lines are not straight. Our eye uses distortion correction. Lens designers can design lenses so they have very little distortion, or they can make less complicated lens designs and "fix" the distortion in software.
   

Distortion = In photo optics/lenses: When straight lines in a scene don't remain straight because of optical aberration.

Lens designers can correct for distortion to a degree so the whole image field is perfect corrected and all lines remain straight. In modern lens design many designs rely on Software Distortion Correction (SDC).

The eye adjusts for distortion so we always see vertical and horizontal lines straight when we look at things. Even when you get new prescription glasses (if you use such), you will often experience distortion in your new glasses. After a few days they eyes have adjusted for the glasses and the distortion you saw to begin with is now gone. Software Distortion Correction (SDC) is far behind what the human eye can perform of adjustments. (Also see my definition on Perspective for more on the eye and optics)

DNG = Digital Negative, an open standard developed by Adobe. It is a single file that contains the raw image data from the sensor of the camera as well as date, time, GPS, focal length, settings, etc.
The alternative is a RAW file + XLM file where the RAW file contains the image information and the XML contains the rest of information about where, how and when the picture was taken.
A Camera Raw profile (that is specific for that camera) in the computer helps the software program, for example Adobe Lightroom, to translate the RAW data into the image.

A raw file (or DNG) is simply the full recording of digital data (1's and 0's) from the sensor. In the computer, the sensor data is translated into the exact colors, via a camera profile.
A raw file (or DNG) is simply the full recording of digital data (1's and 0's) from the sensor. In the computer, the sensor data is translated into the exact colors, via a camera profile.

DOF = Depth of Field. This is how much of the image will be in focus or "acceptable sharp". The DOF is determined by the subject distance (the farther away, the larger area is sharp; the closer the focus is, the less of the lage is sharp), the lens aperture (the depth of field is narrow at f/1.4 and larger at f/5.6) and the focal length of the lens (tele lenses has very narrow depth of field whereas wide angle lenses has a wide depth of field) and film or sensor size (small-sensor cameras has a wide depth of field wheras medium format or large format cameras has a very narrow depth of field). As an example, a Leica 21mm Super-Angulon-M f/3.4 lens is sharp all over the focus field from 2 meter to infinity when set at a distance of 3 meters at f/3.4. The DOF scale measurement on top of the Leica lenses shows lines for each f-stop that indicates from which distance to which distance the image will be sharp. Shallow DOF is a generally used term in photography that refer to lenses with very narrow focus tolerance (which can be used to do selective focus; making irrelevant subjects in the foreground and background blurry so only the subjects of essence are in focus and catches the viewers eye).


Depth Of Field scale from Fujifilm.

Dynamic range. The grade of ‘contrast range’ (or number of tones) a film or sensor, or simply a photograph, possess between bright and dark tones. The human eye is said to have a dynamic range of 10-14 ‘stops’ (but because we scan area by area and compile a concept of the overall scene, they eye is often thought to have a much higher dynamic range), Film used to have 7-13 ‘stops’ and some modern sensors have up to 15-17 ‘stops’.

EVF = Electronic ViewFinder. A viewfinder where you look at a small screen through optics/prisms. The advantage is that you see what the sensor sees.


The EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) on the Leica SL 601.
The EVF (Electronic Viewfinder) on the Leica SL 601.

 

Exposure Bracketing = The possibility to set the camera to automatically record a series of images where the exposure is above and below what the camera measures. The idea is that at least one of the images will be correctly exposed.

f/ (f-stop, also known as aperture).

f- (focal length). Often given in mm, for example 90mm. In the past they were often given in cm or inch, for example 9.5 cm or 3.2 inch.

f-stop = the ratio of the focal length (for example 50mm) of a camera lens to the diameter of the aperture being used for a particular shot. (E.g., f/8, indicating that the focal length is eight times the diameter of the aperture hole: 50mm/8 = 6,25 mm); or the other way around, the hole is the focal length divided with 8).
ORIGIN early 20th cent.: from f (denoting the focal length) and number.
One f-stop is a doubling or halving of the light going through the lens to the film, by adjusting the aperture riing. Adjusting the f-setting from f 1.4 to f.2.0 is halving the light that goes through the lens. Most Leica lenses has half f-stops to enable the photographer to adjust the light more precicely.


The aperture blades inside the lens is clearly visible in this photo by Eolake Stobblehouse.

Flare = Burst of light. Internal reflections between (and within) lens elements inside a lens. Mostly, flare has a characteristic "space travel" look to it, making it cool. Particularly in older lenses with less or no coating of the glass surfaces to suppress this, it can be a really cool effect. In newer lens designs, the coatings and overall design try to suppress flare and any reflections to a degree, so that there is seldom any flare to be picked up (moving the lens to pick up a strong sunbeam), but instead a "milking out" (or "ghosting") of a circular area of the frame; meaning simply overexposed without any flare-looking flares.

 

Sunlight creating (fairly supressed) flare in the bottom right quadrant of the image of a modern lens.

  The camera moved slightly to avoid the flare.

Older lenses with less coating, or without coating, are known to create flare that can look like this (Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 II Rigid model from the 1960's). © Thorsten Overgaard.
Older lenses with less coating, or without coating, are known to create flare that can look like this (Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 II Rigid model from the 1960's). © Thorsten Overgaard.

Fn = Short for Function. It's a button you can program. In the Leica Q it is by default set to be White Balance, so when you press it, you can choose which White Balance setting you want. You can press again and another function comes up. To complicate matters more, you can program the FN button to your own likes.

 
  A 28 mm lens has a 74° viewing angle
   

Focal length = On the Leica Q it is 28mm and originally referred to the distance from the sensor (or film in older days) to the center of focus inside the lens. Nobody uses that measurement, except those who construct lenses! For users of lenses, focal length refers to how wide the lens sees. The viewing angle, which is often given in for example 90° viewing angle for a 21mm lens, 74° viewing angle for a 28mm lens, 6° viewing angle for a 400mm lens, etc.
Each human eye individually has anywhere from a 120° to 200° angle of view, but focus only in the center.

Focus, in - Sharp and clear in appearance. Focus - “The burning point (of a lens or mirror)”. In Latin the word focus meant fireplace or hearth. The word was probably first employed outside of its Latin literal use as “the burning point of a lens or mirror” in optics, and then came to mean any central point. The German astronomer Johannes Kepler first recorded the word in this sense in 1604.

Full Frame (FF) = The size of the sensor is 24 x 36mm which is the format Oskar Barnack and Leica Camera AG invented with the first Leica that was introduced in 1925. Many other formats invented since, such as APS, APS-C and all usually refer to Full Frame ratio, by which it means what size they have compared to Full Frame.

 
  Full Frame is "king of photography"
   

The 24 x 36mm Full Frame format is so "king of photography" that it has continued to be the ideal for all cameras. Besides this, there exists Large Format cameras such as 4x5" (100 x 125 mm) and Medium Format 6x6 (60 x 60mm amongst other sizes in that area).

Hue = A color or shade depending on the dominant wavelength of red, green or blue. The word Hue comes from Swedish hy which is "skin complexion". It is independent of intensity, so often (in computer editing programs for example), Hue is an adjustment along Saturation which is (intensity of color as compared to white).

ISO = Light sensitivity of the camera sensor is given in ISO (International Organization for Standardization). It's a standard that was used in film and is now used in all digital cameras also. The base ISO for the Leica Q sensor is 100 ISO which means that this is what the sensor "sees". All other levels are computer algorithms calculating the effect as if the sensor could "see" more (hence noise at higher ISO levels).
ISO goes in steps of doubling: When the ISO is raised from 100 ISO to 200 ISO, the camera only need half the amount of light to make a picture. For each step in ISO to 400, 800, 1600, 3200, etc the light sensitivity is doubled for the sensor (and the camera sensor only need half the light of the previous ISO to record the same image).

JPEG = A standard for picture format made in the 1990's by Joint Photographic Experts Group). Mostly referred to as JPG as in L1003455.JPG which would be the name for a JPG file from the camera.

Summilux = Refers to the maximum lens aperture - normally f1.4 , "-lux" added for "light" (ie. the enhanced light gathering abilities). In the Leica Q the lens is a Summilux even it is a f/1.7 and not f/1.4.

  LCos display
  LCoS display
   

LCOS (viewfinder screen in the Leica Q and Leica Q2) = Liquid crystal on silicon is a high-quality method for near-eye displays, better than LCD (Liquid-crystal display). There are two broad categories of LCoS displays: Three-panel and single-panel. In three-panel designs, there is one display chip per color, and the images are combined optically. In single-panel designs, one display chip shows the red, green, and blue components in succession with the observer's eyes relied upon to combine the color stream.

Leica = A compound word derived from " (Lei)tz" and "(ca)mera". Apparently they were originally going to use "LECA", but another camera company already used a similar name in France, so they inserted the 'i' to prevent any confusion.

Lens hood = (also called a Lens shade). A tube or ring attached to the front of a camera lens to prevent unwanted light from reaching the lens and sensor. In the past where lenses were not coated to prevent internal reflections inside the lens, the lens hood was often essential. These days where lenses are coated, the shade serves just as much as decoration and protection (bumper) as well.
ORIGIN Old English hod; related to Dutch hoed, German Hut 'hat,' also to hat.

Lens hood or Lens shade attached to the front of the lens to prevent light rays from the side to hit the optics, which could introduce unwanted light and hence reduce contrast of the image. These days where lenses are coated, the shade serves as decoration and protection as well.
Lens hood or Lens shade attached to the front of the lens to prevent light rays from the side to hit the optics, which could introduce unwanted light and hence reduce contrast of the image. These days where lenses are coated, the shade serves as decoration and protection as well.

Level Gauge = This is a tool in the viewfinder to see if you hold the camera 100% horizontal and/or vertical. You can turn it on in the Menu > Photo Live View Setup > Level Gauge > On.

Light = Tiny particles called photons that behaves like both waves and particles. Light makes objects visible by reflecting off of them, and in photography that reflecting off of subjects is what creates textures, shapes, colors and luminance. Light in its natural form (emanating from the sun) also gives life to plants and living things, and makes (most) people happier. So far, nobody has been able to determine exactly what light is. The word photography means “writing with light” (photo = light, -graphy = writing). Read more about light in my book Finding the Magic of Light.

Live View = This is the ability to see the image the sensor see, live, via the screen of a digital camera, or via an electronic viewfinder (EVF).

MACRO = Macro lens. The Leica Q2 lens can be turned to Macro which enables you to go close so as to enlarge smaller subjects. The word macro comes from Greek makros ‘long, large.’

Leica Q sample photo
The word macro comes from Greek makros ‘long, large.’ Leica Q in Macro mode, 1ii ISO, f/2.8, 1/500 second. © 2015 Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Maestro II - A processor developed first as Maestro for the Leica S2 and upgraded to Maestro II for the Leica S (Typ 007). The Leica Q has a Mestro II (Leica Q edition) processor developed by SocioNext Inc. based on Fujitsu's Mibeault architecture.

Megapixel (or MP) - Millions of pixels. See pixel further down. How many units of RGB is recorded by a given sensor by taking height x widt. A Leica M10 delivers a 5952 x 3968 pixel file = 23,617,536 piexls. On a screen the resolution you choose determines the size of the image. Say you have a 5000 pixel wide file and your screen is set for 8000 pixels wide. Then the image will fill only the 5000 pixels fo the 8000 and the rest will be empty, If you then change the screen resolution to 5000 wide, the image would be able to fill out the whole screen.

Meßsucher (rangefinder or distance finder) = Mess = range, sucher = finder. It is always correctly written with the "ß". There are technically not three "s", rather the "ß" and one "s" because it is a word constructed by the combining of two precise words.

mm = millimeter(s), as in a 50mm lens. (Earlier in lens history lenses focal length was given in cm = centimeters; as in a 5 cm lens). For anyone used to centimeters and millimeters, it’s no wonder. But if you grew up with inches, feet and yards, you may have had a hard time grasping what a 50mm lens was. But as lenses were designed first in Europe, the metric system with centimeters and millimeters was used to describe lenses.
The reason a 50mm lens is a 50mm lens is that there is 50mm from the focus plane (the film or sensor) to the center of focus inside the lens. When photography was a young subject, it was engineers who made it all, and the users were expected to understand. The engineers were so into the making of the lenses, that it apparently never dawned upon them that today’s users would think of a 21mm lens as a wide angle lens rather than a lens where there is 21mm from the sensor to the center of focus inside the optics.

ND = Neutral Density filters are grey filters that functions as 'sunglasses' for lenses. They simply block the light so that a lens can work at for example f/1.7 in sunshine.

Neutral Density filters
ND (Neutral Density) filters to put in front of lenses to reduce the amount of light that comes in. They don't have any other effect than that and doesn't change contrast, color or anything.

 

NFC = Near field communication is a technology that enables smartphones and cameras (or other devices) to establish radio communication with each other by touching the devices together or bringing them into proximity to a distance of typically 10 cm (3.9 in) or less.

 
  PASM in the menu of the Leica Q is most likely is made up from the letters of a mode dial on a traditional camera. Nobody knows for sure.
   

PASM (screen mode) = Basically means that you are in control of the camera and haven't selected any of the Screen Modes available in the Leica Q menu. PASM is most likely short for P = Program Mode / A = Aperture Priority / S = Shutter Priority / M = Manual Control (... what Moron comes up with those silly abbreviation; and then don't explain them in the manual?).

Pixel - Made up word from Pix (picture) and el (element). A pixel is the smallest full-color (RGB) element in a digital imaging device. The physical size of a pixel depends on how you've set the resolution for the display screen. The color and tonal intensity of a pixel are variable, meaning that each pixel contains RGB. This is different from a camera sensor's small eyes (photosite) that are an intensity of either red, green or blue. You could say that the digital sensor's photosite (where each unit collects just one color; red, green or blue) is the input technology, whereas the pixels on a screen (where each pixel contains red, green and blue) is the output device. So while sensors are measured in megapixels (mega = million), it's their output unit of pixels, and not the input unit of photosites that is measured and stated. See illustration below.

 

Here's an illustration of how light goes into photosites that each record either R, G or B and then - combined - makes up one pixel containing RGB. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Here's an illustration of how light goes through a color filter that enables the underlying photosites to each record if it';s an R, G or B color - combined - makes up one pixel containing RGB. © Thorsten Overgaard.

S = Single image. When the ring by the shutter release on top of the camera (or in the menu of a digital camera in case it does not have this ring on the ourside) is moved from OFF to S, the camera takes only one photo at the time (Single). The other possibility is Continuous where the camera takes pictures continiously as long as the shutter release button is helt down. (see above).

Saturation: How colorful, intense or pure the color is. Less saturation would be less colorful, more saturation would be more colorful. In today’s photography, de-saturating a photo on the computer will gradually make it less and less colorful; and full de-saturation would make it into a black and white photo.

A photo from Verona, Italy de-saturated, normal saturated and over-saturated. © Thorsten Overgaard.
A photo from Verona, Italy de-saturated, normal saturated and over-saturated. © Thorsten Overgaard.

Sensor = A device that detects a physical property (like light) and records it. A camera sensor is a plane plate with thousands of small “eyes” with (photosites) a lens in front of each (CFA, Color Filter Array), which each individually records the amount of red, green and blue light rays that comes through the lens. Together, Red, Green and Blue form all colors of the spectrum, which becomes a pixel. Sensor comes from Latin sens- ‘perceived’.

Screen Mode = A menu point in the Leica Q that allow you to choose different pre-programmed ways of recording stills with the camera. For example Sunset, Snow/Beach, Fireworks, etc.
Nobody knows what the modes does but they sound helpful. Panorama (move the camera and it takes a series of images; just like iPhone) and Time Lapse (interval of images to record change) are also in the Screen Mode menu and may be useful. All screen modes are equally undefined in the manual, so all you can do is try and see if you can figure out what happened. PASM is the setting you use to avoid any pre-programmed modes (see above.

SDC = Software Distortion Correction. A correction of lens distortion (not straight lines) applied in the camera and which is part of the DNG or RAW file. In Lightroom or Capture One Pro the SDC of the camera file is applied automatically (and cannot be removed), in software like AccuRaw one can open the DNG file without the SDC correction. Sean Reid Reviews have written a good article on what SDC is and does in "Software Distortion Correction".

SDC (Software Distortion Correction): In Lightroom the correction profile for the Fujinon 23mm is applied automatically and cannot be turned off. If you go into Develop mode in Lightroom and look under Lens Correction > Profile, you will see a message in the bottom with an exclamation mark. When you click on that, you get the message above.
SDC (Software Distortion Correction): In Lightroom the correction profile for the Fujinon 23mm is applied automatically and cannot be turned off.
 If you go into Develop mode in Lightroom and look under Lens Correction > Profile, you will see a message in the bottom with an exclamation mark. When you click on that, you get the message above.

Shutter speed dial - The dial on top of the Leica M where you can set the shutter speed manually. It can also be set to A which stands for Aperture Priority (where the camera suggests a shutter speed; or when you move the dial away from A, the camera will show arrows in the viewfinder, suggesting which direction to change the Aperture to, to get the correct exposure).

SDC (Software Distortion Correction): In Lightroom the correction profile for the Fujinon 23mm is applied automatically and cannot be turned off. If you go into Develop mode in Lightroom and look under Lens Correction > Profile, you will see a message in the bottom with an exclamation mark. When you click on that, you get the message above.
Shutter speed dial set to 1/1000 of a second.

SLR = Abbreviation for Single-Lens Reflex; the lens that forms the image on the film/sensor also provides the image in the viewfinder via a mirror. The Leica Q has no traditional viewfinder and no mirror. the image seen in the EVF is what the sensor sees.

Summilux = Refers to the maximum lens aperture - here f1.4 , "-lux" added for "light" (ie. the enhanced light gathering abilities). In Leica terminology a Summilux is always a f/1.4 lens and a Summicron is a f/2.0 lens. In the Leica Q2 the lens is f/1.7 but is called a Summilux because it is closer to f/1.4 than f/2.0.

Three-dimensional = Having the three dimensions of height, width and depth. In photography and lens design, three-dimensional effect is also the perception of even small micro-details; the texture of skin can appear flat and dead or three-dimensional and alive. Also, selective focus (foreground and background out of focus) can change the perception of depth. Also see Perspective.

Three-dimensional = Having the three dimensions of height, width and depth. Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Leica TL2 with Leica 35mm Summilux-TL ASPH f/1.4. © 2017 Thorsten Overgaard.
Three-dimensional = Having the three dimensions of height, width and depth. Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Leica TL2 with Leica 35mm Summilux-TL ASPH f/1.4. © 2017 Thorsten Overgaard.

Ventilated Shade - A shade is a hood in front of a lens that provides shade from light going straight onto the lens from outside what you are photographing, which could cause internal reflections like flare, which would make the picture less contrasty.
The ventilated shade has holes so it doesn't obstructs the view from the viewfinder. In many of today’s mirrorless cameras where there is no viewfinder looking ver the lens, so there is no actual need for a ventilated shade; but they are considered classic or vintage looking and are still in high demand. It makes no difference for the purpose of the shade (to create shadow) if it is ventilated or not.


Ventilated Shade for the Leica Q. I make ventilated shades for most lenses and sell them from here.

 

Viewfinder = a device on a camera showing the field of view of the lens.
1) A built-in viewfinder in a camera that simply show the frame you get when you look through the viewfinder.
2) A rangefinder viewfinder which is also used to focus the lens. In Leica M cameras two pictures has to meet and lay 'on top of each other' for the picture to be in focus.
3) An external viewfinder, usually on top of the camera in the flash shoe, so as to show the field of view of lenses wider than what the built-in viewfinder can show (15mm, 21mm, 24mm, 28mm etc viewfinders exist)
4) Very simple "aiming-devices" on top of a camera that is simply a metal frame without any optics. Just a frame, as for example very old cameras (the original Leica), or when using cameras in diving where you can't look through the camera.
5) A Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) that shows what the sensor sees "live".

 

Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.
Leica Q2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

   

 

- Thorsten Overgaard
#1914-0219

 

 

    Index of Thorsten Overgaard's user review pages on Leica M9, Leica M9-P, Leica M-E, Leica M9 Monochrom, Leica M10, Leica M10-P, Leica M10-D, Leica M10-R, Leica M10 Monohcrom, Leica M11, Leica M 240, Leica M-D 262, Leica M Monochrom 246, Leica SL, Leica SL2, Leica SL2-S, as well as Leica TL2, Leica CL, Leica Q, Leica Q2 and Leica Q2 Monochrom:
Leica Digital Camera Reviews by Thorsten Overgaard
Leica M11 /M11-P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8                          
Leica M10 / M10-R
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8                         Video
Leica M 240
P 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44            
M 246 Monochrom 26 27 28 29
30
31      

                     
Leica M-D 262 1 2                                        
Leica M9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20   M9-P
M Monochrom 20 21 22 23 24 25      

                     
Leica SL / SL2 1   3   5 6 7                              
Leica SL3 1                                          
Leica Q 1                                          
Leica Q2 / Q2M 1                                          
Leica Q3 1 2                                        
Leica TL2 1 2                                        
Leica CL 1 2                                       Books
   
   
   

 

Thorsten von Overgaard   I like simple things

I make things for myself the way I think they should be, and I use them for my travel to more than twentyfive countries a year. Once I am happy with the way stuff works, I make it available for you to buy.

SHOP THE COLLECTION:

 
Ventilated Shades for most Leica lenses. Classic look to the lenses, sturdy protection against bumps and scratches ... and yes, they shade for the light as well.  
Ventilated Shades for most Leica lenses
Classic look to the lenses, sturdy protection against bumps and scratches ... and yes, they shade for the light as well.
  Camera Straps for Leica M and Leica Q
"Simply a leather strap" – My handmade soft calfskin camera strap is the ultimate sophisication in simpliciy and luxury.
 
 
Camera Pouches for Leica M and Leica Q
The soft calfskin pouch you don't need ... but you just can't resist! For camera with lens, or to keep track of loose parts.
  "The Von" Camera Bag Carry-On Travel
Made to travel in style. Handmade by the best artisans in Milano, Venice and Verona to bring the owner a liftetime of happiness.
 
 
24h Travel Bag with lots of Carry-On space
I decided to make a bag with all the space I could ever need to bring onto an airplane.
  The Von Mini Messenger
The Ideal Walkabout Photographers Bag . Tested for three years all over the world by me.
 
 
Camera Backpack
I've made a series of backpacks becuase they are practical for many things.
  Document Carry-On for iPad or Computer
Put a mess of everything in this and you look stylish and organized.
 
 
Desk Blotters and Larger-Than-Life Mousepad
Nothing beats the feelling of soft calfskin leather on your desk ... but this one takes away reflections, damps the keyboards and makes you happy!
  Computer shade for MacBook Pro 15"
Better tonality, accurate colors and concentration for the eyes with my travel shade that snaps onto the MacBook with magnets and folds for travel.
 
 
Workshops & Masterclasses
With Thorsten von Overgaard for Leica enthusiasts and digital photographers in more than 25 countries a year. Pick your favorite city and meet Thorsten Overgaard.
  Photography Extension Courses
Start an extension course with Thorsten Overgaard, work at your own pace and take the time you want. At your own pace, and home
 
 
One-on-one Training anywhere in the world
Train with Thorsten Overgaard personally, tailored for you and private, any place in the world, or online.
  Video Classes: Learn from Thorsten Overgaard
Watch to learn about your camera, how to use light, how to do street photography, or simply to stay inspired.
 
 
eBooks on Photography
The foremost Leica expert and multi award-winning photographer Thorsten Overgard write books that teach and inspire.
 

Signed Prints by Thosten von Overgaard
Select photgoraphs from the archive of Thorsten von Overgaard, signed, sealed and delivered for your collection.

 
 
Adobe Lightroom Presets for Leica
As a Leica and Lightroom user you will love the simplicity and original look of the Presets Thorsten made for his Leica files.
  Used Leica Cameras
Ken Hansen New York Inc updated stock list of second-hand Leica lenses.
     
     
 
 

 

 


A Life With Leica from Northpass Media.

   
Thorsten von Overgaard
Thorsten Overgaard's Leica Article Index
Leica M digital camera reviews:   Leica L digital cameras:
Leica M11   Leica SL
Leica M11-P   Leica SL2
Leica M11 Monochrom   Leica SL2-S
Leica M10   Panasonic Lumix S5 II X
Leica M10-P   Panasonic Lumix S1R
Leica M10-R   Leica SL3
Leica M10-D   Leica TL2
Leica M10 Monochrom   Leica CL
Leica M9 and Leica M-E   Leica L-Mount lenses
Leica M9-P    
Leica M9 Monochrom   Leica R digital cameras:
Leica M240   Leica R8/R9/DMR
Leica M246 Monochrom    
Leica MD-262 and Leica M60   Small Leica mirrorless digital cameras:
    Leica Q3
    Leica Q2 / Leica Q2 Monochrom
Leica M film cameras:   Leica Q
Leica M6   Leica V-Lux
Leica M4   Leica C-Lux
    Leica D-Lux
    Leica Digilux 3
Leica M lenses:   Leica Digilux 2
Leica 21mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4   Leica Digilux 1
Leica 21mm Leica Super-Elmar-M ASPH f/3.4   Leica Digilux
Leica 21mm Super-Angulon-M f/3.4    
Leica 28mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4   Leica R film cameras:
Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH FLE f/1.4 and f/1.4 AA   Leica R8 / R9
Leica 35mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0   Leica R4
Leica 35mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0   Leica R3 electronic
Leica 50mm ELCAN f/2.0   Leicaflex SL / SLmot
Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95 FLE   Leica compact film cameras:
Leica 50mm Noctilux-M f/1.0   Leica Minilux 35mm film camera
Leica 50mm Noctilux-M f/1.2   Leica CM 35mm film camera
7artisans 50mm f/1.1   Leica R lenses:
Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f//1.4   Leica 19mm Elmarit-R f/2.8
Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0 "rigid" Series II   Leica 35mm Elmarit-R f/2.8
Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0   Leica 50mm Summicron-R f/2.0
Leica 50mm Elmar-M f/2.8 collapsible   Leica 60mm Macro-Elmarit f/2.8
Leica 75mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/1.25   Leica 80mm Summilux-R f/1.4
7artisans 75mm f/1.25   Leica 90mm Summicron-R f/2.0
Leica 75mm Summilux-M f/1.4   Leica 180mm R lenses
Leica 90mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.5   Leica 250mm Telyt-R f/4.0
Leica 90mm APO-Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0   Leica 400mm Telyt-R f/6.8
Leica 90mm Summarit-M f/2.5   Leica 35-70mm Vario-Elmarit-R f/2.8
Leica 90mm Elmarit f/2.8   Leica 35-70mm Vario-Elmarit-R f/4.0
Leitz 90mm Thambar f/2.2    
    Leica S digital medium format:
Leitz Cine lenses:   Leica S1 digital scan camera
Leica Cine lenses from Leitz Cine Wetzlar   Leica S2
    Leica S
     
History and overview:   Sony mirrorless digital cameras:
Leica History and Heritage   Sony A7
Famous Leica Usears   Fujifilm mirorrless digital cameras:
Leica Definitions   Fujifilm X-Pro 2
Leica Lens Compendium    
Leica Camera Compendium   "Magic of Light" 4K Television Channel
The Solms factory and Leica Wetzlar Campus   Thorsten von Overgaard YouTube Channel
     
Photography Knowledge   Thorsten Overgaard books and education:
Calibrating computer screen for photographers   Thorsten Overgaard Masterclasses & Workshops
Which Computer for Photographers?   Lightroom Survival Kit
What is Copyright? Advice for Photogarphers   Lightroom Presets by Overgaard
Synchronizing Large Photo Archive with iPhone   Lightroom Brushes by Overgaard
Quality of Light   Capture One Survival Kit
Lightmeters   "Finding the Magic of Light" eBook (English)
Color meters for accurate colors (White Balance)   "Die Magie des Lichts Finden" eBook (German)
White Balance & WhiBal   "The Moment of Emotional Impact in Photography"
Film in Digital Age   "Freedom of Photographic Expression" eBook
Dodge and Burn   "Composition in Photography" eBook
All You Need is Love   "The Portrait Book" eBook
How to shoot Rock'n'Roll   "A Little Book on Photography" eBook
X-Rite   "After the Tsunami" Free eBook
The Origin of Photography   "Why do I Photograph?"
Hasselblad/Imacon Flextight 35mm and 6x6 scanner   "The Artist's Guide to the Galaxy" eBook
    "The Leica M11 Know-All eBook"
    "The Leica Q Know-All eBook"
    "The Leica Q2 Know-All eBook"
    "The Leica Q3 Know-All eBook"
    "The Leica M240 Know-All eBook"
    "The Leica SL3 Know-All eBook"
    The Digital Photographers Extension Course
    The Overgaard New Inspiration Extension Course I
   
Leica Photographers:    
Henri Cartier-Bresson   Riccis Valladares
Rodney Smith   Christoåpher Tribble
Birgit Krippner   Martin Munkácsi
John Botte   Jose Galhoz
 
Douglas Herr   Milan Swolf
Vivian Maier   Jan Grarup
Morten Albek    
Byron Prukston   Richard Avedon
     
The Story Behind That Picture:   Learn with Thorsten Overgaard:
More than 250 articles by Thorsten Overgaard   Leica M9 Masterclass (video course)
Thorsten Overgaard Workshop Schedule   Leica M10 Masterclass (video course)
    Leica M240 Masterclass (video course)
Leica Forums and Blogs:   Leica M11 Masterclass (video course)
Leica M11 / M240 / M10 User Forum on Facebook   Leica Q Masterclass (video course)
Jono Slack   Leica Q2 Masterclass (video course)
Sean Reid Review (reviews)   Leica Q3 Masterclass (video course)
Heinz Richter's Leica Barnack Berek Blog   Leica SL2 Masterclass (video course)
    Leica SL3 Masterclass (video course)
Connect with Thorsten Overgaard:   Leica TL2 Quick Start (video course)
Thorsten Overgaard on Instagram   Camera Excellence (video course)
Thorsten Overgaard on Threads   A Fly on the Wall (video course)
Thorsten Overgaard on YouTube   Mastering the Noctilux (video course)
Join the Thorsten Overgaard Mailing List   The Leica 50mm Lens Class (video course)
Thorsten Overgaard on Facebook   Street Photography Masterclass (video course)
    Adobe Photoshop Editing Masterclass
    The Photoraphers Workflow Masterclass
    Adobe Lightroom Survival Kit
    Capture One Survival Kit
    Overgaard Workshops & Masterclasses
    Overgaard One-on-One Training
    Thorsten Overgaard Archive Licencing
    Commision Thorsten Overgaard
 
The Von Overgaard Gallery Store:   Von Overgaard Ventilated lens shades:
Ventilated Shades "Always Wear A Camera"   Ventilated Shade for Current 35mm Summilux FLE
Camera Straps "Always Wear A Camera"   Ventilated Shade E46 for old Leica 35mm/1.4 lens
The Von Camera Bag   Ventilated Shade for Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH
The Von Mini Messenger Walkabout Camera Bag   Ventilated Shade E43 for older 50mm Summilux
Desk Blotters 'Always Wear A Camera"   Ventilated Shade for 35mm Summicron-M ASPH
Sterling Silver Leica Necklace   Ventilated Shade for older 35mm/f2 lenses
Software for Photography   Ventilated Shade E39 for 50mm Summicron lenses
Signed Thorsten Overgaard Gallery Prints   Ventilated Shade for Leica 28mm Summilux
Video Masterclasses   Ventilated Shade for current 28mm Elmarit-M
Photography Books by Thorsten Overgaard   Ventilated Shade for older 28mm Elmarti-M
Home School Photography Extension Courses   Ventilated Shade E49 for 75mm Summicron
    ventilated Shade E55 for 90mm Summicron
    Ventilated Shade for 28mm Summaron
    Ventilated Shade for 24mm Elmarit
    Ventilated Shade E60 for 50mm Noctilux and 75/1.4
Gallery Store Specials   Ventilated Shade for Leica Q, Leica Q2 and Leica Q3
 
     
   
     
     
     
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
   
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
     
   
     
   

 

   
     
     
   
     
   

 

   
     
     
   
     
Thorsten Overgaard Leica Q2 review
 

Leica reviews by Thorsten Overgaard. LEICA = LEItz CAmera. Founded 1849 in Wetzlar, Germany. Leica logo in photo by Thorsten Overgaard

LEItz CAmera = LEICA
Founded 1849 in Wetzlar, Germany.

 

   
  Quick Links:
   
 

Buy your Leica Q2 camera from:
Ken Hansen New York

The Art of the 28mm Lens
White balance on the Leica Q2
Light metering on the Leica Q2
Leica Q2 lens shade
Video with the Leica Q2
V-logging with the Leica Q2
The Leica Glow and philosophy
Join the Leica Q2 Masterclass
Where and when can I get the Q2
Limited-editions of the Leica Q2
When is the Leica Q3 coming?
Dummies Quick of brand-new Q2
Professional setup of the Q2
Quick setup of Q2 Monochrom
Editing Q2 Monochrom files

Possible errors in the Q2
Shopping list for the Leica Q2
Leica Q2 test files download
What is that on the Leica Q2..?

Leica Q2 Firmware Update

Leica Definitions

The Leica Q3 is here

   


 

Leica Q  Model 116-19000, released June 2015.
Leica Q2

Released March 2019
.

Leica Q  Model 116-19000, released June 2015.
Leica Q2 Monochrom

Released November 2020

Leica Q  Model 116-19000, released June 2015.
Leica Q2 Daniel Craig x Greg Williams

Released March 2021


Leica Q  Model 116-19000, released June 2015.
Leica Q

Model 116-19000, released June 2015.

Leica Q Silver Model 19022, released 2017.
Leica Q Silver

Model 19022, released 2017.

Leica Q-P Model 19045, released Nov. 2018.
Leica Q-P
Model 19045, released Nov. 2018.

Leica Q Ventilated Shade Black Paint

Leica Q Ventilated Shade Black Paint

$299.00

Buy now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also visit:

Overgaard Photography Workshops
Books by Thorsten Overgaard
Street Photography Masterclass Video
Adobe Photoshop Editing Masterclass
Adobe Lightroom Survival Kit
Lightroom Presets by Overgaard
Lightroom Brushes by Overgaard
Capture One Survival Kit

Capture One Styles by Overgaard
Signed Original Prints by Overgaard

Von Overgaard Gallery Store
Ventilated Shades by Overgaaard
Leather Camera Straps
Camea Bags
Leather Writing Pads
Sterling Silver Camera Necklace

Leica Definitions
Leica History
Leica Lens Compendium
Leica Camera Compendium
Leica 21mm Super-Elmar-M ASPH f/3.4
Leica 21mm Super-Angulon f/3.4
Leica 21mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4

Leica 28mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4
Leica 35mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4
Leica 35mm Summicron-M ASPH f/2.0
Leica 35mm APO-Summicron-M f/2.0

Leica 40mm Summicron-C f/2.0
Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95
Leica 50mm Summicron-SL f/2.0
Leica 50mm APO-Summicron-M f/2.0
Leica 50mm Summicron-M f/2.0
ELCAN 50mm f/2.0
Leica 50mm Summilux-M ASPH f/1.4
7artisans 50mm f/1.1
Leica 75mm Summilux-M f/1.4
Leica 75mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/1.25
7artisans 75mm f/1.25
Leica 80mm Summilux-R f/1.4
Leica 90mm APO-Summicron-M f/2.0
Leica 90mm Summilux-M f/1.5
Leica 35-70mm Vario-Elmarit-R f/2.8
Leitz Cine lenses
Leica L lenses

Leica M6

Leica M11-P
Leica M11
Leica M11 Monochrom
Leica M10
Leica M10-P

Leica M10-R
Leica M10-D
Leica M10 Monochrom
Leica M9, M9-P and Leica ME
Leica M9 Monochrom
Leica M 240
Leica M 240 for video
Leica M 262
Leica M-D 262

Leica M 246 Monochrom

Leica SL
Leica SL2
Leica SL2-S

Lecia SL3
Panasonic Lumix S1R
Leica R9 dSLR
Leica / Kodak/ Imacon digital back
Leica Q
Leica Q2
Leica Q2 Monochrom
Leica Q3
Leica CL
Leica TL2
Leica Sofort
Leica S medium format
Leica X
Leica D-Lux

Leica C-Lux

Leica V-Lux

Leica Digilux

Leica Digilux 1

Leica Digilux 2
Leica Digilux Zoom

Leica Digilux 4.3

Leica Digilux 3

Light metering
White Balance for More Beauty
Color Meters

Screen Calibration
Which computer to get
Sync'ing photo archive to iPhone
The Story Behind That Picture
"On The Road With von Overgaard"

Von Overgaard Masterclasses:
M11 / M10 / M9 / M240 / Q / Q2 / Q3 / SL2 / SL3 /TL2 /




 

 

 

Thorsten Overgaard
Thorsten von Overgaard is a Danish-American multiple award-winning photographer, known for his writings about photography and Leica cameras. He travels to more than 25 countries a year, photographing and teaching workshops to photographers. Some photos are available as signed editions via galleries or online. For specific photography needs, contact Thorsten Overgaard via email.

You can follow Thorsten Overgaard at his television channel magicoflight.tv.

Feel free to email to thorsten@overgaard.dk for questions, advice and ideas.

 

 

 




 

Thorsten Overgaard photo workshops and masterclasses for Leica photographers and digital photographers

Black Camera Pouch MONO

Black Camera Pouch MONO

$498.00

Buy now

 

the-thorsten-overgaard-Munich-Germany-photo-seminar-and-advanced-workshop-for-leica-photographers-and-digital-photographers

     
     

Join a Thorsten Overgaard
Photography Workshop

I am in constant orbit teaching
Leica and photography workshops.

Most people prefer to explore a
new place when doing my workshop.
30% of my students are women.
35% of my students dotwo or more workshops.
95% are Leica users.
Age range is from 15 to 87 years
with the majority in the 30-55 range.
Skill level ranges from two weeks
to a lifetime of experience.
97% use a digital camera.
100% of my workshop graduates photograph more after a workshop.

I would love to see you in one!
Click to see the calendar.

     
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Paris

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Reykjavik   Portugal
Roadtrip USA   Milano
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     


 

     
Buy eBooks by
Thorsten Overgaard
     
"A Little Book on Photography"   "A Little Book on Photography"
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"The Leica Q Know-All eBook"  
Add to Cart   Add to Cart
     
"Finding the Magic of Light"   "Composition in Photography - The Photographer as Storyteller"
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"The Freedom of Photographic Expression"   "The Moment of Emptional Impact"
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The Portrait Book
How to Make People Beautifu
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Preorder: The Noctilux Masterclass
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Extension Courses
     
The New Photography Extension Course"   "New Inspiration Extension Course"
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Lightroom
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Workflow
Masterclass

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Video Classes
     

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This is Street Photography

  Street Photo
Masterclass

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Leica Q2
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  "Leica Q Video Masterclass"
Leica Q
Masterclass

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"Leica TL2 Quick-Start Video Course"
Leica TL2
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  "Leica Q Video Masterclass"
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Leica M9
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"Leica M10 Video Masterclass"   "Leica M 240 Video Masterclass"
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Lightroom Presets
     
Lightroom Presets Leica M10   Lightroom Presets Leica M9
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Lightroom Presets Leica TL2   Lightroom Presets Leica Q
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Lightroom Dutch Painters Presets by Thorsten Overgaard   Leica Presets for Lightroom by Thorsten Overgaard
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"Hollywood Film Presets"
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Hemingway Presets for Lightroom by Thorsten Overgaard
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201 Lightroom Presets
+ 4 Export Presets
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Capture One Styles:
     
"Capture One Pro Survival Kit"
Capture One
Survival Kit 22
  Leica Styles for Capture One by Thorsten Overgaard
Leica Styles for
Capture One
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17 Capture One Styles
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