Virtually a yr in the past, in November 2024, I spent £6,000 (about $8,100) of my very own cash on a Leica Q3 43. Over the past 11 months, it has been with me on quite a few travels across the UK and throughout Europe, and I’ve shot over 40,000 photos with it, together with the whole lot from road pictures, journey, landscapes and even major editorial features. I’ve obtained some ideas on these sorts of premium compacts and hopefully some strong purchasing recommendation, whether or not you are contemplating this digital camera or another compact just like the ever-popular Fuji X100VI.
Let’s dive in.
I’ve Taken Over 25,000 Pictures With My New Leica. These Are My Favorites
I purchased the Leica Q3 43 with my very own cash at full retail worth, which on the time was simply shy of £6,000 — nicely, simply over, together with the second battery I additionally ordered. That is an enormous sum of money, particularly at a time when the purse strings are tightening and making massive purchases — particularly non-essential ones like this — are troublesome to justify.
So, why did I would like it?
Nicely, quite a lot of causes, and I am hoping that any photographers on the market will perceive these, Leica followers or not. In recent times, I’ve discovered myself being a bit over-encumbered with gear that I’ve acquired in my 13 years taking images professionally. Too many luggage, tripods, lenses, lens adapters — no matter — and I more and more needed to take a extra stripped-back strategy to a lot of my pictures.
For years, I’ve used the Sony RX1R as a compact, “take wherever” digital camera after I do not wish to take a bag filled with equipment. It is a gorgeous little full-frame premium compact that takes stunning images with its mounted 35mm lens. Nevertheless it’s 12 years previous now, and it is exhibiting its age, with gradual, unreliable autofocus, comparatively low decision, and crucially, there is not any viewfinder, so it’s important to shoot utilizing the primary display and also you seem like a vacationer. I spent years hoping that Sony would substitute it, and while it eventually did, I might already purchased and fallen in love with my new Leica. Sorry Sony, you snooze, you lose.
The Q3 43 comes into its personal as an on a regular basis carry digital camera for road and documentary pictures
The Q3 43 is, in some methods, my RX1R’s religious successor. It has a stunning full-frame sensor with an especially high-quality mounted lens. It takes gorgeous pictures, and I can carry it with me just about on a regular basis, retaining it slung round my neck, able to shoot every time I see a possibility.
It has a hard and fast 43mm lens, which can not swimsuit everybody, but it surely’s ideally suited for many of my work. I normally flit between 35mm and 50mm focal lengths, so 43mm is a perfect candy spot between the 2 that I’ve by no means discovered limiting within the many images I’ve captured with it. I attempted the 28mm model of the digital camera and did not get on with its wide-angle view.
I wrote just lately about the three types of cameras photographers need to have, which embody a workhorse, an on a regular basis carry and a extra inventive choice, and whereas the Q3 43 has completely been all three for me, it is the second level the place I really feel it is had the most important affect for me. It is not a digital camera that I’ve needed to make any allowances for when carrying it round. I do not want an enormous pictures backpack, only a small sling or messenger bag. Generally I’ve even gone out with it slung round my neck with no bag in any respect.
I completely love having a digital camera with me at all times. It is true that the very best digital camera is the one you’ve with you, but it surely’s doubly the case if the digital camera that is at all times with you is truly the very best digital camera. High-quality, it isn’t as small as my Sony RX1R, but it surely’s smaller than my Canon R5 and means smaller than Hasselblad’s recent X2D II and it has been an important companion on photowalks around Stockholm, Edinburgh and Barcelona. It is a pleasure having the ability to rapidly elevate it up and hearth away.
Having the digital camera at all times able to go meant I may rapidly seize moments like this.
It helps that it is easy to function. I shoot principally in aperture precedence, twisting the devoted aperture ring on the lens after I wish to alter the depth of subject. I preserve it principally at ISO 400, and the digital camera is at all times fairly good at giving me the proper shutter velocity for no matter scene I am capturing.
At night time, I’ve to crank that ISO onerous, particularly for the reason that digital camera would not have a stabilized picture sensor like my R5. The truth is, on a technical stage, the Q3 43 would not form up tremendous nicely, with each its burst charge and autofocus system being slower than rivals. Its topic detection can be finest described as “hit and miss.”
Utilizing the Leica Q3 43 in Sweden was nice. Its small measurement made it straightforward to at all times have with me.
However that is why I like this digital camera. I haven’t got to dive into the infinite abyss of the settings menu to determine totally different autofocus choices. I simply preserve this digital camera at single-point focusing, half-press the shutter to concentrate on no matter I would like after which recompose to take the shot. Or I am going to focus manually. It is a extra fundamental capturing expertise that encourages me to assume extra in regards to the shot I am taking and fewer in regards to the settings I am utilizing to get it.
Then there are the built-in coloration profiles Leica presents, which I completely adore. I shoot nearly the whole lot utilizing Leica’s Chrome look, which does issues to colours and distinction that I am obsessive about. I principally pair this with a heat white stability and, extra just lately, a PolarPro Gold Mist filter, which provides my pictures a heat, filmic vibe that I like. This filter nearly by no means leaves my digital camera and is, for me, vital.
I like the tones that the digital camera can obtain, leading to nearly no submit processing.
The truth is, I now shoot most of my images in JPEG and use them with nearly no post-processing. That is in stark distinction to my means of working with the R5 — I solely ever shoot in uncooked on that digital camera, and all my pictures undergo some stage of labor in Lightroom. Do I want Leica provided choices to tailor these profiles additional in digital camera? Completely.
I deal with the Q3 43 as a basic point-and-shoot compact digital camera. I exploit fundamental settings to shoot rapidly and creatively, leaning on in-camera colours to reduce my time caught modifying. It is provided me a distinct means of working, and I’ve totally loved each second I’ve spent with this digital camera to this point. The truth is on the time of writing I’m currently shortlisted in 4 classes within the British Pictures Awards — three of which I shot on the Q3 43.
The Q3 43 is small, however Sony’s full body RX1R is even smaller.
To be truthful, it isn’t simply the Leica Q3 43 that would provide you with this. Fujifilm’s X100VI stays a social media darling because of its compact measurement and customizable movie emulation modes, whereas the Ricoh GRIII is lauded by road and journey photographers for its mix of high quality and pocketable measurement. I did think about shopping for the X100VI as a substitute of the Leica, however I will be sincere, there may be one other ingredient I am maybe much less happy with admitting.
I needed a Leica.
I do not like to consider myself as a standing image form of particular person, and whereas I’ve no want for a Rolex, a yacht or a Lambo in my drive (OK, possibly a bit), I’ve at all times daydreamed about lastly proudly owning a digital camera that sports activities that iconic purple dot on the entrance. I fearful that it might be a novelty that might rapidly put on off, but it surely hasn’t — I nonetheless discover myself excited to choose it up and take it someplace. It additionally helps that the strong metallic building of the Q3 43 makes it really feel infinitely extra premium than the light-weight, arguably fairly plasticky really feel of the X100VI.
I used the Q3 43 for a marriage I shot over the summer time and I like the images I obtained with it — as did the bride and groom.
It provides me a artistic buzz that I do not actually get from my Canon R5. To lean on an analogy I’ve used earlier than, the R5 is a employee’s van; sensible, it ticks the packing containers for what they should do a job. An expert device for getting issues accomplished. Nevertheless it’s not the automobile they fantasize about driving down the coast. The Leica is the fantasy automobile. A basic Ferrari, maybe. It technically does many of the similar issues, but it surely does it in a really totally different means that makes you are feeling notably totally different while you use it.
A easy settings structure.
It could have been some huge cash to spend on a digital camera, particularly one which I strictly talking did not want. It helped that Leica within the UK presents interest-free credit score, so I truly unfold the fee over 12 months, reasonably than dropping the money abruptly. Nevertheless it’s cash I used to be — and nonetheless am — completely satisfied to spend.
It is given my pictures a lift I did not even know I wanted. I’ve had it nearly a yr now and I really feel I’ve developed extra as a photographer in that point and brought all kinds of pictures I am extremely happy with. I can not wait to see what the following years with it should deliver.
