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Leica Q2 Hands On Review

Introducing the brand new Leica Q2, a brand new, full frame compact camera following up on the already very impressive Leica Q but where the original Q was good, the Q2 is even better.

Image Quality

The Leica Q2 houses a very impressive 47.3 Megapixel Full Frame sensor which is almost double the resolution of the original Q and on top of that, you’ll get 13 stops of dynamic range. Like the original Leica Q, it has an amazing 28mm Summilux lens built in which is a lovely piece of glass with a maximum aperture of f/1.7 so you can actually get a fairly shallow depth of field as well.

We wanted to try the Leica Q2 for a variety of different shots to really test it out. We started with landscape where we were really able to test out that dynamic range and once the sun came out, we were able to get some lovely, rich images.

At 28mm, we were able to get some nice, wide landscapes and while shooting, I was really impressed with how much detail I was seeing in the highlights and the shadows and once I was back at the computer, I was able to pull out even more detail.

In terms of shooting portraits, the 28mm lens means you’re going to be taking fairly wide shots, but the Q2 has built in crop modes to essentially allow you to shoot at different focal lengths, and because of that huge resolution, you’re still getting more than enough detail in your shots.

So you’ve got 35mm, 50mm and the newly available 75mm which gives you loads of possibilities for things like portraiture and close up work. At 35mm you’re still getting 30MP photos (so still more than the maximum resolution of the original Leica Q), at 50mm you’re getting 15MP and at 75mm you’re getting 7MP.

Admittedly, you might not want to be shooting at 7MP too often but, it’s handy to have it in the camera and for posting to Instagram, it’s definitely an option.

I found myself shooting at 35mm quite a bit, especially for portraits and shooting wide open at f/1.7, I was able to get some lovely out of focus elements. The bokeh was nice and smooth without artifacting and ultimately, I was very happy with our little portrait session.

Video

The Leica Q2 can also shoot some pretty decent video, it’ll shoot 4K at up to 30 frames per second and Full HD at up to 120 frames per second so you can get that lovely slow motion.

I went in thinking of this as more of a stills camera (and I imagine most people would be interested in it for that) but it’s nice to know it’s got some nice video capabilities as well and I was certainly able to get some cinematic, slow motion shots.

Build and Feel

The Q2 is incredibly subtle, the shutter is super quiet so it’s perfect for street photography and times when you need to be a bit more discrete.

In terms of design, it’s incredibly similar to the original Leica Q so it’s familiar territory, it looks almost identical which, as far as I’m concerned is absolutely fine, the original Leica Q was already a great looking camera.

The button layout has changed a little but it’s very intuitive to shoot with. There’s not too many buttons, you know where everything is and it just lends itself to shooting manual and shooting on the fly.

It also feels nice in the hands, it’s such a great size to carry around with you but without compromising at all on quality.

It does something particularly impressive by being small enough to take out as an everyday camera, as a travel camera, subtle enough to be perfect for street photography but still able to deliver professional level stills and video and with that huge resolution, it’s just an incredibly nice camera.

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By Park Cameras on 18/03/2019