Leica’s Q series of full-frame compact cameras have had the same 28mm f/1.7 lens since the original in 2015, but now the company is shaking things up. The Leica Q3 43 launching today is nearly identical to the 60-megapixel Q3, but it’s got a 43mm f/2 lens for a tighter field of view that’s more appropriate for close-ups and portraits — and, of course, it’s even more expensive, coming in at $6,895 compared to the $6,295 standard model.
Technology
Leica made a second Q3 camera with a new lens and even higher price
The Leica Q3 43 is a new offshoot of the Q3 with an APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 ASPH. lens instead of a 28mm. It’s nearly identical otherwise, except for its even higher price.
The Q3 43 has mostly the same specs since it’s basically a Q3 camera with a new aspherical APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 lens permanently attached and a gray leatherette (I imagine so deep-pocketed users who inevitably buy both can tell them apart in a bag). It uses the same backside-illuminated sensor with an ISO range of 50 to 100,000, hybrid autofocus system, leaf shutter design, and 8K video at up to 30fps — though more expansive frame rates and chroma subsampling are available at 4K.
Operations are the same, too, with the revised button layout of the Q3 and its kind-of-awkward 3-inch tilting screen. And like all previous Q models, the Q3 43 has a dedicated button for in-camera digital cropping, but now with the new focal length it crops to 60mm, 75mm, 90mm, 120mm, and 150mm equivalents.
Leica’s new Q variant arrives soon after its last M rangefinder variant, the M11-D, which eschews a screen for a more “pure†analog-like experience. What that $9,400 camera also left out is a charger in the box, and the Q3 43 repeats this unforced error as the BC-SCL4 battery charger (which costs $200) is listed as an “optional accessory.†That’s the same charger as the Q3, Q2, and Leica SL cameras, but all of those $6,000-plus models come with one. Only including a USB-C cable in the box is more understandable for a consumer / prosumer-level camera, but this kind of nickel-and-diming feels beneath a premium brand. A proprietary battery charger on a camera this expensive is not the equivalent of 5W USB wall warts for phones, but it’s easy to foresee Leica continuing on this path for its “lifestyle†cameras.
Pithy disappointments and outlandish prices aside, the Q3 43 looks like a natural evolution of the Q camera line. Leica fans have wanted a 50mm version of the Q since the original came out, and 43mm is close enough to give that feel without sacrificing too much in the size or maximum-aperture departments. (Leica product managers have told me in years past that the 28mm lens was originally chosen for its balance of size, speed, and cost.) The new lens is just 5mm longer than the lens on the Q3, and the camera dimensions between the two are otherwise the same.
I didn’t find the Q3 super compelling in comparison to my personal Q2, as I felt the handling of the camera made too many sacrifices for that janky-looking LCD and the autofocus wasn’t a big enough jump forward to be worth an upgrade (though, over a year later, it’s still hard to buy one, so I may be in the minority). But the Q3 43 and its new lens may offer something special and unique enough to make futzing with those drawbacks worthwhile.