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News Leica Q3 with 43/2.0 Apo lens!

dirk

LQF-Founder
Administrator
Yesterday Leica announced the Leica Q3 43, a Q3 as you know it from the past with a 43/2.0 Apo lens. The body is inside and outside the same as with the normal/wide angle Q3. Only the lens differs. The new 43/2.0 was designed specifically for the Q3 and its 60MP sensor. I expect therefore an even better image quality than the Q3 with its 28/1.7 lens. We will see.

I ordered mine already and it shall arrive tomorrow or next week. Have you ordered already one?
 
Of course, there are already "first impression" videos online in the minute the embargo was lifted. Below are a few. It seems that this new 43/2.0 Apo is an excellent lens.


It seems that I can not embed the video of Hugh Brownstone. Look at his video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@3BMEP



 
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I have owned several Leica M cameras (film and digital) down the years - and loved using them. I bought a used Q not long after it was released. Great camera but I was also using a Nikon DSLR system and the Q wasn't getting used much. It was traded (can't remember what for). A few years later, I was downsizing my kit and decided acquiring a Q2 would be a good idea. It was. Great camera and it travelled with me daily and on holidays and trips. The output was excellent. However, I found I was cropping photos quite a bit. I'm not 100 sure but the lens seemed wider than 28mm and I started to crave a 35mm compact camera. By this point I was all-in with Fuji XF bodies and lenses, traded the Q2 for something or other and went for an X100f - which my wife has "borrowed".

The announcement of the Q3/43 came at exactly the right time and I bought one yesterday. It's due to arrive with a spare battery tomorrow (Saturday 28 Sept) and I'm itching to get going with it. The difference between f1.7 and f2 is negligible and the "Apo" is, according to some of the videos I've seen, a benefit from a chromatic aberrations perspective (not that I found that a problem with the Q2 whatsoever.)

If I need a wider angle view, I have more than enough options available but I don't shoot very wide all that regularly. I can see the Q3/43 being my favourite camera. I'm not a great one for forums / social media but I will do my best to post some of the better shots I take.
 
Hi Paul,

Welcome to LQF33

I have a similar experience with the Q3 (28mm). It seemed to be wider than my Ricoh GR3, which I did not like. Also compared to my Ricoh GR3, the normal Q3 was too big and too heavy for me.

The Q3 43 will be at least as big and as heavy as the normal Q3, but because of the 60MP and the cropping option, I will be able to use 60 and/or 75mm and still have enough resolution for my images. I like the FL of 60-75mm a lot. The GR3x (40mm) has "only" 24MP. This is totally enought for me at 40mm, but for cropping to 60 or 75mm, the resolution drops too much.

I have a Lumix S9 too (24MP, fullframe & small), but it does not have a viewfinder. I hope that my Q3 43 will arrive tomorrow... Z04 Essen
 
Here is a short review with sample images from Jonathan Slack:


Quote:

"... I’m sure that a lot of photographers are like me - we tend to go hunting for pictures with a 35mm or 50mm lens and stick with what is on the camera for the shoot. The 28mm of the Q was very flexible, but in the end a lot of cropping meant that it was more like an 18mp file at 50mm (okay), or 8mp at 75mm which was a compromise for me, and still one had the depth of field characteristics of a 28mm lens.

I had not shot with a 43mm lens before (or 40mm come to that!), and it’s been an absolute joy! Having 20mp for a 75mm portrait lens with a narrow depth of field is quite enough. Add to that the wonderful bokeh of this APO lens and quite honestly I’m in camera heaven!

Although I loved the Q3, in the end I didn’t buy one, but in this case I’m certainly doomed..."
 
This is also a good reviw with sample images:



Nick Rains made also a side by side comparison with the Q3 @75mm and the Q3 43 @75mm to show the difference in Bokeh between the two lenses both cropped to 75mm:

Bokeh_Q3_Q3_43_75mm.jpg
 


You should not miss the side by side comparison in this video (shooting test charts) between the Leica Q3, Q3 43 and Leica SL3 with the Summicron SL 35/2.0 Asph. APO.

The Q3 43 lens is sharper than the 28mm of the Q3 (as it would be expected) but amazingly on par with the Leica Summicron SL 35/2.0 APO. With such an enlargement (I guess around 100%, this is not relevant for real life shootings anymore).

Watch from time stamp from ca. 1:19 on.

The Leica M Summicron 35/2.0 Asph APO on a Leica M11 is in the center as good as the Q3 43, but in the corners worse than the Q3 43. Time stamp ca. 1:27.
 
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