p.2 #1 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
bjhurley wrote:
I agree with this. I used one camera and one lens (a 50mm) for 30 years because I couldn't afford any other cameras or lenses; 50mm worked for everything, but if I had to do it today I'd choose a 35mm or 40mm as they are more versatile: better for landscapes, great for environmental portraits, more human-scale in general. I do have a fixed-lens 28mm camera that I use for travel sometimes, but I often find myself wishing it was 35mm instead. I can't always get physically closer and it results in many of my photos looking rather distant and removed compared with the greater intimacy of 35mm....Show more →
I keep mine set to the 35mm crop ... I can always go in to the DNG and expand / crop either side of that. The crop penalty is negligible, imo. Similar can be said for the Q2 (bargain point from above). It isn't until you get well past 50mm crop-ish that the IQ starts to become a function of MP reduction. The lens holds well here ... jefferson's point about its acuity offsets the MP reduction rather well.
p.2 #2 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
We did 3 weeks in Europe in 2024. The Q3 was the only thing I brought. I never felt I needed anything else. Of course you are not going to do action or wildlife, but for just about everything you want when you travel, landscape, portraits, closeup shots, it’s awesome.
What the compressed pictures don’t show is the sharpness, microcontrast of the 28 Lux. You also get the legendary Sony sensor with huge dynamic range.
I personally use Leica foto a lot, so Q3 would be my choice over Q2. Q2 has old Wi-Fi which is almost unusable.
Knowing you only need to worry about 1 lens 1 body is very liberating and gratifying.
p.2 #4 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
Grenache wrote:
Look at the focal lengths that you have typically used in your preferred genres you would still like to shoot. How often did 28mm-35mm come up? If your answer is a huge percentage of your shots, great. If not, then it is not likely a good fit.
Jim
Even if a huge percentage of images were shot in that range…will you miss the other ranges even if they are not as prominent as your most used range.
p.2 #5 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
I personally could not travel with a single focal range. I usually have a 24mm, 40mm and 85mm and use them quite extensively while traveling. If you only have a single focal length, then you see the world through only that one view…that would bore me quite fast. I love being able to spend a day photographing with my 25mm, then take the 85mm out the next day and view the world completely differently.
So, no to a single fixed length camera for travel and even no for landscapes.
p.2 #6 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
I’ve owned a Q2, Q3 and now a Q3 43 (plus some early digital M’s), Each Q I thought was great, only to discover the successor was even greater. It would be very hard to improve on either Q3 in a substantial way. Frankly, I simply cannot justify getting a digital M based largely on the huge cost difference after factoring in lenses, but also a fold-out screen, weather proofing, macro mode and image stabilization, with autofocus as a bonus. I found cropping the 28 any closer than a 35mm equivalent was pushing it, not from a resolution standpoint but because of the perspective. The 43 easily crops to a 75mm equivalent. Both the Q2 and Q3 sensor/lens combination is optimized unlike any M-lens combination available today. And now, with firmware 4.0, I have a hard time imagining my Q3 43 ever becoming obsolete.
p.2 #7 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
chez wrote:
I personally could not travel with a single focal range. I usually have a 24mm, 40mm and 85mm and use them quite extensively while traveling. If you only have a single focal length, then you see the world through only that one view…that would bore me quite fast. I love being able to spend a day photographing with my 25mm, then take the 85mm out the next day and view the world completely differently.
So, no to a single fixed length camera for travel and even no for landscapes.
I think the point about "pairing it" with his phone could be crudely extrapolated into the point of making the Q the primary use case to cover a lot of ground that fits into his most used focal lengths. Personally, I see it as a 28-50 zoom lens of sorts (i.e. no lens change). Then, having a second body of ILC, you can build around that with other glass for more dedicated work, but for folks living in the 28-50 space, it covers a lot of ground.
As to an 85 ... yup, that's a different lens (75 or 85 depending on body in use) ... not a use case for the Q3 at that point. I think the literalness of the OP's question is better served, when reframed to asking if the Q3 offers a lot of versatility, and then I think it is an easy "yes" answer. Some of it comes via the crop, some via the macro, some via the resolving capability of the Lux.
Let me put it this way ... given the choice of the D-Lux with its optical zoom, or the Q3 ... the Q3 is my choice. Understanding the OP's mission is looking at a minimal carry. That's a bit different from an optimized kit. No way I'd expect a minimal carry to cover all the bases of an optimized kit, that's kinda silly to think it could / would / should.
That said, I've ran with my Q2 and an 85 (or 75) for a very efficient two body setup without lens changes, for event work. I could have used a different body and mounted a 28mm lens on it, but the IQ of the dedicated / integrated Lux / sensor optimization is something that on paper folks may overlook wrt to the Q. Again, it's not going to replace a full / optimize kit ... but, it does hit a certain "sweet spot" for some folks.
p.2 #8 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
Yes, the post is just bout the versatility. I know the Q3 can’t handle every situation. Most of what I have and like are around the 28mm area - not all. I’ve traveled with full kits of several lenses, and when walking through Spain, I used primarily a full frame with a 28mm prime. I loved that.
Here’s the thing, though. If I have six lenses, I look at a scene from a variety of viewpoints. For me, it becomes about the gear, and less about the scene. When I was walking and driving in Spain, it was about the scene. I didn’t have to swap things and then adjust.
I understand either has things you miss, but when I look at the photos I have here, the ones on the wall are the wide angle ones, not the wildlife. I want to know if others have experienced this. And the mention of a phone was just for completeness in describing kit.
p.2 #9 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
tmoseley1 wrote:
Here’s the thing, though. If I have six lenses, I look at a scene from a variety of viewpoints. For me, it becomes about the gear, and less about the scene. When I was walking and driving in Spain, it was about the scene. I didn’t have to swap things and then adjust.
There's vision, then there's mentality. Some shoot with brain, some shoot with heart.
It sounded like you've understood why some shoot with minimal gears.
p.2 #11 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
tmoseley1 wrote:
Yes, the post is just bout the versatility. I know the Q3 can’t handle every situation. Most of what I have and like are around the 28mm area - not all. I’ve traveled with full kits of several lenses, and when walking through Spain, I used primarily a full frame with a 28mm prime. I loved that.
Here’s the thing, though. If I have six lenses, I look at a scene from a variety of viewpoints. For me, it becomes about the gear, and less about the scene. When I was walking and driving in Spain, it was about the scene. I didn’t have to swap things and then adjust.
I understand either has things you miss, but when I look at the photos I have here, the ones on the wall are the wide angle ones, not the wildlife. I want to know if others have experienced this. And the mention of a phone was just for completeness in describing kit....Show more →
I don’t change lenses based on the scene in front of me. I use a given lens for a day and find images that fit into that focal length, then change to a different focal length the next day and once again look at the area with that new focal length. When using a wide lens like 24mm, I view the scene totally differently than when I put a 85mm lens on my camera. The two different focal lengths result in totally different types of images, even when photographing the same area.
It keeps my photography fresh looking at the world through different focal lengths.
p.2 #12 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
tmoseley1 wrote:
When I was walking and driving in Spain, it was about the scene. I didn’t have to swap things and then adjust.
Walking and driving result in different behaviors for me.
Walking: I will always only have one body, one lens with me in a small camera bag.
Driving: I will additionally have other lenses (and potentially also other bodies) in the trunk of the car in a second larger camera bag but I will probably still only reach for them when I truly need them.
p.2 #13 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
tmoseley1 wrote:
Yes, the post is just bout the versatility. I know the Q3 can’t handle every situation. Most of what I have and like are around the 28mm area - not all. I’ve traveled with full kits of several lenses, and when walking through Spain, I used primarily a full frame with a 28mm prime. I loved that.
Here’s the thing, though. If I have six lenses, I look at a scene from a variety of viewpoints. For me, it becomes about the gear, and less about the scene. When I was walking and driving in Spain, it was about the scene. I didn’t have to swap things and then adjust.
I understand either has things you miss, but when I look at the photos I have here, the ones on the wall are the wide angle ones, not the wildlife. I want to know if others have experienced this. And the mention of a phone was just for completeness in describing kit....Show more →
It sounds like you're being thoughtful and based on your comments, downsizing is worth a try.
But I'd recommend grabbing a 28mm lens for your current camera and do a few dry runs first, to see if you like the experience or if you feel too limited. That way it's a separate decision from whether or not you just want a Q3 — which is fine too, but I think it's worthwhile to decouple that gear purchase from the downsizing proposition in your decision making process.
p.2 #14 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
tmoseley1 wrote:
I want to downsize, but am facing FOMO. I'm wondering... Can a Leica Q3 serve as my only camera. I still want to take landscape, street, and astro, as well as travel. Can this one body serve in this? What are the downsides?
If you're downsizing, keep one system dedicated for astrophotography and the Q3 can probably handle 85% of the rest you've mentioned.
p.2 #15 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
pmeheut wrote:
Any camera can be your only camera. Some photographers shot with one camera and one lens (Plossu with its Nikkormat for instance) and most of us cannot even dream of coming close...
This is my take on it. Any camera can do as long as it's functional and you learn it in and out. That said, aside from a phone camera, if I had to choose one body and one lens in a non-removable sense, I'd probably choose an X100 which pairs with the 35mm equivalent.
As others have noted, you might want to experiment with locking away the rest of your gear for a week / month / season and seeing if you can stick to just one body and one lens. What you don't want to do is sell and rebuy over and over due to a lack of time spent on introspection.
p.2 #16 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
Go with two — Q3 andQ3 43. I’m traveling on the same road. I’ve always kept my kit smallish — SLR and two or three lenses. Nikon film, Leica film, Nikon digital. A couple of years ago I tried to shed all the weight and accessories. Went to one camera—Ricoh GR iii HDF. This worked! For a while. Loved the film simulations and got addicted to custom recipes to replicate films of the past—Portra, Optima, Kodachrome. But the 28mm focal length seemed a little limiting. Bought a GR iii x (40mm equivalent) and all is well. Most times it’s one or the other, but carrying both is still very light and easy. Suggest you try a two-Leica solution.
p.2 #17 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
Interesting story. I ran into Kevin Love at one of the airport lounges. My son plays hoops, so we got a picture with him and Kevin. I took their picture with the Q3. He asked whether I was shooting with a Q. He then took out his Q3 from his bag, and we then started to talk Leica for the next 30 minutes. Very nice guys who loves photography outside of basketball. He also has M11 and Sony stuff, but he usually travels with the Q.
p.2 #18 · Can a Leica Q3 be my only camera (except my phone?)
Curious to know what your "small SL kit" consists of and if it was designed for travel use..
tzhang4284 wrote:
I've gone back and forth on the Q a few times and settled on the M system for most of those use cases above although lack of AF is a real downside, which led me to build a small SL kit.
