Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/06/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The Q Leica is out and I'm excited. Its a direct response to the full frame Sony DSC-RX1 compact rangefinder camera which came out September 12, 2012 and didn't create a new market niche as I thought it would. It has stood alone. One thing hipster camera buyers really don't care about is the bottom line image quality so they revert to cropped $999 formats a thing I'll do when the camera can be worn as a tie clip. And go off by itself when I wink my left eye. The new Q is very much like the RX1 in that the lens is an all out assault taking no prisoners approach with compactness not being one of the first parameters oddly enough on a compact camera. So it becomes quite an effete item with this amazing chuck of glass on the front of it making for a much bigger pocket you'd get to slide it in. I'd have done the opposite and put a collapsible 3.5 on the front of it or 2.8 like on Rollie 35. And not have it be a mini monster. The point of the camera is that its with you . Taking better pix by far than your cell phone. Selling for 4 and quarter grand $ if it slows down sales on M's Leica won't be loosing any money. I'd kill for one. If there's a dead body on the sidewalk with a Q missing you'll know I did it. If you buy one I'd walk on well lit streets in public places. And put a blonde mustache on your glasses nose. With big drum rolls Leica in the past years introduced a couple of camera systems which they said would put a dent in what pros used for their photography. They were not a response to the Sony RX1. The Sony RX1 could take them to the cleaners as these were cropped cameras and no one thinks the results we get from an M or a DSLR is going to be threatened by a cropped camera. Its apples and oranges. Or as the French say Apples and Pears.... In this cropped camera cast aluminum with an iPhone interface. The Q will be a camera which will made with results not overshadowed by the M system just like a Rollei 35 did against any full sized 35mm camera. Why? The format was the same. Plus Zeiss glass. Just don't jerk the camera when you take the picture. Leica was in no hurry to do this. As its taken years. I think they know now for sure they're in this for the long haul. But doing it is a smart move became if there is a company which is making a compact full frame rangefinder top quality competitive to full sized cameras it should be Leica. Leica is the company which invented quality compact photography. It should not be the company which finds it ill advised as we mustn't compete with ourselves. By the way I just read the whole time the Sony has been out which is almost 3 years no firmware fixes to some quirky issues. BAD Sony! Lets see if they respond to Leica. Or if any body else does. I'd love to see a third full frame compact rangefinder in the camera store. -- Mark William Rabiner Photographer http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/