[Leica] Q3 Monochrom - more images and "report"

[Peter Dzwig]

Dear All,


I promised more shots and my impressions of the Q3 so, here we go :-)
Please don't dismiss it as too long to read! I should probably begin 
with a statement that these are my results and impressions and opinions. 
You may think otherwise


BACKGROUND:

A bit of scene setting: some of you will know that for several months I 
have been considering whether or not to buy a Q3 Monochrom.

I am particularly grateful to all who have offered advice here on the 
LUG and on a number of other fora, in particular to Lluis, Nathan and Don.

I also want to thank Leica themselves, who were very generous loaning me 
a Q3 Monochrom for almost a week and for a great deal of time spent 
discussing issues that I found - and promising to address them.


THE IMAGES:

NONE OF THESE are intended as works of art!! They are what they are - tests!

- All the photos were taken in auto mode, the idea being to see what the 
camera would do "on its own", there is were no filters used, again this 
is in effect the raw processor working. Anything else can be fixed with 
filters or PP.

- The .jpegs were made directly from the entire .DNGs (enormous) in 
Darktable, reduced to 8-bit and scaled to fit within the Gallery format. 
So what you are seeing here is the output .jpeg reduced to approx 18%. 
Obviously it degrades the quality of the images a bit.

- If anyone wants to have a look at the originals (.jpegs or .DNGs) 
contact me offline.



1. The Bull and Hare sculpture Cheltenham.

Taken under a canopy of leaves in bright sunlight. The sculpture is 
highly textured. I was surprised at the lack of variation in the shadows 
given what I saw when I was there. More about the vignetting below.


<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/PeterDzwig/PESO2011/Q3+Mono/L1001669.jpg.html>


2. The same from the reverse to give an idea of the depth of shadows:

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/PeterDzwig/PESO2011/Q3+Mono/L1001671_01.jpg.html>


3. Mobile coffee bar - makes the best iced coffee in Town!

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/PeterDzwig/PESO2011/Q3+Mono/L1001674.jpg.html>

It *really* is excellent coffee. Overall luminosity was not extreme but 
varied rapidly; highlights are unblown, but the woman's skin is actually 
a light coffee in colour which I had hoped would be better rendered.


4. Ancient Beech:

This is an extremely old beech tree in the grounds of Tewkesbury Abbey, 
the picture showing great detail in the bark. View large!

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/PeterDzwig/PESO2011/Q3+Mono/L1001635_rescaled.JPG.html>


5. The front entrance to Tewkesbury Abbey from its grounds.

"Contrasty", but handled well. I really liked this shot. I felt that the 
ones I took around the Abbey highlighted the general capabilities of the 
Q3M.

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/PeterDzwig/PESO2011/Q3+Mono/L1001637_rescaled.JPG.html>



6. Gustav Holst Statue, Cheltenham: In the original .jpeg you can easily 
read the inscriptions

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/PeterDzwig/PESO2011/Q3+Mono/L1001679_Holst_scaled_corrected.jpg.html>


7. A Bar at Craven Cottage (Fulham FC) overlooking the River Thames.

A really high contrast shot which it handles very well.

<http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/PeterDzwig/PESO2011/Q3+Mono/L1001704_Craven_Cottage_Interior_Scaled.jpg.html>



TECHNICAL ISSUES AND VIGNETTING:

As you can see from some of the shots there was an issue with vignetting 
(the worst case was the statue of Holst -,which I corrected for in the 
version above). This turned out to be because the Q Monos (both) have 
been mis-identified in some PP databases and as a consequence the lens 
corrections, which are different from the Bayer-filtered Qs, and they 
also fail to take account of the different processors. It is a fairly 
trivial change.

I have submitted ammended code to the main DB and Leica are looking into 
making sure the various DBs get the relevant data direct from Leica in 
future.

The PP systems involved are any that build on the so-called Lensfun DB 
and potentially several others. If anyone wants/needs the code I can 
make it available while it filters its way into the system.

I also had issues with using FOTOS - which remain unresolved, but may be 
due to overall systems configuration issues.


CONCLUSION

Simply put, it's a great camera. As you can see from the photos the 
level of detail is extremely high* and a bit to my surprise I found the 
28mm very interesting.

I was pleased with many of the photos (there were well over 100) and 
despite a few niggles it handled the sort of scenes I like shooting very 
well.

So will I get one? The answer is probably not and here's why. It's an 
expensive camera (unsurprising), and which a number of things that I 
don't need, in addition to issues of pixel density. I don't shoot video 
- at all - so all the functionality around that is useless for me (and 
why in B&W?); the Apple charging is pointless as I don't use Apple.

Then there's the unresolved FOTOS issue, which...

At the end of the day I'm really a film photographer, and I don't think 
I need 60Mp files, extraordinary as they are. I suspect I don't need 
much more than 40Mp.

I am looking at two Leica options: one is buying a Q2 Monochrom *and* a 
Summicron V4 to go with my M3; or a V4 Summicron and M10 Monochrom, both 
combinations of which I could get for the cost of a new Q3 Monochrom.

Still thinking, but watch this space ;-)


I very much hope that you got this far! Your C&Cs are as ever always welcome


Peter

* In one DNG I could clearly distinguish details of structures, 
including individual buildings at 4 - 5km!


-- 
Dr. Peter Dzwig