When you hear brands with a rich heritage in what they do and what they’ve been doing for years, it adds a character, a story to their product – which gets sold to the consumers. Essentially, you are buying a piece of legacy. This is something you can only experience with certain brands out there such as timepiece manufacturers, automobile but today we will talk about Imaging – more specifically, the German camera, Leica.
We were using the Leica Q2 for a good week and honestly, you are not getting just a camera that shoots photos. You are getting a delicious Leica Experience no one talks about. Let us address that.
What is this Leica Experience?
Every Leica camera in their arsenal offers that Leica Experience we talk about. Sure, there’s the experience right from the packaging, holding the camera, feeling its finesse, the shooting experience and experience that goes past that.
However, when we talk about the Leica Experience, we mean the time you get to spend with the camera. Truth be told, as a camera enthusiast, I must say when I got my hands on the Leica Q2 for a little over a week – not only it felt like a fresh breath of air, but it felt so right in so many ways. But before I address that, I need to talk about the camera that’s actually in my bag.
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Coming from a Non-Leica Camera System
I have jumped across so many systems and I have been living in the Sony Camera System for a while now – take it from someone who got the Sony A7III in 2023. For a camera that was released in 2019, it sure has kept up so well with today’s standards. That is the beauty of imaging products – keeping things timeless. I love my A7III: the number of features it has, the crazy level of dials, buttons and customization – It’s a decked-out camera for the work I do.
Once I am done with work, I do shoot with the same system for my hobby. But when it takes few steps to get a thing right, it can be counterproductive Sony doesn’t scream simplicity with their UI/UX, and if you do want a manual experience, Sony is far up in the future with non-linear motors in the lenses which no longer gives that I am “One with the Camera” feel anymore. Something I missed ever since I parted ways with my Nikon D3200.
However, it’s a feeling I love with all my heart on my film cameras. This is exactly where things got interesting and exciting with the Leica – more specifically the Leica Q2.
But Everything felt right with the Leica
When we were handed the Leica Q2, because we were on a trip to Penang with Xiaomi and Leica to rediscover Malaysia, which is a fancy way of saying, “We went on a photowalk” (content you can check out on my personal Instagram – because I had to post there) – it was supposed to be an experience with Leica cameras and the Xiaomi 14 Series which are co-engineered with Leica.
Sure enough, I did take lovely photos with the Xiaomi 14 (yes, the 14, not the Ultra) however, I shot more with the Leica Q2. It took about a good hour to get accustomed to the camera because it takes a while to learn and adapt when something is new, but my god, it is by far the most friendly camera I’ve gotten used to. Let’s get into it.
The Leica Experience I loved with the Q2
The Summilux Lens brings me good memories of my Film Camera
When I say I want the right lens experience, personally, this is exactly what I mean. Sure, being a late 90’s kid, I didn’t play with a lot of film cameras, however, my Pentax Spotmatic SP was the first film SLR I appreciated photography with because of its manual experience and I spent more time shooting. When I held the Q2, I had the exact experience with a camera that reigns in the digital age.
Being able to connect yourself with the camera is what makes a great camera – and with the Q2, I had the same manual experience as my Spotmatic. The buttery smooth focus that’s properly linear and a nice clicky aperture ring I know by heart – I found that with the Q2.
And don’t underestimate the fixed lens system here because this is where the Leica Magic begins. There’s a dial close to the body and one turn from the “dot” indicator to the “Macro”, the camera transitions into a Macro system. I have never seen anything like it. The sheer engineering that went into this lens and not to forget, Summilux have the most natural image angle, similar to a human’s eye view which makes this 28mm f/1.7 lens a magnificent pairing on the Q2.
Since the Leica Q2 is a Full Frame Camera, Leica knew that there would be users who’d want to shoot in a different focal length. So, with the Digital Frame Selector button, you can do 35mm, 50mm and 75mm equivalent focal lengths. It applies a crop on the sensor however, since it’s a 47MP sensor, you are still getting quite the impressive quality from this petite camera.
Possibly the Easiest to learn and the most Friendly Camera UI Ever
As someone who has used plenty of cameras, I don’t remember any one of them having friendly UI/UX – until I tried the Leica Q2. Take my word for it because this is the easiest to learn and the most friendly Camera UI I have ever used.
Press the menu and you are greeted with this screen which shows a straightforward function. Tap on the top to switch between Photo and Video, the grey box has the important settings you’ll be using (aperture, exposure time, ISO and EV) and at the bottom, you have 9 more settings (AF Drive, Focal Points, Drive Mode, Colour Profile, User Profile, Exposure Metering, White Balance, Image Configuration and Leica FOTOS connectivity). Even the settings menu uses terms that are so simple and easy to understand.
It has icons that are super friendly to understand. Leica calls them the Leicons – cute. As a photographer, I adapted to the camera at a much quicker duration than expected. Other participants had never used a proper camera, and I saw how one of them managed to learn how to use it on his own. I can strongly say that this is not the type of experience you can get from other camera makers. Take it from someone who switched from Mark 2 to Mark 3, and it felt like a huge learning curve.
You are One with the Camera
I cannot stress this sentence enough – “You are one with the camera.” When you are out and about, the first thing that captures the moment is your eyes. And when you want to capture that very moment with your camera, you best bet you want it to turn out the same way. It felt like magic because the photos I took turned out exactly how I saw with my very eyes. I can’t say much but the Pictures I am about to show you will speak for themselves.
Black and White Photos
Colour Photos
The Leica FOTOS App could teach a thing or two to others to make a Better Camera App
I like working on the move, and with my iPad with me all the time, it gives me time to edit pictures on the move as well. Most apps from Camera Makers to transfer your images to your devices are extremely cumbersome: either you get to do it one at a time, the connection established between the camera and your device is unstable, or you are spending more time troubleshooting than working on those images.
All these camera makers can really learn a few things from the Leica FOTOS app, and if you are a Leica FOTOS app user and have issues with this, try the others and come back to this, you’d appreciate it a lot.
Right from the start, setting it up on my iPad Air was so easy and despite a slight hiccup, it managed to handle everything on its own. The app doesn’t stop there – once it pairs with the camera, it prepares the gallery with a proper preview of images from your camera onto the iPad Air. It gets better, tap any image, give it a second or two, you get the preview of the image.
When you check out the images, on the top right, you have 5 toggles: Download, EXIF Data, Favourite, Share and Delete. Both the Download and Share, allow you to share not just a preview version of the image but if you want the JPG+DNG, it is also possible. After you choose your first photo to download onto your iPad, you can continue to scroll through the gallery, look for other images you want to copy and add on seamlessly without the need to do it one at a time.
Once you have imported the image, you can launch your preferred editing app on the top right: Lightroom, Darkroom or Capture One. Genius. And back to the main screen, you have the Remote for Remote Control, Camera Settings and Disconnect.
Say whatever you want, this is by far the best Camera app I have ever experienced.
Despite the Leica Q2 being 5 years old…
… and in 2024, we surely have seen a lot of advancements in imaging, including the major improvements on the Q3. But cameras are timeless, and a good one is an investment. I still love the Leica Q2 for everything it does, and I enjoyed it without even thinking about the hardware for a second. It’s all about the experience and this is the Leica Experience I was talking about.
For once, I chose to leave my trusty A7III at my office and took the Q2 with me everywhere I went, because it’s the camera I have been yearning for. And only, someone with a rich heritage and passion can do that.
Leica is one and will always be one. If this Leica Q2 got me talking a lot, I am excited how fast the Q3 is going to make my heart flutter and I will share my experiences with that when I get my hands on that beauty for review.
But hey, if you do care about the hardware, don’t let the tough exterior of the Q2 fool you, it’s an absolute beast.
Thanks to Leica Malaysia for making this content happen. For more tech, gaming, and lifestyle content, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Better yet, stay tuned to The Adventures of Vesper.
