Leica Q2 Review: I'm switching to LEICA! 

Y'all change camera systems like I change underwear. Thank God I can afford to change underwear.

I bought a Q2 3 years ago and it's by far my most used camera. Its ergonomics, menu design, and overall shooting experience make me want to take photos with it. The picture quality is very good too. Beautiful colour rendition and punchy contrast.

Recently I was a cohort in the Streets of London workshop conducted by 3bme during which Claudia traded out her usual setup (Nikon with a zoom) with a Leica QP (provided by KEH). I was so intrigued with watching the portability and impressed with the quality output of her Leica QP, I am ready to do the Leica jump. I just sold a very complete array of Canon M6 Mk2 gear to KEH and hope to be able to buy a Q2 from them... but, of course, first I have to contact my portfolio manager ... Thanx for this review/comparison. Timely and on point for me. Be well.

I have owned a MFT Panasonic Lumix LX100 for almost 10 years. It features a F1.7-2.8 24-75mm equivalent fixed Leica lens, it appears identical to the Leica D-Lux 7. It's still my favorite street camera which fits nicely into my jacket pocket. Still does what I want it to do.

To be fair, you're always more likely to grab a new camera when you go out because you've got more to explore and try out.

Nice video. I’ve just bought a Q2, as with the Q3 launch date set for the 26/5 the prices are already coming down for a used Q2 if you shop around. I just saved an additional 12% compared to a week ago buying from a store and I don’t need the upgrades on the Q3. I’m impressed with the image quality on this camera, but my Fujifilm XH1 still holds up well (noting the lower resolution).

I'm sure there are other "intangibles" to the Leica, but there is not a $3500 difference in image quality. I expected a bigger difference. But I'm happy for you, enjoy!

I love the Q2! I primarily shoot Sony but the Q2 is so enjoyable to use. The Q2 monochrome is perhaps slightly more enjoyable.

I have a feeling Chelsea will switch back when Fuji releases the 100W or 100X In six months.

Love my M11 Monochrom, plan on picking up the Q3 when it comes out next week. I think you made the right choice. I recently picked up the Fujifilm XH2S… it’s a good camera, but not really one I’m loving. There is just something special about Leica; I really enjoy shooting with it.

I'm a huge fan of black and white. Converting digital from color to black and white worked well enough until I picked up a Q2 Monochrom. My best description of the images is that they are extremely rich and have an almost buttery smoothness. It's such a fun camera to work with.

Wow I love the shape of the Leica Q2 camera and the ability to carry just one lens and camera instead of all that gear usually carried, makes me want one. Cost, yes expensive; but so is the Sony A1, Canon R5 or R3, and Nikon Z9. So I understand what a fun camera is and that reminds me of what I started with in the early 60's.

This is a very odd video. The X100V is a great camera for putting in your pocket. It's great for social situations and days out. I bought mine for £600 used before the prices went nuts. The Leica is a £4000 camera. It's much bigger and much much more "pro". I wouldn't take one out for cocktails. It's like saying I am not happy with my 35mm Point and Shoot film having poor picture quality so I am getting hammered with my Hasselblad 500CM . Panasonic GX9 with the 20mm F1.7 about £600 with 4 stops of stabilisation. You could drop, loose or leave in the Taxi a fair few of these with a lot less pain than a Leica Q2.

You made a good choice. One of my student’s dad let me borrow his Q2 for about a week and I really enjoyed working with it. Make sure you have that thumb grip though. It was more useful than I thought. 😅

It’s nice that you can afford $5795 for a Leica. I’m keeping my X100F.

I sold all my Sony FE gear 2 ½ year ago and went for the Leica Q2, it’s fun, great to carry around and quality is outstanding. The app works great on iPhone and iPad with a link to LR mobile. Love it😊

That Q2 looks great. I have a (now ancient) Leica D-Lux 109 for a more hands on manual feel with the viewfinder and i love the monochrome modes. Also picked up the Sony zv-1 for video and travelling cause its so small, but its not as tactile to dial in.

I have been using the Q2 for a year now. It has invigorated my love for photography with its high quality and minimalism. Pure joy to use. And being more limited inspires creativity. Still using mostly Canon for pro work, but for my own personal use, this is it.

Yeah, it's so nice that Leica is so affordable and easy to switch and Fuji X100V are virtually everywhere and so easy to find ^^

I'm a longtime sony shooter, starting back in the a77/a99 days. The A1 is my primary camera. I bought the Fuji x100T for my daughter and shot it a lot. I do not get the hype. Marginal handling, marginal IQ. I splurged ridiculously and bought the Q2 for all the reasons you'd think. Based on what I'm used to, the handling and controls were not at all intuitive. Image quality was fine, but not better than sony, and with lots of limitations. I ended up returning the Q2 and buying a 5 year old Sony RX1R2. So so so much better... Smaller, better handling (adding a couple accessories), half the price. Even this older model felt more advanced than the Q2. Side note - if your last name is not Northrup, KEH are a bunch of scammers. Multiple times, they gave me a price to buy my gear, then sent me a lower check once they received the items. Every time, I called them and asked them to re-review the item. Each time they gave me the original amount. Obviously, they're counting on the fact that most people will just accept what they get and won't follow up.

I just got mine about a month ago. Really enjoying it, and just such a nicer shooting experience than the Fuji X100V (which i have)

Thanks, another informative video. I really appreciate the effort you both go to provide information. Oh my God how I want a medium format compact digital camera.. but I simply can’t afford that price right now. I wish Lumix would put a higher resolution sensor in their TZ range. I walk around with the TZ90 a lot. I think in the short term I may use my canon 5DSR with a pancake lens as a substitute for a Leica or hasselblad compact

Leica Q2's in excellent shape are now going for around $4k to $4400 used. Not that is suddenly a bargain, but if they are within 2 years of original purchase, the warranty is transferable whereas a lot of camera companies only cover the original owner. With the Q3 coming out later this month there a lot of original Q's and Q2's on sale. I love my used Q2 - image quality is amazing, plus portability, convenience and it's weather sealed.

I love reviews. I wish this review was actually a review. Thanks for pandering though.

A more budget option is the GX 9 together with the Leica 15 mm lens. Similar size, aperture ring but with the possibility to switch lenses! Great colours and ibis.

Not a surprise that the Leica out-performs the Fuji in all respects. While these two cameras have some similarities, they are clearly in a different class. I’m not sure if ease in uploading files to IG justifies the additional cost. Chelsea is not your typical consumer since she makes a living from photography and appears to have above average means. I don’t see a lot of valuable information here for the average consumer.

Have fun! I loved my q2, until I moved on 😅 great camera. Just a FYI, build muscle memory of any time using the macro mode to change out of it as soon as you get the shot. Or else you could be missing a decisive moment later :p

You and Tony have got to stop with the misinformation on crop sensor aperture. An f/2 lens is an f/2 lens. You're referring to the change in DoF. But light gathering is the same.

I moved from the X100V to a Leica M a couple of years ago and just love it. Thinking about adding a Leica Q to my bag now. Thank you for the great video..

Excellent video Chelsea! Just a heads up to folks that are considering the Q2, If your favorite focal length is 35mm this camera might not perfectly allign with your work. The crop modes don't magically change the lens type, it just crops a 28mm image (I know, duh moment) There's a few folks on the interwebs that swear leica's 28mm has a wider perspective than most other 28mm lenses. I personally havn't noticed, but the lens length might play into perspective (this is a short 28mm lens). Also, the crops and color profiles are baked into JPEG files. DNG files have the ability to change the crop later in Lightroom. Also Lightroom seems to clear any color profiles when importing DNG files, but this might be a setting within Lightroom (I havn't found anything yet). I wouldn't recomend using the electronic shutter due to extreme rolling shutter distortions. You get 12fps with mechanical shutter so if you're used to spraying and praying you're going to get frustrated real fast. Other than that, I love my Q2 and its been my most used camera for my personal work.

I had one for about a year, and loved it for photography. But it just did not work well for video. The autofocus was spotty at best, and the non-flip screen made it very difficult to vlog. Had to sell it to buy a camera more suitable for hybrid shooting.

Does use of the Leica result in better compositions ?

I made the same swap and never regretted it. Yes the Q2 is big bucks but you’ll get a big chunk of that back come trade in or selling day

I bought my q2 two weeks ago, I love it. I love my Z9 an Nikon D6 as well. But Q2is so much fun

I sold my 100v for 30% more than I paid for it and got the Q2 second hand. Really pleased with the decision so with you on that 😊

I have a Q2 also it is hard to describe, but it just feels right. I would love to have a m11, but I have tremors and the Q2 keeps me in a happy place. And the photos come out beautiful.

Bad time to buy a full price Q2!? Q3 is about to come out!

Finally a video which compares the two cameras side by side with the same photo taken. i dont know why others compare completely different photos when doing a x100v vs q2 comparison. thank you!

“I’m switching from Tony..” 😄

I tried the coupon code but ir says it wasn’t found in their database.

What is the camera strap on the X100V?

Leica is a bit too expensive for most of us unfortunately

The Q2 looks to be about the same size as the Fuji XT-5, and you get to keep your fun Fuji profiles!

Making the switch just in time for the Q3 announcement next week haha

Concerning the Fuji app -- If you are on iPhone, click the connect button when it pops up, then go to wifi settings and click the (i) next to the SSID, then turn off private wifi address. You can thank amoral marketeers tracking you for this new security feature. Even if you set it permanently, you still need to do it nearly every time. Don't blame Fuji or Apple. You don't blame who made your car or house for having locks. In a world of malicious agents, we can't have nice things! That said, could Fuji fix this? If the other camera manufacturers have already, then what gives?!

I went from the x100v to the q2. I think overall I’m happy with the switch, but I do really miss the film simulations. The q2 is heavier but I still take it everywhere with me. But sometimes I do feel uncomfortable bringing a really expensive camera with me to certain places, whereas with the fuji I wouldn’t think twice. Definitely more time consuming to edit Leica files vs just going with fuji jpegs.

Great video! Love it and love the review! Still making the Q2 look good up until the Q3 debuts in a few weeks! Q3 looking to address the two short comings with a Tilt-screen and “Leica Looks.” Also, this video is awesome but the panning drone shots and the stabilized video had me confused unless they were shot w/ the video feature of the Q2. I was wondering. Cheers to making the jump!

Thanks for the review - we don't need *yet another* video on the camera's specs. The are everywhere on YT. And the X100V is *unobtainable* anyway.

Sold all my Sony FE gear and I have my Q2 for 3 years now, but also kept the Sony aps-c A6500 with E1655f2.8G, E11f18, E70350G and E20f28. Thinking about selling the Q2 and replace the A6500 by A6600 and A6700. But will I miss the Leica look in my pictures? I hardly make high quality prints

A Q2 (or Q3???) is my dream camera. ...the only question is, colour or Monochrom?

It must contribute to getting more views, but I really wish this "I'm switching to ...!" class of videos would just stop. Nothing against you Chelsea, as a RU-vidr you have to do whatever the metrics tell you to do (sincerely). A lot of people (myself included) spend years, even decades, wasting time and money searching for perfection and switching gear because of content like this (yes, there's an underlying issue that causes the video to have that effect, but hey). Get to know the gear you have intimately, take photos, think critically on them (if you want), learn, improve your skills. If you already have a recent X100 (or whatever camera you use and know), switching to a similar Leica is most likely NOT to help your photography. At all.

But $5k.... Nice to be able to have the option. The Fuji would win out for me on that basis alone, although I'd envy the low-light capability of the larger sensor and much larger aperture....

Will it be a Q3 now?

I was a firm believer of the X100 series, and thought that I had found my perfect everyday camera when I picked up the V. That is, until I picked up a Q2. Wow! I now own both the Q2 and Q2 Monochrom

I did the same switch from X-100V to Q2. Never looked back. I love the Q2 and the lens is a masterpiece.

Thanks, Chelsea. I like the Q2 but only for about $2500. On the other hand, I like the A7CR for $6000. I own the A7R5 and love the 61mp. Then the clair image zoom where you can crop in 50%. Not to mention the unbelievably quick focus. Hell , I don't know which one to choose.

When Nikon Z8 review, changes, switch-to?

I started with the Q2Mono and just added the Q2. Dynamic Duo - I love them both!

How about the Fuji XE4? I believe it has one of Fuji's best sensors and comes in a really small and discreet package, stylish, uses interchangeable lenses and is fun to use too. As for the Q2, to me it's not that much different than other hi res full frame cameras. If I wanted to go Q2, I'd go for the monochrom which is something much more unique

I wonder if there will ever come a day that everyone will understand that things like Leica cameras are a niche product not marketed to everyone but to those who can afford it and enjoy it for what it is. No one is trying to tell them that they need to own one. The same could be said for Rolls Royce or any other high end car brand. Any car can get you where you need to go, so there is really no need for a Rolls, but they exist for those who can and want to have one.

The other option is the SonyRX1rII also a full frame fixed lens camera, smaller than the Leica, sadly no longer made but can be found in the used market

I have a fixed lens camera too!! It is the amazing Nikon P1000. When I leave the house I’m constantly going for the P1000 because any thing is in reach, plus, macro photography can be done from as little as 1 centimetre away. The only thing that would make me change over is if Nikon brings out the 24MP P1000 upgrade, maybe called the P1024. With optical zoom of 24-3000mm FL, nothing, literally nothing, is like, or even comes close, to this amazing Nikon product. It’s a big, black, beautiful, powerful, man’s camera. None of this tinky toy stuff. Cheers

I wouldn't choose the Q2 over the X100V, but I did trade in my X100V for the Q2 monochrom which is a fabulous camera. Come on Fuji, offer us a monochrome option. You won't regret it.

Leica is a nice camera,just not for that price.

A Silver leica Q3 with all the bells and whistles will be an extreme object of desire for me !

You can get a X-Pro3 with the XF 18mm 1.4 lens for less than 1/2 of the price of the Leica and have an optical viewfinder and Fuji film simulations.

Thanks Chelsea for this comparison!I have a Q2 Monochrom and a X100V in use and must admit I don't like the ergonomics of the Leica at all : the body is just too heavy to be used with one hand (which is useful for snapshots and street) You definitely need a thumb rest.High iso colour rendition of the Q2 is not the best of these worlds either.The Q2 shines on its lens for sure , which is very sharp but heavily corrected in body.I just love my X 100 V and the jpeg output. The only I would like to see adde with next gen is IBIS.

I’m hoping the release of the Q3 in a few months, will drop the prices of the Q2

I tried the Fuji but had focus error problems so had to return. Cashed in some gear and bought a used Q2 and love it.

This is why I switched over to the Ricoh GRIII from Fujifilm. With the added benefit of being smaller. I'm happy to be free of Film Simulations too though. I only like Pro Neg H and Velvia, with occasionally Astia - everything else makes skin look weird and unnatural, or skies.

But why not the q3?

Those Fuji recipes are crack. It’s hard to let go of them. 😂

"Leica Rumors" has it that the Q3 is about to show up this month. If true, I think it's worth it to wait and see and whether to get the Q3 or snatch up the Q2 for potential savings.

I have 3 cameras, all of Sony's RX series, RX100iii, RX10iv, and RX1R, all have different purposes and strenght out of the three I use the 100 the least, as its hot little advantage over smartphone camera now, I wonder whether only Apc wonder like GRiii can keep the pocket camera section afloat. Now if only they can put an evf Ala sony does on their GRiv..

Comparing two camera’s with a 3.5 price factor? And then ‘not sure’ and wanting more film simulations in the Q2? Guess I’ll keep my X100V 😂

So when do we see the Fuji X100Vi vs the Q2 AND the Q3 review?

Definitely let us know if you really do sell the X100V and get a Q2 (or if you will be waiting for a Q3?).

Chelsea is taking photos with the Q2 and posting them to her phone. You need 47 Megapixels for that?

I’m not a Leica fan. But I do like the x100v, so if you don’t need yours anymore, I’ll take it. :-)

The two main reasons to buy a Leica are the build quality and the glass. The build quality is excellent but on a fixed lens camera, when you upgrade the body, you say goodbye to the glass. If you had an L-Mount 28mm Summilux ASPH on it, you would be able to buy the new body when the Q3 comes out and keep your old glass instead of being forced into buy new glass. With a lens you could transfer over to your new body, you might want to buy instead, the 28mm APO Summicron ASPH and transfer that over or something else. It would still be the same, high quality camera with the same beautiful image quality but you wouldn't be buying and effectively throwing away that glass each time.

I switched the X100v to for the Q2 monochrome and then later added an M11. Love them both. I also loved the x100v but too many cameras. lol

Agree with your choice . The experience and mistique of the Lica are important for me . I use the monochrome

I'm also a big fan of these fixed lens cameras especially for travel. I also mulled going for the Fuji or stretching for the Leica Q2, but ended up getting the sort of middle ground: a Sony RX1R II. It's basically a miniature A7R II and its been fantastic. May you should try out the Sony RX1R II too!

Nice review! Thanks.. I'm also switching from holga to leica immediately soon as i watch this video, and luckly today I've got my first leica Q2 from thrift store for $5.00 dollars

I’m in the same boat with price being a major decision factor but my choice is between fx3 and fx30

Leica Q3 comes out around 25th of may !flippy screen ?

The only question to me is, do I need a Leica Q3, which will be published this year?

You made great choice. I bought the Q2M because I love bw. Good luck, keep clicking.

Will you switch your Q2 to Q3 now?

Hope you waited a little before you pulled the trigger on the Q2. Q3 have the Leica Looks which are similar to the Fujifilm Film Simulations, plus a lot more. I think you will like it. But the price..., that's another story. However, it is a joy to shoot and I have been very happy that I got it.

You and Tony are great at reviews and explanations. Thank you! I think we just live on different budgetary planets. I would get a Fuji XT5 and single prime or compact zoom AND THEN buy a jacket or pants with bigger pockets. Then I would fly to Iceland and take pictures of the Aurora Borealis with the money I saved. Or I would get a smaller MFT camera and 12-32mm lens and travel to someplace even more exotic.

you have to try a Q2 monochrom - everything and I mean everything looks different- when I got mine I felt like a kid with my first camera loaded with back and white film-you will want to take a picture of everything just to see what it looks like

I would do the same if I can (currently trying to find someone to trade my Fuji X100V and settle the difference with) but fortunately I’ll be still super happy with my Fuji if I don’t

I hope that Fuji will consider to make a medium format camera with fixed lens. It will attract a lot of users to step into the world of medium format. Fuji should do something different on their own way now.

Do you have any favorite Film recipes? :) Thanks for the video!

Girl! The Leica Q3 comes out in like a week! Just wait a second!

Are people who buy either of these cameras actually deciding between Fuji and Leica? I dont see many people weighing those two options

Hi Guys, I love your videos. I went to KEH to buy a Leica camera with your link that says 5% discount and KEH is NOT honoring the discount. Don't know why but when I go to pay I see no 5% savings.

Fuji’s dr400 mode gives you 3-5 stops of highlight retention at the cost of some shadow. The Leica, all Leica’s, have over 15 stops of DR vs Fuji’s 12, but it’s ALL in the shadows. Some things like clouds, face hi lights, white shirts, wedding dresses ,….. all come out clipped. Not only does fuji give you more hilight retention, but curves to have an almost logarithmic falloff. No need to underexpose, so your pictures on the back of a camera .ook normal, not dark On Leica’s, you have to INCORRECTLY expose your image: underexposed dark images populate the back of your screen requiring post work to look normal… Not fuji.

Why there is no Nikon Z8 content specially with telephoto lenses? 😢