Red Dot Forum Camera Talk: It STILL Depends! 

My travel setup is a Q2 reporter and the sl2s reporter with just the 50 sl

I got fed up with taking too much gear on trips and having to lug around a heavy bag. I did London and Paris with a point and shoot TZ110 Lumix!!!!!!! Great photos and the camera lived in my jacket pocket the whole time. Now I have the Q3 as a first time owner, I am only taking it on trips and perhaps the Lumix TZ110 as a little backup. For work I use Canon 1D series bodies and Sony A7 series. I refuse to take any of them with we when travelling. The small compacts and the Q series and perhaps M series are superb low key, low weight and convenient gear which still achieves results and doesn't ruin the travel experience. Do I have regrets not taking my high end gear to Europe and UK.....Not one regret, I felt free and light to move and enjoyed the trip. The photos were fantastic. I also checked the focal lengths on the photos from the Euro/UK trip and 90% of the time I was wide, 24-35mm anyway. I wasnt there for work and so I was a tourist with no direct subject intentions. Now if I went for work or obtaining photos for work or commercial sales then I would take the extra kit. When just roaming around, exploring, eating drinking and sight seeing do not mock the trusty point and shoot. You would be surprised and if you are sharing your content on social media, your viewers are only going to view your photos on 5.5 inches of smart phone and so you could shoot with a potato and it would still look great!

Q2 Reporter paired with an M10-R and 50 Lux and 90 APO is my go-to kit whenever I travel. Pure joy to stick to lightweight and compact. We host frequent workshops in our studio in Switzerland, and the amount of gear people bring is sometimes mind-blowing. It often leads to indecisiveness and endless fumbling with stuff. Whenever I see it, I tell them to put everything away and take just one camera with a 50mm for the rest of the day. Amazing what you can accomplish, once you focus…

Welcome to Norway! I will pass you in Oslo airport on my way to Nairobi... packing: M10-D + LUX 50 1,4 ASPH, now that is radically less than my first trip to Kenya 😅 but so liberating:)

Good show as always! Good advice on putting one's money first into the purchase of a Leica lens and a past generation Leica camera for the budget-minded. I purchased my first used Leica M-E (220) from Leica Miami in 2013 and used it with a Zeiss 35mm. Over the course of years I traded in the Zeiss and purchased the Leica 35mm Summarit; then in 2022 I bought the M10 over the M11. I had to hunt for a new M10 and found one from a Leica dealer in the midwest (one not available in Miami, my first choice). I then traded in the Summarit for the 35mm Summicron and, for me, it is the perfect kit. I did not sell the M-E as it works wonderfully in spite of the sensor issues some M9 & M-E's had. It did take seven years to reach this point, but well worth the wait. Thank you Josh and David for all the information in the forum for a informed decision. Well done!

The Stinking Rose restaurant in California where everything is garlic. 😀

Owning both the M-E 240 for color and more recently I added the MM 246 for B&W to be a bit more independent from B&W film especially now for traveling and increased film prices. Even both cameras derive from the same series, I experienced that for B&W there are notable differences between both camera sensors. More details are revealed in highlights with the MM 246 and the missing Bayer pattern allows for a slight but visible increase in sharpness on the 24 MP sensor, too. High ISO performance of the MM 246 is at least one stop above the M 240 color sensor. There are of course newer monochrome M cameras, but for me the price/quality ratio and performance of the MM 246 is nearly ideal - plus I can swap the same external VF-2 and batteries between both cameras. The M-E 240 is a camera which I will most likely keep, too. The vibrant color rendition of this sensor is fantastic and unique compared to more modern successor models. I compare it to a blend of older CCD sensor (which it isn't in the M 240, but it resembles a similar look) and Ektar 100 film color gamut. I am using both digital M cameras with a variety of more modern and vintage M and LTM lenses with great success.

When I had the Q (first edition), I liked traveling with that Q and the M9 with a Summilux 50 and a Summarit 90. The Q was way better in low light and also very nice in urban environments. Now with modern Ms the low light capabilities of Q and M aren't there anymore, but the Q still adds stabilisation, auto focus with face recognition and close focus capabilities.

Thank you for producing, once again, the most informative series on everything Leica.

I gave my Q2 to a waiter in Greece a year ago. He focused a few times but did not take any pictures 😢 BTW great show as always. Thank you. 👏

Sounds a lot like “Everything but the kitchen sink” kits, a classic from back in the days when I thought i needed a new hobby, so i got my self a Land rover. ( also sold the Discovery 1 and bought a summilux later on) anyway, going to Norway in the winter = extra batteries, a pair of fingerless and a thermos for hot beverage. Hope you get som decent weather, up north just below the arctic circle we had -17 F last week, some even claimed -25F. Great light when that cold.

SUPERB SQUARED ! Thanks!

CL is my backup as it is an L alliance and also acts as a “teleconverter” for the 90-280mm.

Very good as usual! Best regards from Portugal.

With Firmware Vers. 6.0. for SL2 the zoom/magnification function by pressing the joystick button doesn't work anymore, do you think Leica will bring it back in the next update?

I wouldn't recommend to have your gear left in the van/car. It's susceptible to temperature fluctuations and more likely hood to have it stolen than in person ...

One of your best shows to date!

THE HAIR!! 👏🏽

Good show- definitely agree that similar systems are the ideal- but the m10m is 98 percent of what the m11m is. The m11 is a vast upgrade in terms of resolution and battery life to the m10…

Hi, I have a M240, when using Lifeview of the LCD, there are frame lines showing 9:16, 6:7, 1:1, 3:4, are these lines for indication only, cannot fine the answer with the manual, thanks

I wish leica make some compact camera with M43 size cmos, like 18-50mm F1.4-2.8 type 109 like camera and 24-280mm F2.8-5.6 camera

It’s an autofocus sonnar, which is amazing if that’s what you want. It has its own rendition and qualities. If you’re looking for a very corrected clinically sharp lens like a new sigma or G master lens this ain’t it.

Excellent .

Hi. Love your pre. I am n canon your who bought the Q3 and missing basic knowledge as a NEW User to LEICA CAMERA can you have on the basic info on leica. And on how to use F or Tv on the camera.

Little off topic. The latest 50mm summilux are 376 gram, but Leica stated on the spec sheet 335 gram. Why?

what is the countdown song at the beginning?

M11 best

Would never thought that an m10 is a lot of camera for the money 😂

Informative videos but with all due respect, your store has almost nothing in stock when it comes to new cameras and lenses. It's either Pre-Order Now or Out Of Stock. How do you stay in business?

"It depends" is the main reason a simple and straight forward question never gets a correct answer. Just throwing this out here.