Leica Q2 First Impressions

Unboxing

The Leica Q2 is my third camera and it's by far my favorite so far. The packaging is super ecofriendly; although its a bit cheap considering the camera costs $5000. The drawer design is pretty nice, but the whole experience doesn't scream 'luxary'. The packaging doesn't come with too much either. Other than the camera, you also get a leather strap, a lens cap, a lens hood, a charger, and a single battery. At the end of the day, I think it's great that the box packaging makes it super easy to recycle and camera is what's most important anyways.

Specs & Features

Other key features

• f/1.7 Summilux lens
• 3.68MP OLED EVF with 0.76x magnification
• 4K video capture
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Build Quality

The build quality is no joke. The body is made of magnesium-alloy making the camera weigh 718g, but it still feels light enough to carry it around. The Leica Q2 has an IP52 rating which means some dust, sand, and light rain won't stop it from working.

Day to day handling

While the camera looks amazing in pictures, the camera can be a bit uncomfortable to hold since it doesn't come with a grip. You can optionally buy a Thumb Grip and/or a Hand Grip to make the ergonomics a bit better.

For better or worse, there aren't that many buttons on the Leica Q2. Personally, I'm a fan of minimalistic design so this doesn't bother me too much, but some people may miss having a bunch of custom function keys or dedicated video recording buttons if you're coming from other cameras.

The camera comes with a touchscreen, but it doesn't work when you're in the settings. I never use the touchscreens on my cameras, but it's there if you need it.

Another thing that you'll probably notice from day to day shooting is that the images are massive. A single RAW file is almost 85MB and a JPG file is almost 20MB. This is something to keep in mind if you don't have a high speed/high capacity memory card.

Sample Images

I honestly really like how the photos look out of the camera. This has not been the case with other cameras I've used like the Sony Alpha a7II, which always needed a bit of tweaking to look nice.

Note: All of these photos were taken before the COVID-19.

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Accessories

There aren't many accessories you can buy for the Leica Q2, but I did come across a couple of items to make the experience better.

1. Vi Vante Sheetline Black Rope Luxury Camera Neck Strap

I'm honestly not a big fan of the leather strap the camera comes with, so I replaced it with this one.

2. Leica T-System case

This bag is nice and compact. Even though it's meant for the T-System, it fits the Leica Q2 perfectly.

Conclusion

All in all, I'm super happy with my Leica Q2. I'm not a professional photographer by any means, but I firmly believe the Leica Q2 is a great camera to take on a trip. The small compact form factor paired with the amazing Summilux makes it a general camera.