Leica Q2 hands-on - A day out with Leica's new 47MP full-frame camera

1/17

This is the Leica Q2 - Leica's latest camera with a 47.3-megapixel full-frame sensor and a newly developed 3.68MP OLED viewfinder. It comes with a fixed lens - the Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH - and is available for preorder now for S$7,450 from the Leica online store. You can also get it from Lazada.

2/17

The Summilux 28mm lens has 11 elements in 9 groups, and features 3 aspherical elements for optimal image quality. There's a macro mode that you can enable by turning the ring, and it allows for a minimum focusing distance of 18cm.

3/17

The Q2 has a digital zoom function indicated by a white box; and the equivalent focal length is displayed in the corner of the box. This feature gives you 47MP images at 28mm, 30MP images at 35mm, 15MP images at 50mm, and 7MP images at 75mm focal lengths.

4/17

On top of the camera you'll find a dial for ISO speed, the power switch, and another dial with a function button in its center.

5/17

A whole assortment of features can be assigned to that right wheel button, like ISO, color temperature, and white balance. In short: it lets you customize the camera according to your shooting style.

6/17

The Q2 takes a single SD card, and the slot is found at the base of the camera. Also, notice that the camera has an IP52 protection rating. It's not waterproof, but it should take normal splashes just fine.

7/17

Meanwhile, the BP-SCL4 battery is housed on the right side of the camera. This pops up slightly when unlocked, and raises out fully when you push it again. The battery is good for 350 shots by CIPA standards.

8/17

And now for some test shots. With the lens turned to "Macro", the camera focuses down to 17cm, so this is how close you can get. This shot was taken when the sky was slightly overcast, hence the duller colors. (Capture info: 28mm at f/8.0, 1/250s, ISO 320.)

9/17

Here's a closeup of the previous photo (click the + icon for a bigger image). As you can see, there's a good amount of detail to be had even though the camera isn't using a dedicated macro lens.

10/17

Shooting up into the light didn't create much flaring, which speaks to the quality of the coating on the various elements in the lens. (Capture info: 28mm at f/16, 1/250s, ISO 4,000.)

11/17

In this 100% crop, you can see that the camera has managed to retain a good amount of detail. While there is still noticeable softening due to the camera's noise reduction process, color noise is largely absent.

12/17

Now for some street shots. The silent shutter of the Q2 lets you get up close without disturbing your subjects too much. (Capture info: 28mm at f/16, 1/50s, ISO 2,000.)

13/17

Here's a tighter crop of the ISO 2,000 photo. You can see a fair amount of noise in the shadow areas, and some details are lost because of the noise reduction.

14/17

Of course, the Leica Q2 comes with Leica's color simulation modes, so you can get beautiful black and white images straight out of the camera without any further processing. (Capture info: 28mm at f/1.7, 1/500s, ISO 100.)

15/17

So much detail in this ISO 100 shot. Note that the focus point has fallen on the nose, so the writing on the cigarette is slightly out of focus (as is his far eye) - typical of images shot at f/1.7.

16/17

Now here's a night shot taken at ISO 6,400. Color noise is well handled here; and at first glance, details seem well preserved too. (Capture info: 28mm at f/1.7, 1/80s, ISO 6,400.)

17/17

But zoomed in, the detail loss becomes evident. For example, the buildings have lost their hard edges and have become hard to distinguish from one another.