Leica has finally unveiled the successor to its four-year-old Q2 full-frame mirrorless camera. Like its predecessor, the newer Leica Q3 offers a compact body and a fixed 28mm lens, but now with a larger sensor and many other improvements in both hardware and features.
For starters, Leica’s current-generation shooter arrives with a design that’s similar to the Q2, save for brand-new 3-inch tiltable TFT LCD touchscreen with 1.8M dots resolution in the back. Along with it is an OLED electronic viewfinder with 5.76M dots resolution, which is a bump over its predecessor’s 3.68M dots EVF. Since the camera’s entire build is mostly similar, it too bears an IP52 rating for water and dust resistance.
As mentioned earlier, making a return is the Summilux 28mm f/1.8 ASPH prime lens. It features an integrated macro mode for capturing subjects with a minimum focusing distance of 6.69 inches, and has a digital zoom feature that allows for image cropping equivalent to 28, 35, 50, 75, and 90mm focal lengths.
Internally, the Leica Q3 packs a new 60MP backside illuminated full-frame sensor with phase detect autofocus, ISO 50 to 100000, and Triple Resolution technology. The latter of which allows it to shoot at 60, 36 or 18 megapixels in DNG RAW format, but will still use the sensor’s full length regardless of which resolution is selected.
The new shooter uses a hybrid autofocus system which lets it use contrast, depth from defocus, and phase detection to quickly and accurately detect subjects. In terms of shutter speed, its mechanical shutter ranges from 120 second to 1/2000 second, while its electronic shutter ranges from 1 second to 1/16000 second. Using lowered resolutions will naturally improve capture speeds accordingly.
Video capture also gets a significant upgrade on the Q3, allowing for up to 8K 30fps recordings at 4:2:0 Long-GOP in H.265 or Apple ProRes formats. For comparison, its predecessor can only record up to 4K at up to 30 fps. On that note, lowering the video recording resolution on the newer model also enables for higher frame rates of up to 120 fps.
Besides that, the Q3 comes with a built-in mono speaker, stereo microphone, 2.4 and 5Ghz Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0 LE connectivity, ISO accessory shoe, Type-D HDMI jack, a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, and a single SDXC (UHS-II) card slot. Powering it is a 2,200mAh removable and rechargeable battery, which is claimed to let the camera shoot up to 350 shots on a single charge. Speaking of which, charging can be done by connecting the device to a power source via a USB-C cable, or by simply placing it on a compatible Qi wireless charging pad.
The new Leica Q3 full-frame mirrorless camera is now available in Malaysia via the brand’s official online and physical stores, as well as authorised dealers nationwide. And to no one’s surprise, it does come with a premium price point of RM29,570, which is actually higher than its predecessor’s RM22,350 launch price.
(Source: Leica Malaysia [1] [2] [3])
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