Leica Q3 43 “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”

It’s the opening line in poet Elizabeth Browning’s sonnet number 43. How appropriate for my relationship with my new Leica Q3 43. If only maths was always that simple! I want a smallish camera with a clean and intuitive interface. I like something in between 35mm and 50mm. Furthermore, I want image quality and build quality. And yes, I bought the Leica Q3 43. Let me count the ways I love thee.

Count the ways No.1 — the Q3 43 is not a one-night stand

I have waited long enough to state that I will hold on to this camera for a while. Readers of Macfilos might be familiar with my fickle nature when it comes to camera equipment [!! Editor]. While I am still not completely sure of some of my other gear choices (here’s looking at you D-Lux 8), the Q3 43 is my anchor camera. All my other gear choices remain in flux, as they tend to do and as I tend to do. But the Q3 43 is staying with me. The Q3 43 is not a one-night stand!

One image is worth…let me count the ways

I wanted this review to be slightly different by letting the photos speak for me. You will find 43 photos I took with the Q3 43. I will use the photos to briefly touch on some features and the shooting experience with the Q3 43.

Count the ways No. 2 — only a small cheat

I am going to cheat right away and start with a few photos that I took with the Q3. One of the main attractions of the Q3 43 (and the Q series in general) is its size. It is not a small camera. Not if you compare it to an Micro Four Thirds camera (M4/3 for short) or even a Panasonic S9. But it is small for what it is, a full frame monster with an outstanding lens. 

Before I show you the photos I took with the Q3 43, we need to give some homage to its true predecessor in my opinion. Being a fan of the 40 mm-ish focal length, I own a Leica CM film camera. A more detailed look into this camera is in the works, but for now, I want to show the direct connection between the Q3 43 and the CM.

The latter was the last high-end 35mm film compact camera that Leica made. Well into the digital age, this camera had a short production run and was the successor of the Minilux models. You can count the ways and see the philosophical similarities in the Q3 43; small, 40 mm-ish high-quality lens, clean interface yet full control over its features.

With that out of the way, let’s dig into the photos I took with the Q3 43. 

Count the ways No.3 — clarity in low light

Below is one of the first photos I took with the Q3 43. This was captured during a classical performance in my hometown of Utrecht, the Netherlands. On my 60 million megapixel high-res version on my laptop, you can read the Nutcracker music sheet with plenty clarity. 

Another day, another classical music performance. This time it was the chamber music festival in the same concert hall. It was rather dimly lit in the hall and I wanted to see how much I could brighten it up. Fair to say the Q3 43 gives you a lot of room to play with.

Count the ways No. 4 — shakeless slow shutter speed

December is a month when fog is always around the corner in the Netherlands. And the next photo was taken on such a foggy evening as we walked past the iconic cathedral tower. The Q3 43 handles the noise very well in this challenging lighting situation. I shot this at ISO 1600 with 1/15th shutter and f/2 aperture. The stabilisation made it easy to get a nice clean shot even though it was very dark and foggy.

Count the ways No. 5 — shadow details

During another dark winter evening walk, I stumbled on this food truck that had two massive stuffed Miffy dolls on the front bench. The creator of Miffy comes from Utrecht and there is even a Miffy museum. I thought the dark tones gave the normally sweet Miffy a rather sinister look. I like it.

Furthermore, I am a fan of reflections in windows. They create a twisted version of reality. The double glazing provides layers to an otherwise single-pane perspective. For these kinds of photos, I like to switch to manual focusing, as the camera is easily confused here. The manual focus experience on the Q3 43 is second to none. So well done.

Count the ways No. 6 — compact and portable

Just some charming light in a café in Amsterdam. The good thing about the relative portability of the Q3 43 is that you actually take it with you. 

Count the ways No. 7 — capturing small details

One of my favourite photos so far with the Q3 43. We had a nice frost overnight and that resulted in beautiful patterns on my parked car. The macro mode of the Q3 43 helped to create this abstract perspective. It almost looks like a fossil feather, captured in frost. The level of detail here is very pleasing.

Count the ways No. 8 — clear separation of in and out of focus

I like foreground blur. This is not the strongest point of the Q3 43 lens, but it is good enough for random shots like this one.

The inside of a tapas bar, as seen through a mirror.

Count the ways No. 9 — candid portraits

Yours truly as captured by Mrs. Hartenberg. Put the Q3 43 on intelligent AF with face/eye recognition and handing over the camera to other people makes it a lot easier for them to capture a good shot. The AF is still lacking in my honest opinion. A camera with this price point and meant to be used with AF really needs to do better. A little bird told me the AF update in the SL3-S might come to the SL3 / Q3. Let’s see.

Utrecht’s central library. Strong effort to get people to come in and start reading more.

Yes. Still winter. This time capturing the Utrecht Central Station bus terminal.

Hey, whaddayaknow. A reflection photo. I could not help myself capturing this red Fiat 500 in the mirror of this old bus.

Count the ways No. 10 — black and white tonal range

Black and white. It’s hard.

Count the ways No. 11 — stretch proportions as you wish

I think every camera should have a 65:24 preview in the EVF. You might have noticed I shoot my Q3 43 in 4:3 as I simply much prefer this to the stretched 3:2. If I really want to capture a wide perspective, I switch to 65:24.

Unfortunately, I need to do this with my imagination while I take the photo because Leica does not offer this as a view. Seems like such an easy software adjustment to make…. One minor point on colour. I found that woodland scenes in RAW tend to drift to magenta, and I was not really happy with trying to adjust this in post. Oh, well. Come on Leica, bring that 65:24 perspective in a firmware update…

Count the ways No. 12 — fine details with macro

Using the macro mode again on the same forest walk as the photo above. It is a cool feature to have.

Count the many ways — simply enjoy capturing the everyday

Having Leica Q3 43 to hand makes it simple and easy to capture the everyday and often overlooked and underappreciated joys of life.

Our neighbour baked us some fantastic sourdough bread. I do like how the Q3 43 picks up the details in the crust. My eyes have been forever spoiled with the detail coming from the Fujifilm GFX and Hasselblad X2D, but for 95 percent of the time, the Q3 43 is perfect.

This is an old Volvo that is still used as a daily driver. Not by me. But kudos to the person who does.

There you have it. A glimpse of my journey so far with the Leica Q3 43. What do you think? I feel strongly about this camera; it’s a keeper, it really is. Stay tuned for more on the Q3 43.

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More

Erwin Hartenberg on Macfilos	Articles about the Leica Q3 43 on Macfilos
The Leica Q3 range	Leica Q3 Full Test by Jono Slack
Leica Q3 43 Test by Jono Slack	Leica Q3 43 in Greece

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