Full credit to Jeremy Gray at PetaPixel for this one: Leica Sells ‘Twice as Much or Even More’ Q Cameras Than M Rangefinders. Gray reports on comments made by Andrea Pacella, Leica’s VP of global marketing, at the Leica SL3-P launch event in Wetzlar. Pacella revealed that the Q series now outsells the entire M rangefinder system by a factor of two or more, and that Leica deliberately caps production to protect the premium price point rather than chasing volume. He also disclosed the split within the Q3 family: roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of buyers choose the standard 28mm Q3 over the 43mm variant.
My take
I’ve been banging on about the supremacy of the Q range (in sales terms) for a long time now. It was an instant hit when the original Q arrived in 2015, and Leica has had the discipline to develop the concept without straying from the blueprint. That’s precisely the right call — and it stands in sharp contrast to the company’s flip-flopping on APS-C over the same period. There’s a real argument that the Leica T (2014), a contemporary of the original Q, would still be with us today if Leica had made smarter decisions with that line instead of abandoning it.
The Q3 is the aspirational fixed-lens compact. On price alone, it would probably outsell the Fujifilm X100VI several times over if it were pitched anywhere near that price point — but that’s wishful thinking, nothing more. Leica is on the right course with the Q, and I hope the lesson they take from this is Fuji’s approach to Kaizen: refine and develop, don’t reinvent.
The feature image above, Riding High, is taken with the Q3 43 on the day it was released. © Mike Evans
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Our friend Andrea Pacella shows a lot of candour in this interview. This is his style and he is honest about Leica’s marketing strategies. I have a Q3 43 which I bought partially because Jono Slack told me the lens was better than my favourite 50mm Summilux. I was also having eye problems at the time I made the purchase, which a change of glasses has since addressed. The 43mm is a very good lens, but maybe not with the same character as the 50 Summilux. Likewise with the camera. It is an expensive tool but does not have the unique character and characteristics of the manual focus Leicas which distinguish the brand. I possibly would have preferred a Q with a 35mm lens, but you can’t have everything and that would have been too close to 28mm anyway.
The sales figures don’t surprise me. Did I mention that Andrea Pacella is very good at his job?
William
I have more than my fair share of cameras across the years, but my Q3 is the one that I reach for when I really want to enjoy my photography.