Leica Q

[kennikins]

A couple of Leica Q pics from Instagram @kennikinsstreermafia:

 

[kennikins]

So daylight, night shot and macro sample of the Leica Q

 

[dirk]

Hi Ken,

did you buy the Leica Q before or after the Ricoh GR?

And what was the reasoning behind it, as they are rather a "competition" to each other?

 

[kennikins]

Road to GR
I am a hobby photographer with severe GAS. I have owned some fab cameras and still have about 7 if I don’t count the iPhones and iPads.
Not boasting just giving some context.
I started my street journey with a Leica CL and had various TL lenses but mainly vintage so it became more of an artistic tool I now mainly use it with the Laowa x2 85mm Macro or my Helios 44 F1.5 for mad Bokeh and an 8 element Tak 50mm F1.2 that’s just beautiful.
Anyway, I wanted something more compact for street so bought a Sony RX100vii didn’t like it too fiddly.
I bought the Leica Q on a whim, it was a great price and I like to trade on eBay, plan was to sell it at a profit. But I fell in love. It is awesome for subject separation and super sharp with dreamy Bokeh. I developed a street method for getting candid shots which is fine outside the UK but people are very jumpy here if they see a camera so tricky to use it and I had to tape up the red dot. So I was watching one of my favourite YouTubers who has Leica Q and he got together with a Ricoh guy for a shoot off. 4 or 5 videos later I was in and bought an awesome GRiiiSE for only £670 absolutely mint, I have since added a GRiiiX again great condition for £650. So you see driven by a bargain as well as a need for a discreet and more anonymous street camera I arrived at the GR. it’s a real cracker for street but need to learn a whole way of shooting so missing lots of shots I would have nailed on the Leica but getting there! The Leica Q is for me hands down a better camera very simple to use with easy menus. The GR is a bit more “Japanese” but has some great things like positive film jepgs. I’m mainly a raw shooter but nice to have them. Looking forward to getting a better workflow leaning more towards how Sean Tucker (raw) does it rather than Samuel Lintaro (obessive JPEG and positive film geek) lays it down. Well sorry for the long story but you did ask! Best Ken
please follow me on insta @kennikinsstreetmafia
Happy shooting

 

[dirk]

I am a hobby photographer with severe GAS

Welcome to the family. I use many different systems too. Some friends think that I need a therapee

I bought the Leica Q on a whim, it was a great price and I like to trade on eBay, plan was to sell it at a profit. But I fell in love. It is awesome for subject separation and super sharp with dreamy Bokeh

I can see that on the images. But the price tag of the Leica Q is too high for me, beside the bigger size compared to the GR.

The Leica Q is for me hands down a better camera very simple to use with easy menus.

That is surprising for me to hear. I find the simple way of using the GR is one of its strength. What do you find complicated with the Ricoh GR or what do you prefer on the Leica Q regarding the way you handle it and its menus? I would love to hear more about that.

Looking forward to getting a better workflow

At the moment I have no specific workflow. Maybe we can open a specific thread for Ricoh GR settings and collect what each user prefer as their "standard" settings and also workflow.

Thanks for the detailed descriptions. This helps a lot to understand the personal preferences.

 

[kennikins]

The whole focussing process on the Leica is far simpler and more accurate. Ar this point I’m not smart enough with the GR to use the snap and full snap to it’s full potential but I’m getting there. It’s another layer of learning to add so it’s a bit of a bind. Had a long session this morning on my favourite local spiral footbridge getting the sailing races and the swimmers and other people going up and down the bridge and shooting the shadows etc getting more comfortable with a process that suits me. At regards the menu system, you have to trust me on that! There is less clutter on the LeicaQ the GF is more akin to a simpler Fuji than a Leica. The best menu system by a long chalk in my opinion is Hasselblad (I spent a year with the X1D
ii), followed by Leica and the Canon. Ricoh is as I said more akin to Fuji lots of stuff I’m not interested in. But probably great for pros who want to do a lot of in camera stuff. So finding the settings you want is not so intuitive. I guess you can set up a short cut menu like the Leica but have not worked that out yet. Definitely worth doing a forum for workflow and settings and recommendations for YouTube vids to watch on the subject. But there is no substitute for getting out there and getting it wrong! Cheers
Ken