Virtually a 12 months in the past, in November 2024, I spent £6,000 (about $8,100) of my very own cash on a Leica Q3 43. Over the past 11 months, it has been with me on quite a few travels across the UK and throughout Europe, and I’ve shot over 40,000 pictures with it, together with every part from road pictures, journey, landscapes and even main editorial options. I’ve acquired some ideas on these sorts of premium compacts and hopefully some strong buying recommendation, whether or not you are contemplating this digicam or one other compact just like the ever-popular Fuji X100VI.

Let’s dive in.

I purchased the Leica Q3 43 with my very own cash at full retail worth, which on the time was simply shy of £6,000 — nicely, simply over, together with the second battery I additionally ordered. That is an enormous amount of cash, particularly at a time when the purse strings are tightening and making large purchases — particularly non-essential ones like this — are troublesome to justify.

So, why did I need it?

Nicely, various causes, and I am hoping that any photographers on the market will perceive these, Leica followers or not. Lately, I’ve discovered myself being a bit over-encumbered with gear that I’ve acquired in my 13 years taking pictures professionally. Too many luggage, tripods, lenses, lens adapters — no matter — and I more and more needed to take a extra stripped-back method to a lot of my pictures.

For years, I’ve used the Sony RX1R as a compact, “take anyplace” digicam after I do not need to take a bag stuffed with equipment. It is a gorgeous little full-frame premium compact that takes lovely pictures with its mounted 35mm lens. Nevertheless it’s 12 years outdated now, and it is exhibiting its age, with gradual, unreliable autofocus, comparatively low decision, and crucially, there is no viewfinder, so it’s a must to shoot utilizing the primary display screen and also you seem like a vacationer. I spent years hoping that Sony would change it, and whereas it will definitely didI might already purchased and fallen in love with my new Leica. Sorry Sony, you snooze, you lose.

The Q3 43 is, in some methods, my RX1R’s non secular successor. It has a stunning full-frame sensor with an especially high-quality mounted lens. It takes gorgeous pictures, and I can carry it with me just about on a regular basis, maintaining it slung round my neck, able to shoot every time I see a chance.

It has a set 43mm lens, which can not go well with everybody, but it surely’s ideally suited for many of my work. I normally flit between 35mm and 50mm focal lengths, so 43mm is a perfect candy spot between the 2 that I’ve by no means discovered limiting within the many pictures I’ve captured with it. I attempted the 28mm model of the digicam and did not get on with its wide-angle view.

I wrote just lately about the three sorts of cameras photographers must havewhich embrace a workhorse, an on a regular basis carry and a extra creative choice, and whereas the Q3 43 has completely been all three for me, it is the second level the place I really feel it is had the most important impression for me. It isn’t a digicam that I’ve needed to make any allowances for when carrying it round. I do not want an enormous pictures backpack, only a small sling or messenger bag. Typically I’ve even gone out with it slung round my neck with no bag in any respect.

I completely love having a digicam with me at all times. It is true that the perfect digicam is the one you’ve gotten with you, but it surely’s doubly the case if the digicam that is at all times with you is truly the perfect digicam. High quality, it isn’t as small as my Sony RX1R, but it surely’s smaller than my Canon R5 and means smaller than Hasselblad’s current X2D II and it has been an ideal companion on photowalks round StockholmEdinburgh and Barcelona. It is a pleasure with the ability to rapidly raise it up and fireplace away.

It helps that it is easy to function. I shoot principally in aperture precedence, twisting the devoted aperture ring on the lens after I need to alter the depth of area. I maintain it principally at ISO 400, and the digicam is at all times fairly good at giving me the proper shutter velocity for no matter scene I am capturing.

At evening, I’ve to crank that ISO exhausting, particularly because the digicam would not have a stabilized picture sensor like my R5. Actually, on a technical stage, the Q3 43 would not form up tremendous nicely, with each its burst price and autofocus system being slower than rivals. Its topic detection can be finest described as “hit and miss.”

However that is why I like this digicam. I haven’t got to dive into the infinite abyss of the settings menu to determine completely different autofocus choices. I simply maintain this digicam at single-point focusing, half-press the shutter to give attention to no matter I need after which recompose to take the shot. Or I am going to focus manually. It is a extra primary capturing expertise that encourages me to assume extra concerning the shot I am taking and fewer concerning the settings I am utilizing to get it.

Then there are the built-in colour profiles Leica affords, which I completely adore. I shoot nearly every part utilizing Leica’s Chrome look, which does issues to colours and distinction that I am obsessive about. I principally pair this with a heat white steadiness and, extra just lately, a Polarpro Gold Mist Filter, which provides my pictures a heat, filmic vibe that I really like. This filter nearly by no means leaves my digicam and is, for me, essential.

Actually, I now shoot most of my pictures in JPEG and use them with nearly no post-processing. That is in stark distinction to my means of working with the R5 — I solely ever shoot in uncooked on that digicam, and all my pictures undergo some stage of labor in Lightroom. Do I want Leica supplied choices to tailor these profiles additional in digicam? Completely.

I deal with the Q3 43 as a basic point-and-shoot compact digicam. I exploit primary settings to shoot rapidly and creatively, leaning on in-camera colours to attenuate my time caught modifying. It is supplied me a distinct means of working, and I’ve totally loved each second I’ve spent with this digicam up to now. Actually on the time of writing I am presently shortlisted in 4 classes within the British Images Awards — three of which I shot on the Q3 43.

To be truthful, it isn’t simply the Leica Q3 43 that would provide you with this. Fujifilm’s X100VI stays a social media darling because of its compact dimension and customizable movie emulation modes, whereas the Ricoh GRIII is lauded by road and journey photographers for its mix of high quality and pocketable dimension. I did contemplate shopping for the X100VI as an alternative of the Leica, however I will be sincere, there’s one other component I am maybe much less happy with admitting.

I needed a Leica.

I do not like to think about myself as a standing image kind of particular person, and whereas I’ve no need for a Rolex, a yacht or a Lambo in my drive (OK, perhaps a bit), I’ve at all times daydreamed about lastly proudly owning a digicam that sports activities that iconic purple dot on the entrance. I fearful that it would be a novelty that might rapidly put on off, but it surely hasn’t — I nonetheless discover myself excited to select it up and take it someplace. It additionally helps that the strong metallic building of the Q3 43 makes it really feel infinitely extra premium than the light-weight, arguably fairly plasticky really feel of the X100VI.

It offers me a artistic buzz that I do not actually get from my Canon R5. To lean on an analogy I’ve used earlier than, the R5 is a employee’s van; sensible, it ticks the bins for what they should do a job. An expert instrument for getting issues carried out. Nevertheless it’s not the automobile they fantasize about driving down the coast. The Leica is the fantasy automotive. A basic Ferrari, maybe. It technically does many of the identical issues, but it surely does it in a really completely different means that makes you are feeling notably completely different whenever you use it.

It might have been some huge cash to spend on a digicam, particularly one which I strictly talking did not want. It helped that Leica within the UK affords interest-free credit score, so I truly unfold the price over 12 months, slightly than dropping the money abruptly. Nevertheless it’s cash I used to be — and nonetheless am — completely satisfied to spend.

It is given my pictures a lift I did not even know I wanted. I’ve had it nearly a 12 months now and I really feel I’ve advanced extra as a photographer in that point and brought all kinds of pictures I am extremely happy with. I can not wait to see what the subsequent years with it’s going to carry.