The Leica Q was one of our favorite cameras when it was released in 2015.
The concept is simple—a bright, sharp, wide-angle lens, paired with a full-frame image sensor, in a body small enough to pack for travel, but not too small where handling is compromised.
Its sequel, the Q2 ($4,995), adds weather protection, upping the appeal as a travel camera, and just about doubles the sensor resolution, giving you plenty of room to crop shots from the 28mm f/1.7 lens.
It's expensive, but it also delivers the level of quality you expect from Leica, and earns our Editors' Choice.
Small Design Changes
The Q2 doesn't stray far from the look and feel of the original Q, with the same basic form factor.
It measures 3.2 by 5.1 by 3.6 inches (HWD) and weighs about 1.6 pounds.
It's made in Germany and features a sturdy metal exterior shell, wrapped in a leatherette.
The camera slides comfortably into the hand.
The leatherette boasts a tight, diamond pattern that gives it a slightly rough feel, but also keeps the camera more secure in your grip.
There's a rear indentation that serves as a thumb rest.
The Q2 ships with a black leather neck strap, but I found that I prefer using it with a wrist strap.
Your mileage may vary.
If you want a bit more camera to hold, you have options.
Leica sells both a traditional handgrip, that screws into the tripod socket on the bottom, as well as a rear thumb rest.
The thumb rest covers one of the camera's buttons, but has a pass-through button so you won't lose any functionality.
Even though it's very similar on the outside, Leica told me that the internals had to be completely redesigned to allow for the seals that add weather protection to this model.
Many cameras claim to be protected against dust and splashes, but don't tell you how well they're sealed.
Leica has gone the standards route with the Q2, and the camera is certified to IP52 standards.
IP52 protects the camera from water spray coming in at an angle less than 15 degrees from vertical.
In layman's terms, you shouldn't be concerned about using the Q2 in rainy conditions, but take care during heavy precipitation and don't ever think about submerging it.
I used the camera in snowfall that resulted in a few inches of accumulation and it came through without any sort of problems.
The lens is the same optically stabilized 28mm f/1.7 prime used by the first Q and the more premium Q-P ($4,995), both of which use 24MP image sensors.
The Q2 sports a 47.3MP sensor, which gives you much more leeway when cropping.
The lens supports 49mm front filters.
A metal lens hood is included; it attaches via an external thread.
Tactile Controls
The lens is a modern, autofocus design, but it doesn't really feel like it—in the hand it feels like a classic, mechanical design.
There's a physical aperture ring at the front.
It has settings for automatic control (A), as well as detents to shoot at f/1.7, f/1.8, or from f/2 through f/16 at third-stop increments.
The lens also has two control rings, both related to focus.
To switch from autofocus to manual focus you depress a small button that's part of the finger rest that protrudes from the focus ring, and then focus as you would with any other manual lens.
The focus ring turns with enough resistance to allow for smooth, fine adjustments.
It's an electronic focus system, but it's one that feels so much like a mechanical helicoid that you'd never be able to guess.
Both frame magnification and focus peaking are available to help you nail focus, although magnification is limited to the central area of the frame.
The second focus control is the Macro ring.
When disengaged the camera is able to focus from about 11.8 inches (0.3-meter) through infinity.
But if you want to work closer, twisting the ring moves the lens elements forward and reveals a second distance scale.
In the Macro range, the Q2 focuses from 6.7 inches (0.17-meter) through about 11.8 inches (0.3-meter), at a maximum f/2.8 aperture.
It's a neat design that adds a little bit of versatility to the bright, wide-angle lens.
Top controls are all situated to the right of the hot shoe—the Q2 doesn't have a built-in flash.
The shutter speed dial is first.
It offers settings from 1 through 1/2000-second, and also has an Automatic position to put control into the hands of the camera.
You can set a minimum acceptable shutter speed for the position in the menu, with value options ranging from 1/2-second through 1/2,000-second, and a number of reciprocal focal length options.
(The Q2 has a prime lens, but supports a digital crop.)
The shutter release sits directly in line with the rear thumb rest.
It's a standard two-stage design, but doesn't include a thread for a soft release or remote cable.
Like the first Q, the power switch surrounds the shutter, but Leica has made a change here.
The Q2's power switch has positions for On and Off, but not one to switch to burst shooting.
That function has been moved to a menu screen.
The lone control dial is at the rear right edge of the plate.
The Q2's edges are rounded, and Leica has positioned the dial so it forms one of the curves.
By default, the dial provides direct EV adjustment when shooting in aperture or shutter priority, and sets the f-stop when you've got both shutter and aperture dials to the A position.
In full Manual mode it doesn't do anything.
If you don't like that you can dive into the menu and set it to always adjust the EV compensation setting.
That's what I did—the Q2 has a huge range of ISO options, and I don't like to give up the ability to dial in EV adjustments when shooting with manual f-stop and shutter settings, but automatic ISO control.
The dial has a button at its center, another change from the Q.
It's quite useful, with a vast array of programmable functions—if you don't like what you see in the default list, you can pop into the menu and change what's available.
A single press activates its function, and you can hold it down for a full second to quickly change its custom function.
A total of eight options are available to choose from at any one time—I set the button to adjust the focus area.
Leica usually nails ergonomics, but I'm not a huge fan of the position of the dial.
It's not quite reachable from the rear, and I found it awkward to move my thumb to the side of the Q2 to turn it.
It seems just ever so slightly out of place.
Rear controls are minimal.
Rectangular Play, Fn, and Menu buttons sit to the left of the rear display.
Fn has the same level of programmability as the control dial's central button.
There's a four-way directional pad, with a center button, to the right of the LCD.
Playback and Menu functions are pretty self-explanatory.
There are a few things that aren't readily obvious—Fn serves as the Delete button during image playback, and you can use the button at the center of the directional pad or tap the trash can icon on the screen to confirm that yes, you really want to delete a photo.
Likewise, the button at the center of the top dial zooms in and out, so you can make sure you got the shot in focus.
The rear display is touch sensitive, and the touch interface supplements physical controls.
If you're using a focus mode where you can set the point manually, you can do so by tapping anywhere on the screen, and a double tap brings the focus box back to the center of the frame.
Pinch and swipe gestures are supported during playback as well, although you can't navigate through menus via touch.
The screen is 3 inches in size with a 1,040k-dot resolution.
It's bright and sharp—you can easily confirm manual focus with the aid of magnification.
The touch interface is responsive—it's very quick to tap the screen to set the focus point.
I did notice that it was a little slow to respond to pinch gestures, but those are only used to zoom in on photos during playback.
My real complaint with the Q2's screen is its lack of articulation.
While viewing angles are quite good—you can see what's on it even when looking from the side, top, or bottom—not having some sort of tilt means you'll need to get down low on the ground to properly frame a low shot.
I love to capture images from lower angles, and it's more of a struggle with the Q2 than with a camera with a tilting display.
The Q2 doesn't have a lot of direct competition—the forthcoming Zeiss ZX1 and the Sony RX1R II are the other full-frame, fixed-lens cameras on the market.
The RX1R II does have a tilting rear LCD—without touch support—and if you're a fan of the low-angle look it may be a better fit than the Q2.
But I think the Q2's wider 28mm lens is a lot more useful than the 35mm f/2 used by Sony and Zeiss in their takes on the concept.
The original Q had a good EVF for the time, but it doesn't look quite as good when compared with more recent cameras.
The Q2's EVF is a noticeable upgrade, and it's spectacular.
The older LCD tech has been shoved away in favor of OLED, which shows truer, deeper blacks and refreshes more smoothly.
It's big—the magnification rating is 0.76x, similar to what you find in a good full-frame mirrorless camera—and sharp at 3.68 million dots.
It's the viewfinder you'd expect a $5,000 camera to have.
There is a diopter adjustment for the EVF.
It's a small dial, recessed into the body, just to the right of the eyecup.
To adjust it, push it in and the dial will pop out from the body so you can turn it.
Once you've dialed in adjustment to match your vision, push it back in—there's very little chance it will be changed inadvertently.
Four Lenses in One?
There is one additional, unmarked button on the rear.
It's located near the top, just to the left of the thumb rest.
It controls the Q2's digital zoom setting.
It's something the original Q had as well, but its functionality was limited by its 24MP resolution.
Here, with 47.3MP to work with, the Q2 can crop to 35mm at 30MP, 50mm at 15MP, and 75mm at 7MP.
In all instances the crop is applied only to JPG files—Raw files retain the full swath of information.
Certain Raw workflow software, including Adobe Lightroom Classic CC, will mask the file to the cropped angle of view when it's first loaded, but you can open up the crop to the full 28mm angle of view with a couple of button presses.
Leica rangefinder devotees will love how the Q2's digital crop works from a capture perspective.
Instead of cropping the angle of view of the frame, the camera projects frame lines that show what your 35mm, 50mm, or 75mm shot will look like.
The ability to see the action happening outside the frame is beloved by rangefinder owners, and it's what you'll enjoy with the Q2 when shooting at a focal setting narrower than 28mm.
One thing you sacrifice when cropping is the extremely shallow depth of field you get when shooting with a longer focal length.
Even when shot wide open, the Q2 is going to give you the depth of field from a bright 28mm lens—shallow, but not to the same level of a 50mm f/1.7 or 75mm f/1.7.
The Q2 doesn't quite give you four lenses in one, but it's not too far off.
Connectivity and Power
The Q2 has Wi-Fi for file transfer and remote control.
It works with Leica's Fotos app, a free download for Android or iOS.
I've not yet had a chance to try out the Q2's Wi-Fi—I reviewed the camera ahead of its announcement and a new build of the software was not yet ready.
I did take a look at the Fotos app with another recent release, the M10-D.
The user experience should be similar, if not identical, with the Q2's Wi-Fi system.
The Q2 uses a different battery than its predecessor, upping the expected battery life from 270 to 370 images.
It now uses the same BP-SCL4 that powers the Leica SL.
Spare batteries are pricey, at $250 each, and I wasn't able to find any third-party alternatives available online.
A wall charger is included.
The Q2 doesn't have any sort of USB or power delivery port, so you won't be able to replenish the battery in-camera.
It does have a single memory card slot, with support for the latest UHS-II SDXC media, as well as older SD and SDHC cards.
We recommend using a 300MBps card for the best performance, as the 47MP files are quite big.
Raw images are about 85MB in size, so a card with a lot of storage space is recommended as well.
Responsive, Accurate Focus
The Q2 delivers all the speed you'd hope for.
It starts, focuses, and fires off a shot in about 1.6 seconds, and its autofocus system is able to acquire a target in under 0.05-second in most light.
In very dim conditions it does slow down, but still grabs focus in about 0.3-second.
There are a number of autofocus options available.
You can opt for automatic selection, with or without the aid of face detection, use a center point only, opt for a flexible spot you can move around yourself, or a flexible spot that tracks subjects.
See How We Test Digital Cameras
I prefer using either the wide area or a flexible spot.
The Q2's face detection is hit or miss.
The face has to be prominent enough in the frame to engage it, and it struggles identifying faces in profile.
But it's something that can't really hurt to turn on if you're working with the wide focus field and know you'll want to lock onto the humans in a scene.
I'd like to see some improvement in recognition, as well as a quick way to change which face is being identified.
When multiple faces are in a scene, the camera will put a yellow box around the one on which it's focusing and a white box on others.
There's no way to switch between them manually—doing so with a tap on the screen or a press of the d-pad would be a welcome addition.
In addition to focus pattern, the Q2 can be set to single (AF-S) or continuous (AF-C) acquisition.
In AF-S the focus is set once it's been found, while AF-C searches for focus as long as you hold the shutter down at its first stage, and reliably nabs a focused shot when you press it fully.
There is a lot of wobble—the lens finding and losing focus in rapid succession—which is a result of the contrast-based autofocus system.
It's disconcerting, but the Q2 doesn't fail to find proper focus in practice.
Burst shooting is available too.
You can fire off shots at 20fps with the electronic shutter or 10fps with the in-lens mechanical leaf shutter.
The duration is limited—when working at 20fps you get 13 Raw+JPG or Raw shots, or 21 JPGs, before the buffer fills.
At 10fps expect to get 15 Raw+JPG or Raw images, or 24 JPGs.
The time to clear the buffer to a SanDisk 300MBps...
