Like many photographers, I've spent years hunting the impossible combination: a high-quality camera that's also compact. Must haves: a great sensor and a wide aperture wide angle lens. Today, I’ll walk you through the meandering journey that eventually led me to the Leica Q3.
After wrapping our awards, PetaPixel's staff turned its attention to another annual project, "Bold Camera Predictions." The 2024 edition arrives later this week with the help of a special guest, but ongoing internal discussions birthed the camera of my dreams, a Sony RX1R II replacement.
Merriam-Webster defines “retro” as “fashionably nostalgic or old-fashioned.” With the rise in popularity of shooting on film over the past few years and the extraordinary success of instant cameras among the general populace, I think it is fair to say that retro cameras are likewise lusted after by many.
The compact camera, also known colloquially as the point-and-shoot camera, has been a staple of the photography world for over a century. Perhaps the first mass-market compact camera was introduced in 1900 by Eastman Kodak, costing a mere one dollar (about $36 today).
It appears as though Leica's Q series of cameras has always used a leaf shutter, but that went basically unnoticed until now or, at the very least, totally un-promoted.
Leica has announced the Q3, the third-generation of the Q series cameras that pairs a fixed-lens Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH with a 60-megapixel backside illuminated (BSI) sensor equipped with phase detect autofocus.