New! Leica Q3 with the Same Extreme-Barrel-Distortion Lens
Related: barrel distortion, digital sensor, distortion, distortion correction, Eastern Sierra, image stabilization, Leica, Leica M, Leica Q3, Mt Dana area, optics, peak bagging
re: Leica Q and Leica Q2 and Leica Q3
The Leica Q3 is out with a 60MP sensor and 8K video. Details at Leica.
- 60MP Full-Frame BSI CMOS Sensor
- Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens with optical image stabilization (OIS)
- 8K30, 4K60 and 4:2:2 10-Bit, FHD ProRes HQ
- Phase-Detection AF (PDAF)
- Triple Resolution Technology
- 5.76m-Dot OLED Electronic Viewfinder
- 3" 1.84m-Dot Tilting Touchscreen LCD
- ISO 50-100000, Up to 15-fps Shooting
- SD UHS-II Slot; USB-C and HDMI Ports
- IP52 Weather Sealing
The overall visual impact and rendering style of the 28/1.7 lens on the Leica Q/Q2/Q3 is very pleasing. Let that stand against my criticism of the lens performance.
Since nearly all buyers will love the overall look and feel of the images it produces (me too, though I’m not a buyer), little criticism of lens performance will ensue, with cognitive dissonance a brick wall vs objective evaluation. And that’s perhaps as it should be—it’s a luxury product first and foremost.
The camera overall is very nice. At least once a grip is added. The lack of an eyeshade option is problematic in sidelit sunny conditions. There are things not to like, but those get into serious usage and that’s not the market.
The lens has built in optical image stabilization, which extends the handheld shooting envelope nicely.
“Triple Resolution Technology” is a marketing gimmick that loses quality compared to downsampling a full-res capture in Photoshop, but it does shrink file size.
If Leica can sell the Q3 for a list price of $5995, why can’t a version with an M-mount be built for $4995 (no lens)? I would greatly prefer such a camera to the Leica M11 rangefinder design (I consider the rangefinder an unusable anachronism for my eye, and its guaranteed inaccuracy).
Gorgeous rendering, but no sharpness
For the type of images and usage for which most people would use the Q3, the Fujifilm X100V or Sony DSC-RX1R II are worth considering, and at a fraction of the cost. But not as sexy, admittedly.
For images that look great without large magnification, the Q3 should satisfy.
Leica Q/Q2/Q3 Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH
I was shocked when Leica failed to update the 28mm f/1.7 lens from the original Leica Q for the Leica Q2. What was barely adequate on the 24-megapixel Q with visibly poor outer-zone sharpness became obviously unsharp (large outer zone area) on the 45-megapixel Q2 and Leica Q2 Monochrom. So ridiculous that I abandoned reviewing the Q2 after a first batch of examples. The marketing hoopla is at your expense, if you’re expecting sharp images.
Rarely (never) has a camera been so misrepresented as to its potential capture detail.
Along comes the Leica Q3 with a 60MP sensor, and the lens is now nothing short of pathetic given the demands of the sensor. That is, extreme barrel distortion with distortion correction (required) guarantees poor sharpness over at least half the frame. The standout dilettante lens on the market today. Does Leica have no scruples—the Q3 has a 60MP sensor...! Well, jewelry and fashion has its place too.
The only good news is that assuming ultra high lens performance to the edges and corners (dubious at best), distortion correction exerts a proportional loss of sharpness to the capture resolution.
Unserious claims
A true masterpiece of optical design. The superior Summilux 28 f/1.7 ASPH. lens with optical image stabilization captures all the light you need to bring your creative vision to life. This fixed 28mm prime lens also features an integrated macro mode, allowing you to reveal the finest details in stunning close-ups from a minimum distance of just 17cm.
Leica never mentions the excessive lateral chromatic aberration or the fun-house-mirror level of barrel distortion, both of which require heavy lifting by computer software to fix. Masterpiece indeed—of marketing. The 28/1.7 is the most dramatic example on the market of cutting corners optically and letting a computer do the heavy lifting.
I checked out the Leica Q3 DNG files examples starting with pm-95546....DNG (seashore at sunset). I removed the extreme heavy-handed over-the-top processing settings and used my standard settings. At ISO 100 I see heavy noise due to underexposure, good sharpness in the central area, and lousy sharpness in outer zones. Just as predicted. Downsampled to 24MP it looks quite nice. At 45MP it is obviously unsharp. At 60MP... uggh.
Center sharpness is outstanding, but only about 1/3 of the frame. Example pm-95536....DNG is most instructive of all of them, with visibly blurred outer-zone details. Downsampling to 24MP makes an image that is still visibly less good at the edges, but very acceptable.
Example pm_95533...DNG is highly instructive—look at sharpness on the pavers center vs edges—edges show a massive falloff in sharpness, just as predicted. Same idea with pm_95536...DNG.
Fake resolution
It’s not really a 60MP capture—because of distortion correction, 4.5 megapixels are discarded as part of the correction. So it is really a 55.5MP capture, and that’s before the massive stretching-apart of pixels in outer zones. What do you think... does that distinction perhaps fall just shy of marketing fraud?
The stretch factor into the corners from distortion correction exceeds 1.26X linearly or 1.59X in pixels. In other words, corner resolution cannot exceed 37 megapixels, and worse than that in the extreme corners. At the edges the factor is 1.23X linearly, or 1.53X. In other words, edge resolution cannot exceed 39 megapixels. Worse, the math of it is one thing, but when details are smeared and acutance is lost when stretching, so it will not look sharp when enlarged. The lack of sharpness in outer zones is readily seen on the 24MP Leica Q, it was a joke on the 45MP Leica Q2, and at 60MP on the Leica Q3 it’s a sharpness dumpster fire
Get Leica Q3 at B&H Photo.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Images below from Climbing Mt Dana.
LEICA Q (Typ 116) + 28.0 mm f/1.7 @ 28mm
[low-res image for bot]
LEICA Q (Typ 116) + 28.0 mm f/1.7 @ 28mm
[low-res image for bot]
