Leica has announced a successor to the Q street shooter from 2015. The appropriately-named Q2 boasts a 47 megapixel full-frame sensor, can record 4K video and comes ready for use in all kinds of weather.
Despite rocking roughly the same dimensions as the original (130 x 80 x 91.9 mm), Leica has given the Q2's full-frame CMOS sensor a huge quality boost up to 47.3 megapixels, though has kept the 28mm F1.7 Summilux prime lens found on the original. A marriage with the Maestro II image processing engine means that this pocket shooter is capable of 10 frames per second continuous shooting at full resolution, light sensitivity of ISO50 to 50,000, and autofocus in less than 0.15 seconds.
The new Q can also record 4K UHD at 30 or 24 fps and Cine4K at 24 fps video, while lowering the resolution to Full HD enables recording at 60 or 120 fps.
Camera shake is handled by an optical reduction system for stills and video, and macro photographers can get as close as 17 cm (6.6 in) from the subject.
The LCD viewfinder of old has been replaced by a 3,68 million dot OLED EVF, which is activated when the camera is raised to the user's eye. In-camera crop at 35, 50 and now 75 mm is possible, with a bright line indicating the crop area in the viewfinder preview or on the 3 inch, 1.04 million dot rear touch display panel. A full resolution uncropped DNG file is saved simultaneously.
In the Q, the shutter release button had dual functionality. The Q2's button now controls just on/off, with the continuous shooting function moved to the camera menu.
Protection from dust and water spray makes this an all-weather shooter, and the promise of up to 350 stills per charge of its battery also makes this a useful, if expensive, travel companion. And Bluetooth is joined by 802.11n Wi-Fi for wireless data transfer.
We loved using the scarily-priced 24 megapixel Q, finding it made "an exceptionally good street photography camera." And there's no reason to think that the new camera will produce anything less than stunning images and eye-popping video. Available from today, the Leica Q2 is priced at US$4,995.
Source: Leica
