Leica Q3 43 Review | Photography Blog

Ease of Use

There is only really one key difference between the new Leica Q3 43 and the original Q3 from mid-2023, and that’s the lens.

Whereas the Q3 has a wide-angle 28mm f/1.7 lens, as its name suggests the Q3 43 has an unusual 43mm optic that provides a more normal view of the world.

This is because on a 35mm full-frame sensor, 43mm is the length of the diagonal measurement, so the 43mm focal length perfectly matches the sensor and thereby more closely matches human vision than either a 50mm or 35mm lens.

Choosing between the original Q3 and the new Q3 43 is therefore a simple choice between the angle of view – 28mm “wide” versus 43mm “normal” – as in almost every other regard the two cameras are identical.

Side by side, the Q3 43 has a mid-grey leatherette coating on the front of its body, rather than the black leatherette of the original – I prefer the more stealthy approach of the Q3.

The other visual differences to help tell them apart are the “43” moniker that’s engraved on the lens barrel instead of “28” on the Q3 and the “Leica Q3 43” name that’s engraved on the hotshoe rather than “Leica Q3” on the original.

Despite featuring a longer lens, the two cameras are even virtually identical in size and weight – 130 x 80.3 x 97.6mm and 688g for the Q3 43 versus 130 x 80,3 x 92,6mm and 658g for the Q3 – so there’s no penalty here for choosing the Q3 43 other than the longer, heavier lens means that it tilts forwards slightly on a level surface (which is more annoying for taking product shots of the camera rather than actually using it).

The new 43mm lens has a slightly slower maximum aperture than the Q3’s 28mm optic – f/2 versus f/1.7 – but in the real world this has a negligible effect, with the longer focal length helping to compensate in terms of bokeh effects.

There’s also a difference in the Macro modes of each camera, with the Q3 43 offering a minimum focusing distance of 26.5cms / 10.4″ versus 17cms / 6.7″ on the original, but again the longer focal length helps to offset this.

Otherwise the regular minimum focusing distance is 60cm versus 30cm on the Q3, while the manually selectable aperture range extends from f/2 up to f/16 with an automatic setting provided too.

The change of focal length also has a direct knock-on effect on the crop modes that allow it to simulate additional focal lengths, with the Q3 43 providing 60, 75, 90 120 and 150mm equivalent crops of its sensor at 31, 21, 14, 8, and 5 megapixels respectively.

These digital crops are only applied to the JPEG files, with a full-size 60 megapixel DNG Raw file also recorded at the same time.

As the camera is cropping into the full-size image, rather than interpolating up a la most digital zooms, there’s no degradation of the image quality, just a reduction in the megapixel count.

You could of course apply similar crops yourself during post-processing, but providing them in-camera has the main added benefit of making composition much easier and more intuitive whilst also saving on memory card space.

The 60mm, 75mm and 90mm crop modes proved to be genuinely useful, effectively giving you a 43-90mm focal range that’s easy to use whilst still offering just enough resolution.

The 120mm and 150mm modes are harder to use due to the tiny are of the frame that’s made available for composition – the camera really needs to provide higher magnification when using these modes – and also the sub-10 megapixel resolution images that are recorded.

Thankfully, and as you’d perhaps expect from Leica, the newly designed APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 ASPH lens on the Q3 43 is truly excellent. Comprised of 11 lenses in 8 groups including 7 aspherical lens elements, it delivers pin-sharp images with very little chromatic aberrations or distortion throughout the aperture range, even wide-open at f/2.

Leica has additionally provided a screw-on/screw off lens hood, should you wish to use it as an additional aid to preventing lens flare, or avoid unwanted artifacts in brighter conditions. There’s also a thread on the front for traditional 49mm glass filters.

The Leica Q3 43 has exactly the same 60 megapixel full-frame BSI (BackSide-Illuminated) CMOS sensor that was initially developed especially for the flagship M11 rangefinder camera, which offers a 21% increase on the resolution offered by 2019’s 47.3 megapixel Q2 model.

In conjunction with the Maestro IV image processor, this allows the Q3 43 to output 14-bit raw files with a claimed dynamic range of up to 14 stops, provide an extensive ISO range of 50-100,000, and shoot 60 megapixel images at 4fps with continuous AF/AE.

It also has a special IR + UV cut filter in front of the sensor which corrects even the most oblique rays of incident light and a colour filter array that offers more natural colour reproduction than the Q2.

Whilst 60 megapixels will undoubtedly be a big draw for potential owners of this camera, Leica have also sensibly provided two smaller 36 and 18 megapixel modes which help avoid some of the processing and storage challenges of the the 60 megapixel mode while also boosting the burst shooting buffer times.

So the Q3 43 can be set to record 60, 36 or 18 megapixels DNG Raw images with 14-bit color and 14-stop dynamic range using the full sensor area, something that Leica are calling “Triple Resolution Technology”.

There is no built-in flash provided on the Leica Q3 43, although there is a provided hotshoe for the addition of flash, should that be required.

As you’d probably expect of a Leica camera, manual focusing on the Q3 43 is a veritable joy, although the means of switching between AF and MF is quite subtle and initially well hidden.

Switching to manual focus occurs via a fingernail press of the so tiny you’ll miss it lever on the lens itself, that in turn allows the lens ring to move (it’s ‘stuck’ in place in auto mode) and manual distance markings on said barrel to be selected, whereby the camera provides the user with an enlarged portion of the subject on-screen, allowing focus to be more critically determined.

Auto-focusing on this new Q-series camera incorporates a hybrid AF system that includes phase detection as well as contrast detection pixels, providing higher speed (5x faster than the Q2) and greater precision when focusing and tracking objects.

Interestingly, it additionally employs Panasonic’s depth from defocus system to build up a depth map of the scene to further enhance the AF.

The Q3 43 also benefits greatly from the addition of intelligent subject recognition.

It’s a pretty simple system by modern standards that only recognises the eyes, faces and bodies of people plus animals, with two rather confusing options buried at the bottom of the AF Mode menu – the first option is Eye/face/Body Detection and the second is Eye/Face/Body + Animal Detection (why isn’t animal detection separate?) – but at least it works well enough in practice.

Leica camera have never been particularly renowned for their blistering continuous shooting rates, and the Q3 43 is certainly no exception to that rule.

While on paper it offers up to 15fps bursts, the reality is that the focus and exposure are locked at the first frame until you drop down to a rather more pedestrian 4fps. The buffer is at least 63 shots in RAW, though, so you can at least shoot for a long time at 4fps before that rate slows down.

Some photographers may also argue that 4fps is more than fast enough for a street camera with a standard focal length lens, especially as the excellent autofocus system can be employed at the same time.

The Q3 43 has both a mechanical shutter that provides speeds between 120sec to 1/2000sec and an electronic shutter that runs from 1sec to 1/16000sec, with a Hybrid option also available that automatically switches between them. Flash synchronization is up to 1/200sec.

This isn’t just a camera for stills, as Leica have included 8K video recording for the first time ever on any of their models. DCI 8K recording is supported at up to 30p with 4:2:0 10-bit color when recording internally or at 8-bit when recording externally via the micro-HDMI port.

If you only need 4K recording, that’s provided at up to 60p with 4:2:2 10-bit color internally or externally, while Full HD runs up to 120p for slow motion playback.

Other key video features include ProRes recording at 1080/60p, Leica’s L-log profile, and LUT compatibility. The Q3 43 doesn’t have a microphone socket, though, instead relying on its USB-C port to allow an audio input.

This port can also be used to charge the camera via a powerbank, useful for extending the battery life when out and about. Talking of which, the Q3 43 uses a battery, the BP-SCL6, which has a CIPA-rated lifespan of 350 shots per charge. The Q3 43 is also still compatible with the BP-SCL4 battery that was used in the Q2.

The electronic viewfinder that sits in the corner of the camera has also received a significant upgrade, with the resolution being bumped up from 3.68 megapixels on the Q2 to 5.76 on the Q3 43. It has a 0.79x magnification and either a battery-conserving 60fps or a smooth 120fps refresh rate for more realistic motion rendering.

The tilting 3-inch, 1.84M dot LCD touchscreen can be moved both upwards and downwards to suit working from a variety of shooting positions, rather than fixed in place as on the previous Q models, which makes waist-level and overhead shooting much easier.

The screen does rather spoil the aesthetics of the Q3 43, however, as it juts out slightly from the rear of the camera, interrupting the smooth lines. Still, this is first and foremost a photographic tool, rather than an expensive ornament, so we can overlook this slight faux pas on Leica’s part.

It has also necessitated a restructuring of the controls on the rear of the camera compared to the Q2. Instead of the vertical row of three buttons to the left of the LCD screen, the Play and Menu buttons have been moved to above and below the D-pad respectively, with the customisable Function button moving alongside the Photo/Video button. The shutter button is threaded to accept a mechanical cable release.

The new Q3 43 supports the HG-DC1 Wireless Charging Handgrip, an optional accessory that when fitted facilitates wireless battery charging via Qi-compatible charging mats, such as the Drop XL Wireless Charger that Native Union has made especially for Leica.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 60 megapixel Large setting, which produces an average image size of around 30Mb for JPEGs and 85Mb for RAW files.

The Leica Q3 43 recorded still images of excellent quality during the review period.

This camera produces noise-free JPEG images at ISO 50 up to ISO 3200, with some noise appearing at ISO 6400. The faster settings of ISO 12500 through to 25000 are still usable, although we’d suggest avoiding both ISO 50000 and 100000 if at all possible. The corresponding Raw files have much less obvious colour artifacts but are noticeably less sharp than their JPEG equivalents.

The night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter speed of 60 minutes allowing you to capture enough light in every situation, and the Film Styles, although limited in number and customisability, allow you to quickly change the look of JPEG files.

Noise

ISO sensitivity can be set between ISO 64 and ISO 100,000 in full-stop increments. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and RAW on the right.