Buzz
Overview of Leica Q2 Monochrom Camera
Leica introduced its first black and white camera in 2012, while the Leica Q, the first compact full-frame camera, was launched in June 2015. In March 2019, the higher-resolution Leica Q2 was announced.
Combining both technologies, Leica Q2 Monochrom is the first compact full-frame camera dedicated to black and white photography.
Similar to Leica Monochrom and subsequent models like Leica M10 Monochrom, Leica Q2 Monochrom features a sensor without the typical red, green, and blue color filter array. A standard Bayer sensor has a grid of pixels working in four corners, each pixel with a red filter, a blue filter, and two green filters. This allows the camera to capture full-color images, but the pixel information must be combined and interpolated. Because the Monochrom sensor lacks color filters, it cannot differentiate any colors, and every photosite (or pixel) is used to record brightness values without needing combining or interpolating. This means the camera can capture finer details and subtle tonal shifts.
Furthermore, with no filter, all light exiting the lens reaches the pixels. Thus, the Monochrom sensor system produces less noise at any specific sensitivity (ISO) setting.
Leica Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH Lens
Being a compact camera, the Leica Q2 Monochrom features a fixed lens. Like on the Q2, this is the Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH designed to maximize the high-resolution sensor.
The 28mm focal length is a great choice for daily photography, but the Q2 Monochrom also has crop settings producing frames equivalent to 35mm, 50mm, and 75mm. These results yield images of 30.0Mp, 14.7Mp, and 6.6Mp respectively.
Highly useful, when the crop setting is used, the Q2 Monochrom also records full-resolution DNG raw files with full sensor information.
Leica Q and Q2 cameras can perform autofocus, and the autofocus system of the Q2 Monochrom is similar to the original Q. It utilizes contrast-detection feature on the sensor with a confirmed response time of 0.15 seconds.
Despite featuring automatic face detection autofocus on the Q2 Monochrom, there is no follow-focus AF because it relies on color information.
Another intriguing highlight unfamiliar to Leica M users, the Q2 Monochrom incorporates optical image stabilization and it operates for both stills and videos.
Video
The Q2 Monochrom can shoot 4K video (3840 x2160) at 24 / 30fps or C4K 4096x 2160 at 24p and naturally, all footage is black and white.
There is no port for external microphone or headphones connectivity.
Connectivity
Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity allow the camera to connect with smart devices running Leica's Fotos app. Besides facilitating image transfer, this app enables remote camera control.
Design and Layout
Leica has provided the Q2 Monochrom with the same magnesium alloy body with a top plate crafted from aluminum as the Q2. It's also weather-sealed to the same standard – rated at IP52.
Similar to the Q2, the Q2 Monochrom is a solid-feeling camera, but the rear has only a small indentation for your thumb, which concerns me. Leica has altered the texture of the faux leather coating on the front of the Monochrom, but I would still hesitate to use it without some form of strap. Fair to say, both the Q2 and Q2 Monochrom didn't slip out of my hand during testing, and I'm pretty confident they would dent the ground they fell on, but I don't feel comfortable thinking that one slip could see a $4,995 / $5,995 camera hit the shelf.
Controls
Leica isn't keen on cluttering a camera with buttons and dials, and the Q2 Monochrom has a fairly straightforward control layout similar to the Q2, allowing you to quickly adjust the features you want.
For instance, the lens features three rings. The closest to the body switches between normal and macro focus, reducing the minimum focal distance from 30cm to 17cm.
In the middle, there's a manual focus ring with a lock that needs to be opened for manual focusing. You switch to autofocus mode by turning the ring to the farthest focus point until it clicks.
Then at the rear of the lens is the aperture ring. Setting this to ‘A’ means the camera controls the aperture. Additionally, the ring can be set to a specific value (marked from f/1.7 to f/16).
If the shutter speed dial on the top plate of the camera is set to ‘A’ and the aperture ring is at a specific value, the camera is in aperture priority mode and will set the shutter speed to match the aperture and sensitivity (ISO) setting into account.
Furthermore, setting the aperture ring to ‘A’ and the shutter speed dial to a specific value will put the camera in shutter priority mode.
You can fully control exposure manually by setting the aperture ring and shutter speed dial to specific values. And the camera can be controlled if both the aperture ring and shutter speed dial are set to ‘A’.
Viewfinder and Display
Leica has employed the same 3.68-million-dot OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) in the Q2 Monochrom as in the Q2. In the Q2, it provides a very detailed and accurate preview of captured images and it performs equally well in the Q2 Monochrom.
Additionally, there's a 3-inch 1.04-million-dot TFT touch screen fixed at the rear of the camera. Once again, this is a unit similar to that on the back of the Q2 and it displays plenty of detail but images sometimes appear somewhat flatter when you view them on a computer.
It would be great if the screen could tilt. As it's a fixed screen, it doesn't lend much assistance if you want to shoot very high or low angle shots. I found myself inevitably crawling on the ground to get those low-angle shots.
As I mentioned earlier, there aren't many controls on the Q2 Monochrom and the menu isn't extensive, which brings a refreshing change. Pressing the menu button brings up a screen allowing you to adjust focus, metering, drive mode, and timer or initiate smartphone connection. At the top of this screen, operated by touch control, there's an option to switch between still and video modes with a single tap.
Pressing the button again takes you to a customizable favorites menu, from here, subsequent presses of the menu button will take you through the pages of the main menu. It's a simple and intuitive system, which is refreshing.
Performance
Upon examining the Q2, I noticed that its 47.3Mp full-frame sensor is capable of capturing plenty of detail that looks natural. Removing the color filter array from the equation allows the Leica Q2 Monochrom to produce incredibly sharp monochromatic images with impressively vivid detail.
As usual, the best results are produced from raw files. The jpegs are very good, but in default settings, microcontrast can sometimes seem a bit high in some areas.
Leica's expertise as a true lens manufacturer truly shines with the Q2 Monochrom. Its Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH is superb, delivering sharp details and good distortion control. Flare is also tightly controlled even with bright sources like the sun in the frame.
Image Quality
With color photos, typically you'd perform black and white conversion and adjust the brightness of individual colors to tweak contrast and overall feel of the image. Since the Q2 Monochrom can only produce monochromatic images, that kind of editing isn't possible. Instead, you can revert to how everything was done with black and white film – using red, green, blue, orange, and yellow color filters to brighten objects of the same color as the filter and darken contrasting colors. For example, a red color filter darkens the blue sky but brightens anything red in the scene.
Even without filters, the Q2 Monochrom delivers superb results and you can only affect tonal range using brightness curves, white balance, shadow and black controls, or by dodging and burning. But using color filters allows you to create tonal separation between objects of the same brightness.
There's no color in the image, no chromatic noise, only luminance noise. This is handled very well at ISO 25,000 and even then it can be acceptable in some cases, but some details that are visible in lower ISO files are lost in ISO 50,000 images and shadows can look a bit muddy.
Autofocus
Although it uses contrast detection rather than phase detection, the autofocus system of the Q2 Monochrom is very good. It helps keep subjects sharp even in low light conditions, usually swiftly. It works so well that although I tested manual focus, I didn't feel there was really any reason to switch from using the AF system for most of my shots.
I mainly use the Q2 Monochrom in Spot AF mode to allow me to designate which of the 225 points I want to use for focusing. That's particularly important when shooting at f1.7. However, there are also multi-zone and field modes if you want more camera control.
Face detection feature is also available and it works well in detecting faces in the scene.
Video Performance
The Leica Q2 Monochrom is capable of producing very attractive 4K videos that complement the still images it produces. However, there's a subtle sound that can be heard excluding its use for audio recording. There's also no microphone or headphone jack so sound will have to be recorded on an external device.
That said, I think it's highly unlikely that the Q2 Monochrom will be purchased for its video capabilities. It can be used to shoot quirky arty clips, but it's not a serious video tool.
Conclusion
While some questioned Leica's decision to produce a camera only suited for monochromatic imagery, the results from the M10 Monochrom and counterparts have spoken for themselves. Freed from the task of interpolating colors, the sensor can gather an astonishing amount of detail and display extremely subtle tonal transitions.
Transferring that technology into a more ‘affordable’ Leica camera seems like a great step forward. The Q2 Monochrom produces excellent quality images and I hope it sells even better to black and white photography enthusiasts.
