When The Leica Q is a useful addition to Leica M10 by Riswan Christianto

September 11, 2017 Guest Post, Leica, Mirrorless, Model, News, Portraits, Rangefinder, User Reports 14
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When The Leica Q is a useful addition to Leica M10

by Riswan Christianto

Hi guys!  I did a short trip to Bali with a couple of friends. This time  @nikytanjung  and @dru_amie helped me out setting up some scenes for shooting sessions.

Ever since acquiring the Leica M10, taking off from SL, I just can’t stop shooting and always almost neglected my Leica Q. Hence this time, I have both at my disposal, with minimalist support gear within my ONA clifton such as a black chrome 50 summilux for portrait in mind, adding a 28 fix on the Leica Q for landscape, Gitzo traveller, a few ND filters and CPL will suffice for my 3 days journey.

We visited a cafe nearby; mostly shot widest open..

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What I love about this location, it’s right in front of the beach and the sun was quite harsh, i was challenging the highlights range captured by the sensor and i thought it did OK

And the session was just getting better as the sun going set, as highlights become softer and on…

Leica M10 1/500 iso800 f1.4 50lux
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The 50 summilux black chrome renders nicely widest open, and still maintaining the contrast and sharpness;
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We tried to catch sunset and sunrise, great weather was playing an important part, and good enough to put Leica Q into action, and the camera support being used were the seven5 Lee filters and BW CPL. Photos were processed using Lightroom 6.

Next three with the Leica Q
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So, the prime time of the journey started to appear, many thanks to @balivwclassicrental for providing one of the dearest assets :))
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Leica M10 f5.6 iso200 1/4000
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Leica M10 1/4000 iso200 f2 50lux
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This was shot with Leica Q f2.2 1/6400 iso200

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I have never had trouble shooting portrait with only 50 lux in my possession, but the Leica Q with its primes lens give me a peace of mind, as well as acting as a backup camera, since the M10 have somehow, a problem with its iso dial being stuck at certain point, and as of now, the problems still exists in later productions time frame.

I had previously gone trying shooting models only with the Q (The Leica Q and a Model by Riswan Christianto  Steve Huff Photo) and the results have been outstanding, and its in body portrait mode (I refer to the cropped frame mode) will certainly help and give you the idea to compose.  Furthermore, its electronic shutter is quite useful during daylights to shoot wide open 😀

Leica Q f2.0 1/6400 iso200
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Leica Q f/2 1/250 ISO 200

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So time to move on Leica M10, while being paired with the 50 summilux black chrome and shot wide open; shot with confident, don’t get too scared about the facts that highlights were easily blown. I always set everything manual in my cameras, and relying on the exposure metering since I don’t chimp much.
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So here comes my personal thoughts, while Leica M10 is quite a capable camera, there’s sometimes the need to bump the extra shutter speed as 1/4000 might not always give me the best option. The Leica Q on the other hand, gives me a results as good, and able to act as a second camera and  cover to my 35 lux while traveling compact.

Why Leica glass? Especially Summilux? because without the need to step down one or two stops, it is close to its best potential, besides it is one reason why we get Leica lens at the first place, to shoot wide open, to get that Leica rendering characteristic, to get that kind of ˜ Leica looks˜ many way to express it.

Not that others were not as good, I have few voigtlanders, they are super wide lens, and intended for it’s purposes. May be if I’m a serious landscape shooter, I would get the Leica glass as well, but I’m not. Hence I invested in summilux 50 for portrait, where I enjoy shooting most, having previously used the perfect 50 apo, it’s just the way how it renders and give me creamier out of focus background.

So until then, grab your gear and keep shooting 🙂

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14 Comments

  3. wow, I´d love to get a Leica to shoot my boudoir photography here in Mexico.
    Love the images, love the colors, love everything!
    thanks guys

    Cheers from Guadalajara, Mexico

  8. What’s funny is I was in Bali last year and saw that same style orange VW, lol, must be popular with shoots. Nice photos. Bali is a paradise.

  9. Superb shots! The combo Q and M is perfect, I’m looking for a Q as ‘partner’ for my M. Only when tele is needed, I use a Lumix GX8 with a Leica Vario 100-400 ( 200-800 in 35 mm equal)

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