A Week With My Dream Camera
gear does in fact matter..
I decided to treat myself during Christmastime by renting one of my dream cameras: the Leica Q2M. I had been eyeing that camera for the last month or so as I have been thinking about making an upgrade. Everything on paper seemed perfect with what I wanted in my next camera but it was time to put it to the test by actually making photos with it..
And let me tell you, the second I started making photographs with that beast of a camera, it just felt like it was made for me. As cliché as it is, it felt like a true extension of my eye for those 7 days. The monochrome sensor and in-camera cropping (since it is fixed 28 f/1.7 lens) were all that I needed to feel right at home and fully observant with no distractions. Also, I will add that the low-light capabilities blew my mind. Since a lot of my free time nowadays–especially in the winter months–is either pre-sunrise or post-sunset, I am stuck trying to shoot in very dark settings and I don’t feel like my current setup allows me to make “useable” photos past 6400 ISO. With the Q2M, having the choice to shoot at 100,000 ISO is so freeing and the grain is even quite tasteful to me.
I do want to focus on the in-camera cropping though. Sure, I can always just crop away when I am in Lightroom but something about the frame-lines through the viewfinder truly sealed the deal for me. I found the 35mm crop to be the most ideal since I could easily see what was filling the entire frame when I was shooting. To explain it best, the in-camera crop felt like I was using an old 35mm rangefinder camera.
I hadn’t had this much fun with a camera since I first got the X-Pro2 back in 2021; a camera I still very much adore but have gotten quite bored with and have felt limited by. And to be honest, I have always tried to ignore the whole “gear matters” argument since I am a huge advocate for making work with whatever you have on you in any given moment..BUT I have come to the conclusion that simplicity is best for me and my photography style. And just like most of us, I want be able to simply look over at my camera and get inspired to shoot; at the same time, I want the controls, settings, buttons, etc. to be as straightforward as possible. And that’s what the Q2M provides for me. It is simple. It is powerful with its tonalities and rendering of light. And most importantly, it inspires me to document more of my personal life. With all of that being said, here are some photographs I made during that beautiful week.
Enjoy ~
I almost fell down the Leica rabbit hole recently II was interested in an SL) but decided that the Fuji X-T3 can do what I need it to perfectly well. The Leica is for another day, and I'd have to carefully choose a bunch of affordable lenses to make it work financially! Can you explain the cropping in the viewfinder in more detail though?
I exclusively shoot b&w, well, my camera's screen is set to b&w to see if the photo works like I imagined. Love to have a Leica Q2M but it is far above what I want and can spend. Still hoping Pentax/Ricoh will come with a GR monochrome. Don't know why they put a monochrome sensor in a Pentax DSLR.