The 43mm focal length hasn’t been taken seriously in many years. Pentax first did this because 43mm is true normal — not 50mm, not 40mm, not anything else. 43mm lenses are the truest normal that you can possibly get, and there’s valid research to back that up. Yet no brand has made a 43mm lens since Pentax’s last option. This year, Leica is releasing the Leica Q3 43 — and this has a world’s first. This is the wonderful Leica Q3 with a 43mm f2 Summicron Apochromatic Macro lens. Never before has anything been done. It’s insanely capable — and if you spend a lot of time with it, you’ll realize just how incredible it is.
Table of Contents
Declaration of Journalistic Intent
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The Big Picture: Leica Q3 43 Review Conclusions
I’m nearly in a place to call the Leica Q3 43 the most innovative camera of 2024. This is mostly because of how the lens incorporates into the camera body. So with that said, I at least want to rate the Leica Q3 43 to be the most innovative fixed-lens camera of 2024. It’s much more so than the Fujifilm X100Vi — which is supposed to majorly improve over its predecessor. Instead, the Leica Q3 43 is a variant.
The Leica Q3 43 has everything that the Leica Q3 has but with a different lens. That means that it’s got insane weather resistance, reliability, good battery life, etc. In fact, I find both the autofocus and standard manual focus to be even better than with the standard 28mm f1.7. And because of the addition of Leica Looks, you’re going to yield unique image quality that you can’t really get anywhere else.
So what’s wrong with it? Well, it’s kind of an odd focal length. And we spent around a week and a half with the camera. However, if we spent even more time with it, we think that we’d fall for it even harder.
My only big problem has to do with the electronic shutter function and how much of a jello effect it has. Otherwise, it’s an excellent camera.
As it is, the Leica Q3 43 receives four out of five stars. Want one? Check it out on Amazon.
Pros
- An innovative 43mm lens.
- The first lens of its kind with an apochromatic design and macro both in addition to weather resistance
- Much improved autofocus
- Same weather resistance as the original Leica Q3
- Beautiful images from the 60-megapixel full-frame sensor
- Sharp subjects with lovely background bokeh
- Great colors and black-and-white profiles
- IP52-rated weather sealing
- Excellent balance between size and ergonomics
- Macro capabilities
- Tilting screen
- Metal build
- Classic design and lens controls
Cons
- Macro is only available with the focus limiter and at f2.8
- Continuous autofocus tops out at 4 fps, but you can shoot with zone focusing at a far faster speed.
- The full menu isn’t touch-friendly
- Jello effect with electronic shutter
- Single SD card slot
- Pricey
Who Should Buy the Leica Q3 43?
Who should consider getting the Leica Q3 43?
- Photojournalists: Those who need something between 35mm and 50mm will want this.
- Wedding photographers: See photojournalists
- Street photographers: see above
- Those who own the Q3: The Leica Q3 43 and the Q3 together will get pretty much anything and everything done.
Innovations: What Makes the Leica Q3 43 So Innovative?
The Leica Q3 43 has a 43mm Apochromatic Macro lens. We can start at 43mm—this is the first camera to have a lens like this in years. The last review of a 43mm lens was from Jim Fisher at PCMag. No one has ever made an Apochromatic variant, nor has there been one with macro-focusing capabilities. Lastly, no one has made one with an IP durability rating. Indeed, what makes this camera so innovative is the lens.
Hardware
Holistically speaking, the Leica Q3 43 is pretty much just the Leica Q3 but with a different lens. Where that really means a lot has to do with the zone focusing and manual focusing modes. Mind you, it’s the same size as the previous camera and has all the buttons in the same place as before too.
To understand that more, we recommend checking out our Leica Q3 review.
It’s always a pleasure to hold and use this camera. The Leica Q3 43 and Leica Q3 are really the only point-and-shoot cameras that I’d want to bring with me everywhere. At this point in the tech world, I don’t think that 43 sensors or APS-C sensors make much sense except for in compact cameras. But if you want something really unique, the Q3 series is where it’s at.
Oh, and yes. We used it in the rain and it kept on going.
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Ease of Use
Like every Leica camera, the Leica Q3 43 is pretty simple to use. Perhaps the biggest thing that someone might want is a joystick. Luckily, the back direction pad works well enough. However, I partially agree that a joystick could be a nice addition. At the same time, I tend to just zone focus the camera and lens and get the images it gives me.
The menu system otherwise is as simple as any other Leica camera’s. That’s to say that you’re going to need to adapt to it. But once you get it, you’ll love it. You’ll also need to understand the concept of doing things like long-pressing a button to rewire what it does.
But like any Leica product mimicking a Leica M-series camera, it takes skilled photographers to get the most from a camera like this.
Truly though, if you’ve been shooting street photography, the Leica Q3 43 will be easy to work with.
Focusing
The Leica Q3 43 is a Leica! So it wouldn’t be what it is without good zone focusing. With this said, the zone focusing system with the Leica Q3 43 is exceptional. I typically set the camera to f5.6 and focused it between four to seven feet away. Then, anything that came my way that was that close was photographed. It made it pretty simple. When I wanted to be a little bit more relaxed, then I used autofocus. The autofocus works very well even in low light. But I wouldn’t rely on it all the time. If anything, think of the Leica Q3 43 as a Leica M camera with autofocus capabilities. You’ll want to mostly rely on zone focusing. To that end, it takes a skilled photographer to really make the most of the Leica Q3 43.
Image Quality
We tested the Leica Q3 43’s image quality in Capture One Pro. Lightroom supports the DNG files that it makes, but it has never given me better image quality than Capture One has. So I set the ICC Profile to the Leica Q3 ProStandard because Capture One doesn’t know that this camera exists as of July 2024 when I’m testing the camera.
Overall, I can’t find a major fault with the image quality. It looks good overall. High ISO images are clean for what they are. The colors from this camera are worth an article in and of itself — but we’ll need to see the final rendering from Capture One first. The new 43mm f2 Summicron Apochromatic is also well worth an article by itself. Truly, there’s nothing to dislike here at all.
Image Samples
The Phoblographer has been huge on transparency with our audience since day one. Nothing from this review is sponsored. Further, many folks will post reviews and show lots of editing in the photos. The problem then becomes that anyone and everyone can do the same thing. They’re not showing what the lens can do. So, we have a section in our Extra Image Samples area to show edited and unedited photos. From this, you can decide for yourself.
Unedited
Edited
Tech Specs
- Audio Recording: 48-Bit 16 kHz AAC Audio, 28-Bit 24 kHz LPCM Audio
- Bit Depth: 14-Bit
- Brand: Leica
- Camera Type: Compact
- Dimensions 5.1 × 3.2 × 3.6″
- Exposure Compensation -3 to +3 EV (1/3 EV Steps)
- External Video Recording Modes 4:2:0 8-Bit via HDMI
- DCI 8K (8192 × 4320) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97 fps
- UHD 8K (7680 × 4320) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97 fps
- 4:2:2 10-Bit via HDMI
- DCI 4K (4096 × 2160) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/50/59.94 fps
- UHD 4K (3840 × 2160) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/50/59.94 fps
- HD (1920 × 1080) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/50/59.94/100/120 fps
- Filter Size 49 mm (Front)
- Focal Length 43mm
- ISO Range 50 to 100,000 in Manual Mode
100 to 100,000 in Auto Mode - Image Sensor 35.8 × 23.9 mm (Full-Frame) CMOS
- Image Stabilization Optical in Integrated Lens
- Internal Video Recording Modes H.265 Long GOP/MOV 4:2:0 10-Bit
- DCI 8K (8192 × 4320) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97 fps [300 Mb/s]
- UHD 8K (7680 × 4320) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97 fps [300 Mb/s]
- 1920 × 1080 at 100/120 fps [100 Mb/s]
- H.264 ALL-Intra/MOV 4:2:2 10-Bit
- DCI 4K (4096 × 2160) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/48.00/50/59.94 fps [400 to 600 Mb/s]
- UHD 4K (3840 × 2160) at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/47.95/48.00/50/59.94 fps [400 to 600 Mb/s]
- ProRes 422 HQ
- 1920 × 1080 at 23.98/24.00/25/29.97/50/59.94 fps [181 to 454 Mb/s]
- H.265 Long GOP/MP4 4:2:0 10-Bit
- UHD 8K (7680 × 4320) at 23.98/25/29.97 fps [300 Mb/s]
- UHD 4K (3840 × 2160) at 50/59.94 fps [100 Mb/s]
- H.264 Long GOP/MP4 4:2:0 8-Bit
- UHD 4K (3840 × 2160) at 23.98/25/29.97 fps [100 Mb/s]
- 1920 × 1080 at 23.98/25/29.97/50/59.94 fps [20 to 28 Mb/s]
- Item Type Camera
- Maximum Aperture f/1.7
- Memory Card Slot Single Slot: SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-II)
- Minimum Aperture f/16
- Mount Leica M
- Other I/O 1 x USB-C (USB 3.2 / 3.1 Gen 2) Input/Output (Shared with Power Input)
- Power Input 1 x USB-C Input
- Sensor Resolution Actual: 62.39 Megapixel
Effective: 60.3 Megapixel (9520 × 6336) - Video Inputs 1 x Micro-HDMI Output
- Weight 1.6 lb
