Craig Mod reports on six months in the field with the $4,000 Leica Q, a compact, fixed-lens camera for professionals and for amateurs who are very serious indeed. He loves it with an intensity that would seem unreasonable were it not for a) the fact that the photos illustrating his essay are spectacular, and b) he discusses how using it changed his mind on photography basics.
Compare with the just-published review of Sony’s latest RX1R-II at DPReview. It’s serious competition for the Leica Q in the rarefied market for fixed-lens compacts that cost more than a MacBook Pro. Though it’s $700 cheaper, and in many respects technically superior, the design (from UX to battery life) sounds so frustrating and ill-considered that it’s hard to imagine preferring it over the Leica if you’re spending that much dough on a fixed-lens camera to begin with.
There’s a great section in Craig Mod’s review to remind you this is all for stills folk: “Video: I think the Leica Q does video.”
Leica Q [Amazon.com referral link]