Leica’s Q3 43 premium compact camera features a stunning new 43mm lens that fans have been begging for
Leica has announced a new version of its Q3 digital compact camera: the Q3 43.
The new addition to the Q series is identical to the Q3 in most respects, but it gets an all-new APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 ASPH lens and is adorned with a gray leather exterior to complement the black metal top and bottom trims. Trust me, the Q3 43 will sell out fast.
Like the Q3 – one of our favourite cameras of 2023 and our top pick for a premium compact camera since then – the Q3’s lens is 43mm wide-angle, but it’s a lens that mirrors the human eye’s perception of light, with a greater reach than the Q3’s 28mm f/1.7 wide-angle lens.
Both cameras feature a 60.4MP full-frame sensor. It’s that high-resolution sensor that makes the Q-series cameras so versatile, and enables digital crop modes, albeit at a lower resolution. The Q3 can replicate popular focal lengths up to 90mm, and the Q3 43 takes the same party trick but pushes it even further, with settings for 43mm, 60mm, 75mm, 90mm, 120mm and 150mm.
The main features remain the same, though: there’s a 5.76-million-dot OLED viewfinder, a handy tilting touchscreen and simple Bluetooth/Wi-Fi connectivity to the Leica Fotos app for uploading photos and remote control.
What differs slightly is the price: the Q3 43 is more expensive at $6,895 / £5,900 (around AU$12,000), compared to the Q3’s list price of $6,295 / £5,550 / $10,890.
Another perspective
The Leica Q3 features an excellent all-purpose 28mm f/1.7 lens, especially when you consider its 60.4MP sensor and digital crop modes – you can see it in action in our Q3 review . However, there are many photographers, myself included, who prefer standard to telephoto focal lengths over a wider perspective. Enter the Q3 43, with its specially developed APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 ASPH lens.
The Leica Q3 43 is a similar concept to the Ricoh GR IIIx, a camera I bought in lieu of the latest iPhone. Ricoh’s previous GR IIIs all had the wider 28mm lens, but then the GR IIIx came with a longer-reaching 40mm f/2.8 lens.
It’s the inevitable problem with fixed-lens compacts like the Fujifilm X100VI, Leica Q3, and Ricoh GR III: there’s no one focal length that fits all. And that’s why you’ll see a lot of fans clamoring for a new version of a particular camera they love, but with a different built-in lens. It’s for this reason that the new counterpart to the often-sold-out Q3, the Q3 43, is set to prove popular.
Like the Q3’s 28mm f/1.7 lens, the new 43mm f/2 has a macro focusing function for capturing finer details – detail is only further accentuated by the lens’s compression effect with greater reach. In general, I find the focal length of cameras like the Q3 43 / GR IIIx to be more versatile, though there are inevitably times when I want to shoot wider.
I expect the Q3 43 to be an excellent camera for everyday use. We’ll tell you more once our full review is done.