Leica this week, announced the new Q2 Monochrom, its latest monochrome camera that joins the Leica black and white heritage along with the M10 Monochrom. The new Q2 features a high-resolution sensor, a toned-down design, and a macro mode.
You might also like
The Q2 Monochrom features a new 46.7-megapixel full-frame monochrome sensor that is based on the original Q2, and though the sensor has the omission of the color filter array to give it added light gathering potential and increased sharpness in true black and white, Leica promises it will impress with its dynamic range, ISO performance, and true resolution.
The camera features the Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH fixed-lens, which has three built-in crop zoom modes that give you a 35mm, 50mm, or 75mm equivalent respectively. The camera does this by cropping into the sensor so that at 28mm you get the full 46.7 megapixels, at 35mm zoom it tightens to 30 megapixels, at 50mm it drops to 15 megapixels, and at 75 mm it is just 7 megapixels.
The lens can also swap to a macro mode, which changes close focusing distance from 30cm to 17cm while stepping down to a maximum of f/2.8. The macro mode can be initiated by turning a clearly-marked ring on the lens.
The electronic viewfinder is a 3.68 megapixel OLED whilst the rear LCD is a 3-inch LCD monitor with touch control. The sensor on the Q2 is not stabilized but the lens does have some level of optical compensation.
Leica says the ISO on the Q2 climbs up to 100,000 while still being able to “capture immense detail and tonality” and the camera uses a contrast-based autofocus system, that Leica promises is fast, accurate, and able to lock on to subjects in less than 0.15 seconds.
On the video spectrum, the Q2 Monochrom is also capable of capturing 4K video in both 30 or 24 frames per second while shooting 1080p at 120/60/30/24 frames per second.
Below are some images shot by the Q2:
The Leica Q2 Monochrom is currently available for $5,995.
__
