Camera Review: Leica Q2 “Ghost” Set By Hodinkee
An “all-in-one”, “one-and-done” high-end camera for travels, landscapes, family and wrist shots
On Nov 15, 2022, Leica and Hodinkee announced their second collaboration - Leica Q2 “Ghost” edition by Hodinkee. The release included 150 limited edition Leica Q2 “Ghost” Set by Hodinkee and 2000 limited edition Leica Q2 “Ghost” by Hodinkee. The 150 sets were available on the Hodinkee website at the announcement and sold out very quickly. The 2000 “non-set” units are being sold by Leica stores and the ADs starting on December 21, 2022.
Leica Q2 is a compact, mireless, fixed lens, wide-angle digital camera. It is one of the best selling Leica cameras that has attracted a cult-like following. As watch enthusiasts, we love taking pictures of watches and sharing them on social media. This collaboration made a lot of sense and delighted many Leica fans and watch enthusiasts.
The “Ghost” in the model name refers to the desirable “ghosted” aesthetic emerged through the natural aging and wear of a wristwatch bezel. The aspiration for this collaboration came from the first dive watch purchased by Ben Clymer, the founder of Hodinkee. Now, let’s see a picture of a Rolex Submariner with a ghost bezel, followed by a picture of the Leica Q2 “Ghost” edition.
The 2000 pieces of “Ghost” by Hodinkee are still available for purchase (although the 150 sets had sold out). In addition, there are the standard Q2 in black and the Q2 Reporter in green. All these Q2 models are technically the same camera. Is the Leica Q2 potentially a camera for you? It could be an excellent option If you don’t feel like carrying a heavy camera bag around anymore. Or if you want to have more than just an iPhone in your hands for those special events in your life, such as a long-planned vacation or a good friend’s wedding. The macro capability of Q2 is excellent for shooting our beloved watches too.
This is my first non-watch review and I hope that you will like it. Let’s get right into it.
A Brief History of Leica Q2
Leica Camera AG is a premium manufacturer of cameras and sports optics headquartered in Wetzlar, Germany. Leica offers five camera product lines. We may understand better the positioning of Leica Q2 by looking at the entire product lines first.
Let me explain the three top-level design choices for digital cameras. First, it is how our eyes see the object when taking pictures. If our eyes see the object via a prism exactly as seen by the imaging sensor, it is the DSLR (digital SLR). If our eyes see the object directly but separately from the sensor, it is the rangefinder. If our eyes see the object on the LCD viewfinder, it is called mirrorless design. DSLR means a a bigger camera body while a mirrorless design makes for a compact camera.
The second design choice is the size of the imaging sensor. “Full-frame” means the size of the imaging sensor is as big as the traditional film (36mm x 24mm). Medium format is even bigger than full-frame, while APS-C is smaller at 25.1mm x 16.7mm.
The third design choice is whether the lens is interchangeable or not.
Now, we may look at the five Leica camera product lines defined by these design choices:
Leica S-System: Medium-format DSLR camera for professionals with interchangeable lenses
Leica M-System: Manual focusing full-frame rangefinder with interchangeable lenses
Leica SL-System: Full-frame mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses
Leica Q: Full-frame mirrorless camera with a fixed lens
Leica CL/TL2 System: APS-C mirrorless camera with interchangeable lenses
In the first collaboration, Leica and Hodinkee released Leica M10-P “Ghost Edition” that costs $14,995. This beautiful camera belongs to the iconic Leica M-system.
Now, in the second collaboration, Leica Q was chosen for its surging popularity. Leica Q is at a sweet spot where exceptional performance is achieved with a full-frame sensor and an excellent Leica lens. The trade-offs are not being able to exchange lenses and the lens is fixed focal length. These trade-offs led to a very reasonable price, compared to other Leica cameras. If you are fine with a compact camera without interchangeable lenses, Leica Q offers tremendous values. That is the reason why the Leica Q has been getting so many rave reviews.
Leica Q is a relatively new product line with the original Q launched in 2015. In 2018, an model named Leica Q-P was released. Think of it as a special edition of the Leica Q. Then, in 2019, Leica Q2 was launched. A major upgrade was a bigger imaging sensor of 47.3MP (mega-pixels). The Q2 has been a phenomenal success thanks to the superior performance, awesome styling and great value.
To make this outstanding camera even more special, Leica has developed a number of limited editions. Here is a list of all the released Leica Q2 models.
Standard Q2 - unlimited
Q2 Reporter - unlimited
Q2 Monochrom - unlimited
Q2 Reporter Monochrom - unlimited
Q2 007 Edition - 250 limited edition
Q2 Daniel Craig x Greg Williams - 750 limited edition
Q2 “Dawn” by Seal - 500 limited edition
Q2 “Ghost” Set by Hodinkee - 150 limited edition
Q2 “Ghost” by Hodinkee - 2000 limited edition
The latest “Ghost” limited editions were the second collaboration between Leica and Hodinkee. The Leica “Ghost” set is priced at $5,995, while the non-set edition is priced at 5,795$. The two models are the same, except that the set includes a few extra features listed below (for the extra $200):
Leica’s vintage signature in gray on the top plate of the camera
Engraving on the upper border of the LCD panel showing “GHOST SET BY HODINKEE”
Engraving on the lower border of the LCD panel showing the LE number “xxx/150”
A silver aluminum thumb support
The thumb support in black is an existing accessory that may be purchased for the standard black Q2. The silver version is included with the “Ghost” set.
In the pictures is a Cartier Pasha GMT made about 20 years ago. This is a piece in my collection that matches the best with the “Ghost” color scheme.
Leica Q2 Technical Specifications
Camera type: Digital 35mm compact camera, fixed focal length
Lens: Leica Summilux 28 f / 1.7 ASPH.
Leica makes the world’s best lenses for cameras. The trademarks for Leica lenses usually correlate directly with the f-stop (the “aperture” opening of a camera lens). For example, Summicron lens means a f / 2 lens and Summilux lens means a f / 1.4 lens. The Leica Summilux-M 28 f / 1.4 ASPH which is an interchangeable lens costs $7,795.
The lens that comes with a Leica Q2 is the Summilux 28 f / 1.7 ASPH., which cannot be purchased as a stand-alone lens.
The main take-aways are two-folded: (1) Leica Q2 offers great value, considering the cost of a camera body plus lens (at $5,995) is less than a very similar interchangeable lens (at $7,795); (2) Leica Q2 offers a high speed wide-angle lens with exceptional imaging performance.
Digital zoom: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm
Picture sensor: Full frame CMOS sensor, 47.3 million effective pixels
Picture full resolution: 8368 x 5584 pixels at 28mm
Focusing range: 30cm to infinity, with macro setting from 17cm
x 96 pixels, color display
Monitor: 3” TFT LCD monitor with 1M pixels
Video: 4K - 30 or 24 fps
Shield from water and dust: IP52 - dust protected and can withstand water in small doses
Software: Leica FOTOS App - one useful feature is to add GPS location from the phone to the images
Lastly, Leica keeps releasing new firmware so new features can be added. The latest firmware 4.0 was released in May 2022. It is so wonderful to see new functions with each firmware upgrades.
Leica Q2 Sample Images
Leica Q2 takes great pictures and often turns ordinary scenes into excellent pictures. The images are very sharp and well balanced. I kept discovering details that I didn’t see when taking the pictures. The color of the pictures are natural and accuracy. There are no signs of algorithmic processing to sharpen the images or enhance the colors. We will see some examples here and will do an interesting side-by-side comparison with the camera in the iPhone.
Macro photography
The macro capability (17cm to 30cm) is built in the Summilux lens coming with the Q2. The macro ring on the lens turns the macro mode on and off. This is very important for watch enthusiasts as we take wrist-shots and static shots of our beloved watches all the time.
Cropping (digital zoom)
The digital zoom provides the ability to take 75mm, 50mm, 35mm photos effectively, in additional to the 28mm focal length. With a full-frame sensor, images taken even at 75mm look quite sharp. The set of four pictures below were taken at the same location, with different cropping settings and compositions.
As we may see from this set of photos, the lack of optical zoom is made up by a wide-angle lens combined with a powerful full-frame sensor. The cropping setting is changed easily by the press of a button. We may consider the composition of the picture and select an appropriate cropping setting. Alternatively, we may take the pictures at 28mm first and then crop the them at the post-processing stage.
Comparison with the iPhone 14 Pro Camera
The advancements in mobile phone’s camera capability are super impressive. I thought that it would be interesting to compare the image quality of the latest iPhone with the Leica Q2.
First, the iPhone 14 Pro comes with not just one but three cameras!
Main camera: 24mm, f/1.78, 48MP
Ultra-wide camera: 13mm, f/2.2, 12MP
Telephoto camera: 77mm, f/2.8, 6x optical zoom range, 12MP
Crazy, the main camera of iPhone 14 pro has almost the same specification as the Leica Q2 (28mm, f/1.7, 47.3MP)!
The iPhone algorithm determines on-the-fly which camera should be used to achieve the best results. When getting closer to an object, It will switch to the ultra-wide camera for macro capture. So, if you are using an iPhone 14 Pro for close-ups or wrist-shots, it is the ultra-wide camera at work usually.
The comparison shots below were taken in the morning around 8:25am, as the watch in the pictures showed. The Sun just came up but the watch was not under the sunshine. It was the perfect outdoor lighting to take wrist shots.
The iPhone picture looks quite sharp with great exposure and depth of field. However, if we compare the two pictures carefully, we may see that the Leica image just looks more natural. The iPhone picture seems to have been sharpened by the algorithms. It is quite subtle, but more obvious when there are two photos to compare side-by-side. The iPhone picture seems to be a bit warmer, as if the watch and hand were under the sun. The Leica picture, on the other hand, shows a more accurate, natural skin tone. I also prefer the blurred background in the Leica photo.
In any case, the differences are quite subtle, and our preferences can be subjective. The side-by-side comparison did allow us to see the differences. What do you prefer?
Next, we enlarged the GMT sub-dial of the Pasha in each photo. Voilà!
The Leica picture just retains so much details with the full-frame sensor. The guilloche and the globe on the dial are vividly presented in the photo. The dents and scratches on the bezel are clearly seen as well. The ultra-wide camera in the iPhone just has much fewer pixels in this case.
Conclusions
Leica is perhaps a grail for many folks who love photography. Leica Q2 is still pricy, but the all-in-one design has made this model more accessible. To me, it is a “one-and-done” piece that ticks all the boxes for a photography enthusiast. It is a perfect camera for travels, landscapes, family, macro photography, street photography and wrist shots. The “Ghost” color scheme makes this Q2 model a bit more special, especially for watch lovers.
A Leica camera tends to retain its value, compared to other camera brands. The solid build quality, unmatched performance (in-house camera body and lenses), iconic designs and a long brand history all contributed to this status. It is very much like the Rolex in the watch world. They both even have catchy names with just 5 letters. The “Ghost” collaboration between Leica and Hodinkee has definitely brought a very special camera to the lovers of photography and watches.
This is the last article of the Sfwatchlover newsletter in 2022. Thanks for reading over the year. Best wishes to you and your loved ones a very happy and prosperous 2023!
Excellent write up. Curious how the finish has held up under normal use agains scratches and dings? The regular Q2 gets scratched up pretty easily if you're not careful.
Oh dear. I may now have something else to add to my wish-list 😱