Leica's latest special-purpose camera - Leica Q - is aimed at wealthy street photographers who don't want to lug around heavy equipment or change lenses to capture images. The Leica Q is a full-frame compact camera with an attached fixed-focus lens. Its price of $4,250 (approximately Rs. 2,72,000) will definitely cause a few professional photographers to raise their eyebrows. If it is any consolation, Leica is also bundling a free copy of Adobe Lightroom 6.
The camera has a 24-megapixel full-frame CMOS sensor with the capability to touch a high ISO level of 50000. Leica claims that the sensor was built to work the best with the attached Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens (image stabilised). Leica claims that this is the fastest lens on a compact camera and its closest competition, the Sony RX1, features a Carl Zeiss 35mm f/2 lens. Leica also states that the Q has the fastest AF speed for a full-frame compact camera.
The Leica Q's top plate is made of aluminium and the rest of the body is magnesium alloy. It has a 3-inch touchscreen LCD with a resolution of 1.04m dots. There's also a 3.68-megapixel electronic viewfinder. The camera can shoot 1080p video at 30/60 fps. Connectivity-wise the camera can do NFC and Wi-Fi.
The touchscreen can be used to focus manually by tapping on the screen. You can also manual focus by rotating the lens focus ring, and a locking function lets you switch between AF and MF. One can also add 35mm and 50mm cropping rings to the lens, the prices for which haven't been revealed yet. The Leica Q is available now in the US.
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