After 12 years of professionalism, suddenly comes the need to start photographing for themselves. And this is how in the last few months the idea of buying a camera to use only for my personal projects, my travels and everyday life has begun to mature within me. The choice could only fall on what is perhaps the most prestigious brand in the history of photography: Leica.
Leica Camera AG (Leica: abbreviation of Leitz (sche) Camera) is a German company that produces cameras and optical devices specific for photography. The company was born in 1986 from the original Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH founded in 1869, itself born from Carl Kellner’s company of 1849 Optischen Instituts. Many masters of the past have photographed with Leica: from Henri Cartier-Bresson to Gianni Berengo Gardin, from William Klein to Robert Frank, to Robert Capa to Elliott Erwitt and many others.
Clearly there are many Leica models in circulation but I personally was looking for something not bulky but at the same time having a high quality file and a poetic and bright lens. This is why the choice fell on Q2.
The Leica Q2 is a very compact and lightweight mirrorless camera (just over 700 grams), with an integrated 28mm 1.7 lens and a file of almost 50 million pixels. The price is certainly very high but in addition to its great quality, it is completely tropicalized and the fact that it resists dust and water makes it the ideal companion for those like me who are a lover of travel photos. The fact of having a fixed lens for many can be seen as a limit but I see it as a further challenge in the search for creativity and coherence in a story.
As soon as you take the Q2 in your hand you immediately have a feeling of solidity and the feeling you perceive is something indescribable. Of course, the price is not low but the thought of photographing with a Leica by now had captured me. The camera is very minimal, it has only 3 buttons on the back and the menu counts 1/10 of the items of other competitors such as Sony, Canon or Nikon.
Those who choose Leica, however, do not do it for its many functions but do so because they are looking for a connection with the past, because they want to discover or rediscover the pleasure of photographing, at any price. At least that’s the way it was for me and that’s why, one winter morning, I found myself in an abandoned monastery to try it for the first time.
I had given myself a purpose: to shoot as if I were photographing with an analog camera, without all the modern functions and automatisms we are used to. So I tried to take care of the composition and exposure in a manic way and of course I shot with manual focus. I chose to photograph directly in jpg and in black and white but above all I chose to publish the photos as they came out of the camera, without any retouching in post-production, except for the 16/9 cut that I wanted to give to all photographs to give it an even more cinematic look.
In fact, it is precisely from the cinema that I was inspired for this service, trying to return those anxieties and dark atmospheres typical of horror films and beyond. While I was shooting, images of Shutter Island (2010), The Lighthouse (2019), Blade Runner (1982), up to The Shining (1980) flashed through my mind.
So here are my first shots with the Leica Q2!
Final remarks:
It was the first time I went out to photograph with the Leica Q2 and I must say that it was truly a priceless experience! The machine is easy to handle and intuitive. Lightweight, compact but very sturdy. The design is wonderful and the feeling it gives you holding it in your hand and clicking on it is truly unique.
The thing that most impressed me though are the files. A truly incredible image cleaning and the ability it has to balance shadows and lights is truly out of the ordinary. I’m really satisfied with my purchase and can’t wait to use it in my adventures around the world but above all to photograph everyday moments!
