Love Black and White Photography?

[Mike Farley]

If so, then Leica has a new camera just for you. The Q2 Monochrom. All the goodness of the original Q2 except without a colour filter array over the sensor so everything is rendered in glorious black and white. And all for a modest premium of £620 compared to the conventional model with change from £5,000 to boot. Leica Summilux lens included.

https://www.macfilos.com/2020/11/10/lei ... t-bw-fans/

The website to which I have linked has hosted quite a few discussions about Leica's various Monochrom offerings which until today have all been based on the manual focus M range of cameras. One of the contributors is Don Morley, a retired professional photographer who lives nearby and in his day was one of the top sports photographers in the world. He has been to our club a few times both as judge and presenter. When the original M9 Monochrom came out, he hired one and compared the output with his conventional Leica M9. He could not see any significant difference and if that is good enough for Don, then it is certainly more than good enough for me.

Anyone wanting good monochrome is far better off investing £125 in the DxO Nik Collection which includes the excellent Silver Efex Pro 2 for monochrome conversions. I have used it extensively and often been complimented on the tonaility in my images. The main advantage that a dedicated monochrome camera has is the ability to shoot at high ISOs with reduced noise and an increased dynamic range. If that is important, by all means spend the money. For the rest of us, we have just saved the best part of £5k.

https://nikcollection.dxo.com/

[Mike Farley]

In the Leica community, it has become a tradition that the launch of a new camera is accompanied by a review from Jono Slack. He is a professional photographer who is paid by Leica to test new models under development and typically gets his hands on a number of prototypes. Nice job! Slack does not attempt to hide his association with Leica which helps him bring a depth of knowledge to his articles which other reviewers might not have. What he writes is generally well received and does not appear to be biased, but I do occasionally find some of his pronouncements to err towards the delphic. Most who are seriously thinking of making an investment will probably seek a number of opinions, of course. Some will inevitably pre-order sight unseen to be the first to get their hands on something new but that occurs with all manufacturers, not just Leica.

The linked article is taken directly from Jono Slack's website but is available in other places. Until other sites complete their own reviews, this is as much third party information as will be available for a while.

https://www.slack.co.uk/leica-q2-monochrom.html

[Mike Farley]

Amateur Photographer has been quick off the mark and already published its review of the Q2 Monochrom (Q2M) online, even before it has appeared in the printed magazine. AP liked the camera. A lot. At the start of the article, a comparison is made with Leica's other current black and white only model, the M10 Monochrom which costs £7,250 without a lens. At £5k, AP says that makes the Q2M "slightly less unaffordable".

https://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/r ... rom-review

In the meantime, Mike Evans at Macfilos has his hands on a loan Q2M for his review. In his aricle, he admits that he is tempted to make a purchase despite already owning the standard Q2 and Silver Efex Pro 2. In the response to the first comment, he says that at the press launch Leica stated 1 in 20 purchases of their cameras are for the Monochrom variants.

https://www.macfilos.com/2020/11/11/lei ... ugly-head/

Me? I like the idea on a mono only camera in principle but know that in practice I would feel restricted. I will stick with Silver Efex. Even if I had it to spare, £5k is way too much for a camera I could well leave at home much of the time.

[davidb]

Me? … Even if I had it to spare, £5k is way too much for a camera I could well leave at home much of the time.

Especially after Graham L's experience!