Leica Q3 - ISO tests and picture quality
Hello everyone
I tested the new Leica Q3 camera a few days ago and I was very impressed by the picture quality.
More than picture quality though, I love the small additions like USB-C charging and tethering which make everyday usage, easier and better.
I took some pictures and some test shots to see how the camera performs under different lighting conditions and using the three different resolutions.
Below you can see some sample pictures I took:
The new Q3 delivers incredible image quality. Very impressive to think the lens is the same as the original Q1. One thing I did not like much, is the little flickering when focusing. But I guess you get used to it.
Next I want to talk about ISO performance in scarse lighting conditions and in good lighting conditions.
In the first mentioned condition, it is ok. I would say it is usable until 12500 ISO up to A3 prints. If you are planning small prints or web or social, then even 50000 ISO would be ok.
In normal lighting conditions, the performance is very good. You could wash use the camera up to 50000 ISO if you ever needed to do so during the day.
Below, two galleries with a night time test and a daytime test. Al photos were imported in Capture ONE and had the noise reduction turned off. Both luminance and chrominance ones. The nigh scene goes from ISO 100 to 100000. The day scene form 100 to 50000.
In the next gallery you can see ISO 100000 performance using at the three sensor resolutions of 60MPx, 36MPx and 18MPx. There is quite an improvement.
Some 100% zoom crop with and without noise reduction enabled:
Next, highlight recovery at 60MPx, 36MPx and 18MPx. I could not see a significant difference.
What do you think?
PS: I also took an 8K video footage with the camera. You can find it on my YouTube page here:
