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Sunday, 5 May 2019

Leica Q2 Video


 
Leica Q2 1080 Video

Leica Q2 4K Video

I shot some more video with the Leica Q2 yesterday to see if I could get more stable results. As you can see I succeeded with this. Now this is no walk around camera with gimbal like IS, but it is possible to get stable footage hand held, assuming you don't want a lot of camera movement. 

I am assuming that Leica Q2 video users aren't looking for pro. specs in the camera and indeed in all the reviews I read about it nobody seemed to bother to offer a video sample, which is strange since the Q2 has a wide range of options. True there is a lot of automation going on but there are some advantages too. The first is that 4K video has no crop. You get 28mm for video as well as stills. And shooting video is easy to engage.


By pressing the centre button of the control highlighted in red, you can select the video option. Which looks like this. 


You can then focus using AF or MF. The camera takes over aperture and ISO selection once the shutter is pressed but it does make some sensible choices. There is also a 'spirit level' option available to keep the footage straight.

Yes I realise that this is not for 'serious' videographers, but then they won't be buying a Leica Q2 for what they do anyway. But for the rest of us who want the occasional high quality video clip it IS useful. In fact when I was out yesterday I did shoot quite a lot of video because it was quick and easy to do and switching between stills and video was easy. Using the button highlighted in red above I could move easily between the options without moving the camera from my eye. So whatever you think about the options offered it's a lot easier to use than many other cameras.

The Q2 will also do this:-


It will shoot video in all of the crop factors. 28mm, 35mm, 50mm & 75mm. As you can see the 75mm setting is pretty bad. It will also shoot in the cameras macro mode, however this would be very tricky to get decent results. 

It does have to be said however that there are no mic or phones slots on the camera, so you have to put up with the built in microphone or record sound separately. 

So there are two obvious shortcomings here.
  • Exposure is auto only. You cannot alter the ISO or aperture.
  • No ports to attach anything to the camera.
However there are some good things here as well.
  • Quality, especially 4K, is very good.
  • The Q2 shoots FF video with no crop.
  • There are some cropping options, however I wouldn't go further than 50mm and that's not great.
  • It shoots macro, though this would be difficult.
  • It's very easy to switch from stills to video without moving the camera from your eye.
  • The EVF is excellent.
  • OLED EVF and screen, so shooting with polaroid sunglasses is possible.
  • 1080 120fps produces very nice slo mo. 
  • AF focusing is smooth and doesn't 'hunt'.
  • MF is superb with focus peaking.
I mentioned in my previous post on the Q2 that I see this a a camera that would work very well for photojournalists and documentary photographers. And that's how I see the video. With the splash and dust proof weather sealing and the cameras small footprint, this would be a camera for those wanting to work quickly and easily in locations without the time to set things up. And that's how I see the video offer. If I wanted to suddenly shoot some footage in the middle of a stills shoot then I can do that really easily and quickly. I could even shoot an interview if I got close enough to the subject. Is this a professional video camera? Well in the conventional sense, no it's not. But it's by no means useless and in the right circumstances could be just what is needed. I suspect I'm not alone in not wanting to be fiddling with my camera when I want to shoot some video and this is a camera that delivers a degree of automation that would suit somebody who works in a similar fashion to me.

Now I've taken some time here to go over the video options on the Leica Q2. While I am under no illusions that anyone who buys a Q2 does so because of the video, the camera does offer it and I think it's useful if someone actually takes the trouble to see what it can do. 

Finally I suspect that this all bodes well for the video on a forthcoming Leica SL Mark II. Leica now seem to be able to offer video with no crop and I wouldn't be surprised to see an 'SL2' offer 4K 60fps and a lot more manual options. That camera would also have microphone and headphone ports. Don't forget that Leica suggested the use of their cinema lenses for the SL (Typ 601). Now whether anyone is contemplating going out and buying any of these (Even S/H they are £15,000 + !!!) who knows, but most people rent them anyway. 

In the meantime the Q2 is fine for my (admittedly limited) video needs. However I suspect that it's a decent option for a lot of Q2 buyers as well. It is first and foremost a stills camera but if it offers decent video quality as well then that's a bonus. And that is definitely how I see it. 





































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