Last week, I sold my Leica Q2, and I managed to do so for more than what I had originally paid for the camera (Leicas are priced crazy high in Japan). After selling the Q2 for $5,250, I went to Fujiya Camera in Nakano and purchased a used Fujifilm X-Pro3 and two lenses (23mm and 35mm) for $2,500. I don’t have too much to say, but here are a few reasons why I decided to part ways with the Q2.

• After almost a year of trying to come to terms with 28mm, I realized it’s just not the right focal length for me. I prefer longer focal lengths like 35mm and 50mm. Despite constantly telling myself I can always crop in thanks to the Q2’s 47-megapixel sensor, cropping in is just not the same as shooting with an actual 35mm or 50mm lens.
• I miss bokeh so much. Yes, the 28mm Summilux on the Q2 has an aperture of f/1.7, but it’s very difficult to shoot portraits with a lot of bokeh due to the short focal length. This kind of stuff is not possible with the Q2.
• I think the Q2 would’ve been a wonderful camera for me a few years ago when I was traveling a lot. It’s a great camera for documentary-style photography, which I was really into when I spent a year traveling around the world. Now, I just want a camera to take really nice portraits of my kid, and I’m not convinced that the Q2 is a good camera for that use case.
• This is a total first world problem, but 47 megapixels is just too much, especially in conjunction with the Q2’s incredibly sharp Summilux lens. It’s useful for cropping, but I don’t crop much. At 47 megapixels, a lot of my photos look too sharp, too analytical, and too clinical – just not the best fit for my style of photography. I think a 36-megapixel sensor without the 75mm crop option would’ve made for a better camera.
• The main reason why I sold my previous Fujifilm gear in favor of the Q2 was a need “to declutter all aspects of my life”. We were going through a stressful time as new parents, and I constantly felt like everything in life that involved making a choice (e.g. which lens to use for the day) was exhausting. Fortunately, we are in a much better place now, and I feel like I have the mental bandwidth to get back into photography with an interchangeable lens system, in addition to exploring film with my new Contax T2.

I loved many aspects of the Q2, but I don’t miss it at all after selling it. I spent the weekend walking around Tokyo with the X-Pro3 and the XF 35mm f/2 lens, and really enjoyed shooting with the longer focal length. I’ll be sharing some photos from the X-Pro3 after I get acclimated with it, so stay tuned!