Since I have already done a couple of Monterey Car Week portfolios, I am not going to do another one. Instead, I want to do a post about using the Leica Q2 at Car Week.
I attended several car week events but the one I thought was the most enjoyable was the Concours for a Cause on Ocean Avenue in Carmel-by-the-Sea. The premise behind the event as stated on its website is “Our cause is to create a fundraising opportunity for local nonprofits during Monterey Car Week. We take pride in giving the individual showcasing their car the freedom to support the causes that matter most to them, ensuring their contributions make a meaningful impact. 100% of the entry fee will be donated to local nonprofits. Concours for a Cause is dedicated to creating a high-quality, free event where everyone can come together to celebrate cars, community, culture, and charity.”.
The cars were organized into communities such as American, German, Italian, British and Antique cars. There were welcome booths where you picked up tokens to vote for the “Best of”. Some participants dressed accordingly. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the cars.
It was a great photo opportunity and the Leica Q2 was up to the task. I shot in manual mode with a shutter speed of 1/500 second at f/5.6 using auto-ISO. For these 2 images, the ISO were 160 and 250 respectively. For this type of event where I am shooting a combination of people and cars, the 28mm focal length was perfect. I like it better than the 35mm lens that I use on the M10-R.
Auto-focus is not an issue since the subjects are more or less stationary and I have plenty of depth-of-field with the combination of the 28mm wide angle lens and f-stop 5.6. The camera is set to auto-focus single and auto-focus area field. The photos are plenty sharp.
There are 2 issues that I have with the Q2. First, there is a noticeable delay when the camera comes out of sleep mode, risking missing a shot. Second, the shooting information displays at the top and bottom of the LCD block the full view of the image to be taken. Pressing the shutter half-way removes the top band but not the bottom one. This is annoying when you “fill the frame”.
Battery life was not a problem, even though I was shooting with the LCD.
The raw files out of the Q2 require very little processing. The colors are fabulous. No cropping was required but was done on the first image to remove a distraction. White balance was set to “Daylight”. As a matter of personal preference to make the images “pop”, a little clarity or contrast was added along with a bit of vibrance. Shadows were brightened to reveal more detail.
Simply stated, the Leica Q2 produces beautiful, sharp photos with rich colors and wonderful contrast. It is the perfect camera for these types of events. Its compact size makes it more manageable and less intrusive. The experience is very enjoyable.