Struggle with the Leica Q3

As some of you know, the Leica Q3 was my very first Leica camera. I completely fell in love with it, and still use it beside my trusty M11-P.

I was so happy that Leica gave us a brand new firmware with a new, even easier menu system, supposedly better autofocus and faster operation. However, mine seemed to suffer from the new firmware.

Problems after problems

The autofocus performance was OK, but I didn't see what others described: how great and snappy it became. If I tried to move autofocus points, it was frustratingly slow. Even if I tapped on the screen to change the position of the focus area, it almost took a second for the camera to react.

The menu was kind of slow, but as I seldom use the main menu, this was only a minor disturbance.

But overall, the camera was slow and not as reliable as it was.

The solution

I always update my firmware only if I'm not into some work project or travelling. Even after these, I always make a backup of my saved profiles. I thought I did everything. But it turns out I was very wrong.

One morning I decided that this cannot be right, many people would be so loud online if this new firmware was so bad.

I took a deep breath and reset the camera to factory defaults. Quickly made my own settings and saved them as my street and other profiles. Only took me about 10 minutes to do this. And voila!

My beloved Q3 is back! It is fast, snappy, the menu is fast, the autofocus is rapid and sticky, and all my settings work as they should.

So, anyone who is struggling after the latest update, please consider resetting your camera and starting from scratch. Believe me, you'll get back a fast, responsive Q3 in minutes.