When it comes to most things, cameras included, I don’t have a huge emotional investment in specific brands or even devices. In this author’s hands, they’re tools. There are good tools and there are bad tools, and new tools can sometimes be either, or a combination of both.
But there’s one camera that has served me incredibly well, actually, to such an extent that I would say I love it: the Leica Q3.
Allow me to wallow in a thought swamp on the subject of my favourite live concert camera.
Don’t worry, it’s not a technical review.
BUT FIRST, AVAST MATEYS, FOR THAR BE LOOSE TOPICS AFOOT:
First of all, read this absolutely excellent interactive journalistic article slash proposition slash call to action by Tobias Rose-Stockwell. In an age where social media platforms merely reward engagement only bred from loudly voiced discontent, this well-researched (and well-sourced!) reality check will have you feeling a bit more hopeful. Let action spring forth from this.
If you’re not Dutch, you might not care, in fact you probably don’t, but whatever, deal, I guess – I attended Skroetfest last week and shot a whoooole bunch of pics. If you’re not aware, Skroetfest is the festival organised by the boys in Skroetbalg, Nether-Saxon punk death machine. (Note: they recently put out their demo on 7" if you care to pick it up still!) The band also celebrated their five year anniversary and photo homie Frido Stolte put out a zine celebrating the band during this time. It’s rad, hit him up for a copy if you’re so inclined.
What is truth? Is it an objective thing? Or does a Herzogian ecstatic truth spring forth from beauty? These questions and more are discussed int BABY STEPS DEVELOPERS REACT TO 7 MINUTE SPEEDRUN. Have you played the video game Baby Steps? It couldn’t matter less. Take sixteen minutes and ten seconds of your life and invest it in this beautiful piece of video art.
Speaking of Herzogian, there’s a new movie in the making based on Street Fighter 2, called Street Fighter. It seems extremely dumb (positive), so here’s to 50 Cent making a buck as Balrog the boxer.
The homies in Spear released a new EP and it’s so exactly up my alley in terms of hardcore. A late ’90’s hardcore feel in the vein of Stretch Arm Strong and Trial that slots into my brain in exactly the right way. Check out the writeup on NoEcho.net and stream it for yourself here.
The hand behind the puppet – and by the puppet, I mean Yoda. And Miss Biggie. And Fozzie. And a whole bunch of other felt beings – Frank Oz himself, is back. Now with his hand firmly up a confused judge. Check out Judge Boing Boing on YouTube.
Remember when iPods were cool? Like, right now? Because they sure as hell still are! But your chances of finding a perfectly working one are getting slimmer by the day, and never mind that you’d have to get a 30-pin-connector-to-USB cable and you’d have to deal with an ancient hard drive in that thing. What if, perchance, by magical happenstance, you could get an iPod that works from flash memory? And has USB-C? And a built-in AirTag? Well, too bad because that would never happen… PSYCH! Player-mods has you covered
Video gaaaaameeessss, Lana Del Ray told me to play them, so here we find ourselves. Pragmata is one I’ve been playing recently and it’s been a fun experience. Solve simple puzzles to hack robots, shoot said robots in the face, neck or back, rinse, repeat. This is not meant critically, it’s pleasant. But the one note to hit here is how much of a B-game this is, meaning that it has very little pretence about what it is and what it sets out to do. Too often the lovers of the medium want the game to break out of its own space, but there’s beauty and honour in knowing what you are. Pragmata is exactly that.
BACK TO Y’R REGULARLY SCHEDULED BROADCAST, YA LANDLUBBERS!
Some basic facts: Leica Q3 /// 60 megapixel sensor /// 28mm f/1.7 lens /// maximum ISO of 100.000. Wide angle, really good at low light; one can stand close to the stage in a fairly dark room and take sharp photos without a flash.
Easy peasy so far.
The kicker: it’s small. Well, smaller than any camera with a removable lens. Because, yes, the lens on the Q3 is fixed.
One could remove it.
Once.
Best to leave it in place, however, where it can remain functional.
Not to blow up my own spot here, but the Q3 is small enough to carry in a pouch bag, like one of those Uniqlo cross body baggies, and take it into any concert, even where "professional cameras" (aka the ones with removable lenses) are not allowed for those not on the coveted photographer roll call.
Moreover, it gets out of the way of artists. It’s one thing to get into someone’s face with a gigantic lens, it’s another to stand there in the crowd with this oversized pocket camera. I like to think it leads to more candid shots, something core to my philosophy of photographing live music. It’s not enough to merely capture the artists on sensor, but I want to embody the feeling of watching from the crowd.
Let’s address the elephant in the dark room for a moment: the Leica Q3 is a stupendously expensive camera. I would put the price here but it would feel unseemly. Google it for yourself. Know I am aware.1
For more than half the price you could buy a camera and lens together that has relatively the same specifications and could get you to the same point. But it would be a bigger camera, a more "professional" camera indeed. And unless you’re doing an actual job, I don’t want that camera with me at a concert. What a hassle.
The intimacy and flexibility it offers while on the other end of the creative process delivering unto me art begotten by art, stills by performance, is worth the price of admission to me.
1I do want to acknowledge the privilege I have that I can even think about buying a camera like this, especially in the musical underground circles I usually travel. I’m grateful for my position. And I want to make the most of it.