Leica Q3 vs Sony RX1R III
Last month while hanging out with friends in Scotland, I got the chance to compare and contrast three incredible cameras side by side: The Sony RX1R III, the Leica Q3, and the Leica Q3 43. All three three sport beautiful lenses with amazing sensors. All beautifully support the process of making photographs out in the world. And, most importantly, all are really fun to use.
Of course, nobody needs to own one of these cameras. There are less expensive alternatives that will allow you to express your creative vision. Some of us, however, are undeniably attracted to them because of their size and the way they let us pursue our vision in the world. They let you move through the world in a different way than larger cameras do. When you’re in the creative mindset, sometimes that matters.
Since everyone in our group was more than happy to swap and share, I was able to spend quality time with each of these cameras while out in the Scottish landscape to compare and contrast them, and to find out which one I wanted to spend more time with.
To cut to the chase, I think the primary reason to get the RX1R III is if ultimate portability is non-negotiable. It’s the perfect camera for traveling as light as possible when every single milliliter of space and gram of mass matters. It’s the iPhone Air of the bunch, if you will. It’s an ideal camera for travelling on business when you really want everything in a single bag and the camera is just coming along for the ride.
Outside of that very narrow niche, the Leica Q3 wins. There is a magic to the Q3 that the Sony just can’t match. The lenses are legendary. And, honestly, they’ll travel almost as well on a trip where you want to travel light unless you really have serious size and weight constraints.
Now that I’ve given my conclusion, if you’re interested in reading on, I’ll tell you how I came to it.
Backstory
Smaller cameras like this have always been attractive to me. When I was a kid, my grandparents had a Leica M and a Leica CL, which they taught me how to use and shoot film with. As a geeky adult, however, I quickly picked up the first digital cameras and never looked back. I made do with a variety of small digital cameras, but nothing really fit until the original Sony RX1 was released in 2012.
With a Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm f/2 lens fused to a good full-frame sensor and not much more, the RX1 was a revelation. Small enough to fit in a medium size jacket pocket, it truly was the best camera you could have with you most of the time. The compromise was that it had shit for battery life and didn’t have an integrated viewfinder, but the image quality and ultimate portability was worth it.
The first digital Leica that really caught my attention was the Leica Q, released in 2015. It was a pretty amazing camera for the time, and the Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens was truly excellent, if a bit wide for my taste. It made beautiful images — even people who didn’t know about cameras noticed the difference in the shots I made with it. But, it didn’t ever travel as comfortably with me as the RX1 did.
When the Leica Q3 was released in 2023, it replaced the good enough sensor of its predecessors with a truly great one. I still didn’t love the 28mm focal length, but I figured the Sony RX1 line was done for and there wouldn’t be another one, so I purchased one. And discovered it had a minor-sounding feature that was great for traveling: being able to charge over USB-C and not carry a separate charging brick. Minor sounding, but huge for portability.
In 2024, Leica released the Q3 43 with a APO-Summicron 43mm f/2 lens. Dammit! I was instantly torn. I knew I’d like the focal length more, but I wrestled with the idea of selling my Q3 off to fund it. Other things took my attention and I pushed off the thought for later. Then in a surprise announcement this year, Sony announced an updated RX1R III with a state-of-the-art sensor, the same Zeiss 35/2 that I’ve loved over the years, and updated electronics, including essentially the same sensor in the Leica Q3.
What a quandary! RX1R III or Leica Q3 43? I knew that I probably wanted to move on from my 28mm Leica Q3 to one of these, but which one? That’s where I got lucky in joining Hudson Henry and Rick Lepage in Scotland after they wrapped up two photography workshops to go scouting. Between everyone in the group, we had all three cameras to compare.
Where the RX1R III leads
I’ll start with the RX1R III and the things it has over the Leica Q3 that matter: size and volume, autofocus, and the way its digital crop works.
Comparing height, width, and depth numbers doesn’t communicate how tiny the Sony is in comparison. It’s the volume and weight of the camera that really sets it apart. It’s something like half the volume of the Q3. It’s smaller than the APS-C Fujifilm X100VI! And it weighs under 500g, compared to almost 800g for the Leica Qs. You can simply fit it in with more things in your backpack, and you can even sneak it into some jacket pockets.
The RX1R III also has the better autofocus. While Leica’s autofocus has consistently improved over the years and is now firmly in the good category, the RX1 has Sony’s latest preternaturally great autofocus. It’s faster and so more confident than Leica’s system. You never have to think of it. The Leica autofocus isn’t bad, but Sony’s is on a whole different level.
Finally, the way that Sony’s digital crop works is better. In a stylistic nod to Leica’s rangefinder history, the Leica Q3 puts in crop lines while you see the whole frame of the sensor. It’s sentimental and cute and it‘s representative that you’re going to get the full 61 megapixels in a raw file. The RX1R, however, just zooms the image you see in the viewfinder or on the back screen. When you’re shooting at a 50mm equivalent crop, you see that crop. What you see is what you get.
Where the Q3 pulls ahead
Compared with the RX1R III, the Leica Qs have noticeably better lenses, a simpler and more intuitive user interface, a better EVF, image stabilization, weather-sealing, a flip-screen, and integrate better with an iPhone or Android device.
As good as the RX1’s Zeiss 35/2 is — and it does deliver the goods every time — the two Leica Q lenses are just that much better. Not only do they deliver the goods, they do so in a way that’s almost otherworldly. I was frequently surprised with the results when reviewing images, sometimes to the point of saying expletives under my breath. The images, especially from the 43mm lens, often give me the same feeling that I used to get reviewing chromes on a light-table with a loupe compared to looking at a print made from a negative.
The user interface of the Q3s, both physical controls and software, feels like they were designed by photographers for photographers. Intuitive and natural, everything does what you expect it to do and doesn’t require futzing around at all. While the RX1 has Sony’s latest and much-improved menu system, it’s still more complicated and what you want is often a bit buried compared to the Leica interface. As well, the physical controls on the Sony are cramped in comparison to the Leica. Sony could follow Leica’s lead here and simplify more.
The RX1’s EVF is… perfectly usable. It’s small with a small viewing area, but that’s understandable because the camera is small. I’m not sure what more can be done there. But, not only is the Leica Q3s EVF bigger, it has double the resolution and is much more comfortable to use. It’s like when we went from regular resolution displays to Retina displays on the iPhone. It’s something that you didn’t know you wanted till you have it and then you really want it.
Moving on to image stabilization, the Q3’s system is really good. The RX1 simply doesn’t have image stabilization. A decade ago, the charm of having the smallest full-frame camera in the world more than made up for the lack of image stabilization. In 2025, it’s a bit of a handicap. The same goes for weather sealing. I never had a problem with my RX1 in inclement weather, but I wasn’t ever as cavalier with it as I was with other cameras. It’s a complete miss that Sony didn’t put better weather sealing into the RX1, especially since the gaskets wouldn’t weigh anything or take up any more space.
As far as the flip screen, it’s baffling that this iteration of the RX1 doesn’t have one, especially since the previous mark II iteration did. Not having it in the current version feels like a serious regression, especially since the EVF is so cramped. I wasn’t sure this was a relevant factor until shooting the cameras side by side and learning how much I did like using the flip screen while walking the streets of Glasgow or hiking on dunes on the Isle of Harris.
Finally, and this also didn’t really sound like much of a deal until using the cameras side by side, Leica’s iOS app is really good and integrates with the Q3 perfectly. By comparison, the Sony app gets the job done if you want to review or pull images, but it’s rather clunky. It only connects to the camera when the camera is powered on, while the Leica app can wake your camera up in the bag to review images. And the camera can always connect to the app while your phone is in your pocket to grab a GPS update to tag images with the location of where you are.
Where I landed
If any of these cameras existed in isolation from each other, I’d be hard pressed to complain about anything, other than the price tag. If the Leica Q3s didn’t exist, the RX1 would be a no-brainer for me. It that was the camera I had bounced around Scotland with mucking through the bogs finding odd stuff to photograph, I would have been more than happy with it.
It’s in comparison where the differences stand out. And because of those price tags, what we’re looking for really comes down to the joy factor. You buy cameras like this to make images, which includes both the process of making the image as well as the images themselves. You want a camera like this to spark joy when carrying it, using it, and looking at the results.
So, I come back to my conclusion: The biggest thing the RX1R III gives you is ultimate portability. It can go more places more often with you. But for me, the Leica Q3 — in particular the Q3 43 — pulls ahead.
When I first picked up the Q3 43 and put it up to my eye and framed a shot, I muttered “mother fucker” under my breath. And then when I saw the shot, I said the same thing again, quite a bit more loudly. The frame is perfect for me. I had taken the claim that the 43mm lens matches normal vision with a bit of salt because our vision isn’t rectangular and the periphery is large, but I think Leica is onto something with this focal length. It really works for me.
That said, in our group we were evenly split on our preference for the 28mm or 43mm lens. Half of us really preferred the 28mm frame. The other half preferred the 43mm. And, of course, we all made the observation that sometimes you really do want a camera with a good zoom on it so that you can pick your frame in the field, even if these Leica lenses have a pop that few other lenses can even hope to approach.
I’ll wrap up by saying again that nobody needs any of these cameras. In fact, you absolutely shouldn’t rush out and get one of these cameras unless you really know what you’re getting into and aren’t breaking the bank doing it. But, if you are in a position where you are considering these cameras, I hope this helps. As for me, I’m going to go figure out what to sell as I couldn’t quite bring myself to nick my friend’s Q3 43 before I left Scotland.