By Ked · May 2026
May 2026
The Leica Q line is one of the most successful product introductions Leica has made in the digital era. Since the original Q (Typ 116) launched in 2015, every Q body has shared the same basic concept: a full-frame sensor, a fixed Summilux lens, autofocus, a high-quality EVF, and a body shape close to an M but with the modern conveniences M shooters mostly don't get. There are now seven distinct Q bodies in production or recently discontinued (plus a long line of special and limited editions), and the differences between them matter for buyers. This post walks through them in order and ends with a buyer's decision matrix.
Before diving in, the family resemblance: every Q has the same overall ergonomics. That means a slim body roughly the size of an M, a thumb rest, a hot shoe, an EVF and a rear LCD, an aperture ring on the lens, a focus ring with a manual/autofocus switch and a macro ring. Every Q except the Q3 43 has the same Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens built in. The 28mm focal length is wide-normal, comfortable for street, landscape, environmental portrait, and reportage work. If 28mm isn't your focal length, the Q3 43 is the only Q that addresses that.
The original. Roughly five years in production. The body and lens that defined the line.
The original Q has aged well. Used market: $1,800-$3,000 depending on condition.
The Q-P is the original Q (Typ 116) in a different finish, with the same sensor, same lens, and same internals. What's different:
The Q-P was sold at a premium over the Q at launch and that premium has held on the used market. Clean Q-Ps run $3,500-$5,000, noticeably more than a comparable Q. Buy a Q-P if the discreet look and black-paint finish matter to you; otherwise the Q is the same camera for less money.
The Q2 was a generational jump. Same lens, same overall shape, but the sensor and a handful of other things changed substantially.
The Q2 is the most balanced Q body for buyers who don't need the absolute latest. Used market: $3,200-$4,800.
The Q2 Monochrom is the Q2 body with a monochrome-only sensor. The color filter array (Bayer pattern) over the photosites is gone, and every photosite captures pure luminance.
This is a specialist tool. If you shoot exclusively or primarily in black and white, the Q2 Monochrom is genuinely the best B&W tool Leica has made short of the M Monochroms. If you shoot mixed color and B&W, a regular Q2 with B&W conversion in Lightroom gets you 90% of the way and gives you the option to deliver color. Used market for the Q2 Monochrom: $4,500-$6,500.
The Q3 is the third generation. The most consequential changes are inside the camera, not on the outside.
The Q3 is the current premium Q. Used market: $4,500-$5,800, relatively close to new-retail because supply is tight.
The Q3 43 is the first Q to use a different focal length than the Q's traditional 28mm. The "43" in the name is the focal length:
The Q3 43 is for shooters who want the Q ergonomics and the Q3 sensor but find 28mm too wide. It's particularly attractive for documentary work, portraits, and anyone whose primary M lens has been a 50mm. The choice between Q3 and Q3 43 is really a choice between "wide is my natural perspective" and "normal is my natural perspective." Used market: $5,200-$6,500.
The newest Q. The Q3 Monochrom is the Q3 body with a monochrome-only sensor. It is the same conceptual move Leica made with the Q2 Monochrom, now applied to the 60MP sensor.
If you're a Q Monochrom shooter on the Q2 Monochrom and you want more resolution plus the modern autofocus, this is the upgrade. Used market is thin so far: $7,500-$9,500 when they come up.
Beyond the standard bodies, Leica has released a long line of Q special and limited editions, most of them on the Q (Typ 116) and the Q2. Every one is mechanically identical to the standard body it is based on: same sensor, same lens, same files. The premium is paid for the finish, the collaboration, and the numbered scarcity, not for any change in image quality. These are the editions that turn up in our live listings.
The common one: one edition stands apart from all the rest. The Q2 Reporter (2021) was an open-production edition, not a numbered limited run, so it is by far the most common Q special edition and the one you can reliably find for sale, usually the most-listed edition of any in our data. It wears a subdued dark-green aramid armor with no red dot and was built to shoot rather than to collect. Everything in the lists below is a numbered, limited edition that surfaces far less often.
On the Q (Typ 116):
On the Q2:
On the Q2 Monochrom:
A few practical notes. Both Reporter bodies are subdued, scratch-resistant tools bought to shoot rather than to collect, but only the Q2 Reporter is open-production and common; the Q2 Monochrom Reporter is a numbered run of 350 and turns up far less often. The numbered collaborations (007, Daniel Craig, Disney, Ghost, Dawn) trade well above standard bodies, and the scarcer ones keep climbing. Because numbered editions get faked, verify the engraved number, matching box and papers, and serial range before paying a collector premium; we track the live market so you can see what each edition actually sells for. There is no Q3-generation special edition of this kind yet; in the Q3 era the Reporter treatment went to the SL3 instead.
Leica made a number of rarer Q (Typ 116) editions that we have not yet seen come up for sale: the Globe-Trotter (50 each in navy and pink), the Ginza Six pair (Orange and Cement Gray, 30 each), and the Australia, Safari Japan, Safari South Korea, Panda, Nikki Sixx, and Indonesia runs among them. These were tiny, often region-specific or store-only releases, so they almost never reach the open used market. If one does surface, it will show up on the model pages automatically.
As of mid-2026 we track the following active Q-series counts across UsedCameraTracker, with typical asking prices:
| Model | Active listings | Typical asking | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q (Typ 116) | 121 | around $2,700 | |
| Q-P | 23 | around $3,250 | |
| Q2 | 169 | around $4,450 | The deepest Q-series market |
| Q2 Monochrom | 78 | around $4,350 | |
| Q3 | 128 | around $5,900 | |
| Q3 43 | 58 | around $6,950 | |
| Q3 Monochrom | 14 | around $7,300 | Thinnest supply, most recently released |
The Q2 is by some margin the deepest used market in the Q line, which is exactly why it's often the best value buy. Abundant supply puts downward pressure on individual asking prices.
For most buyers the answer is the Q2, and the reasons are concrete. It has the deepest used market in the line (141 active as we track it), which keeps asking prices honest, and it carries the two upgrades that actually changed the camera day to day: the 47MP sensor that finally made the crop modes usable, and the weather sealing that made it an outdoor body. The original Q (Typ 116) still makes excellent 24MP files and is the right pick if you want in for the least money, but the Q2 is the one that stopped asking you to compromise. Pay Q3 money only when a specific Q3 feature earns it.
Those features are the only honest reason to skip the Q2:
The cosmetic variants do not change the photograph. The Q-P and the Reporter editions are mechanically the same as the bodies they are based on, bought for the discreet look and the finish; pay the premium if that matters to you and ignore them if it does not. The full case for the Q-P is in Q-P vs Q: is the premium worth it?
Put simply: start at the Q2, move to the Q3 if autofocus or 8K earns the jump, take the Q3 43 only if you are a normal-lens shooter, and treat the Monochroms and the Q-P as deliberate choices rather than upgrades.
A note on the lens: every Q except the Q3 43 has the same 28mm Summilux f/1.7 ASPH. That lens is excellent and has held up across three sensor generations. It's wide-normal, fast enough for most low-light work, and the in-camera distortion correction handles the moderate barrel distortion that comes with the focal length. If you've shot a Q and like the lens, you'll like every other Q's lens, because they're physically the same optical design.
Browse current Q-series listings on UsedCameraTracker by selecting any Q variant from the dropdown. Every body covered in this post has its own model bucket so you can compare prices and conditions side by side.