This is the eleventh post in a series about the Leica Q2 Monochrom. You can see all the other posts in the series by looking in the Category List drop-down menu on the right side of the page.
I’ve always been a fan of the Thumbs-Up hotshoe-mounted grips for the Leica M cameras. I used them on my — now departed — M8, M9, and M240 cameras. They increase the stability and precision of handholding the cameras. Leica, seeing the advantages of such an approach, make a similar grip for the Q2 and Q2 Monochrom.
Leica doesn’t make it easy to get a quick release tripod plate on the Q2. If you put on a generic plate, it will obscure the battery door, the flash card door, or both. RRS makes an L-bracket grip for the Q2 that allows access to both doors on the bottom of the camera, and provides a right-handed grip, too. It is a one piece unit, so you can’t take the vertical part of the L-bracket off. In order to leave clearance for the access to the two doors on the bottom of the camera, RRS had to forgo finding a plate in the bracket to stow an Allen wrench, so you’ll have to leave it attached in the field, or carry the right wrench in your bag.
It is possible to use both at the same time. In fact, in some ways the two are better together than they are apart. The hotshoe bracket weighs next to nothing, so you can leave it attached whenever you don’t need to use another hotshoe-mounted device.
Some pictures, with explanations.
It is difficult for me to extract the SD card, because of interference from the RRS plate, but I have fairly large hands.
tom says
absurd. totally wrong. a camera with such a price premium has to be “tuned” to become manageable… and how stupid: why don’t the german “engineers” do not provide that stuff… of course: as serial accessories “…
i know, why i left Leica years ago … “low engineering incompetence causing affluence”
the same with many of their newer lenses
correct me if i’m wrong
JimK says
You are entitled to your opinion. I don’t agree with you, but from the tone of your comment, nothing that I say is likely to change your mind.
Gregory Johnson says
Jim, I used the Q2 for 2 years with nothing added. I would just awkwardly screw on an arca plate when I took the rare tripod shot and use my smallest RRS travel tripod. For vertical I would just flip the camera sideways into portrait, which is always a bit sloppy.
But a week before my 6 weeks Leica Q2-only shoot in Sicily, I ordered the RRS L Bracket and like you said, it has a nice little added grip and the bottom rail has cutouts for the SD card and battery. The SD card is a little hard to get out through the tight opening with your two fingers, but no real problem. I love the feel of the Q2 with that added grip, and the L Plate adds some protection. It looks pretty good too, but changes the form enough to cause may Q2-lovers to decry it as blasphemy. The Q2 is a beautiful camera and any camera that small s going to be a little awkward for a guy with big hands. I always shot the Q2 with kind of a fingertip grip. Now with the RRS L-Bracket, I have a real grip that kind of slides onto your right hand and fingers.
I had a thumb-up hot shoe mount for all of my little-bitty Fuji x100 cameras and loved it. Never really thought about it for the Q2. I need to try it.
lancej says
I own a Q2 with their OEM handgrip and love it. For those few times when I use this on a tripod a generic Swiss arca plate [$40] works fine. Yes it covers up the battery and card holder but how much time and effort [15 seconds to undo and 15 more to put it back on ] and replace whatever you need,.Thereby saving you $225 US from buying RRS version of it. Nothing against RRS they make great kit but you may not always need it.
Granted given were talking Leica’s price is usually not the barrier for accessories. Yes people will say ”well I will miss shots then,” which I would reply if you need to change your card or battery quicker than 30 seconds your probably using the wrong camera, it is not for sports, birds and action shots .
This conversation happens on all gear sites the debate is in full bloom on L plates for Nikon z 9’s my advice is to have an empty card and fully charged battery and you won’t panic to have to change it when you see an eagle with a salmon in it’s mouth riding on the back of a killer whale .:-]