The Leica Q3 Look
When Leica introduced the Leica Q3 in mid of 2023, they also introduced some sort of film presets, somewhat similar to what Fuji is doing with their film simulations. As you might know, I am not a jpg shooter because I love the ability that raw files give me. However, I wanted to give these Leica Looks a try and see what it is all about.
I was particularly interested in the two color looks, Leica Classic and Leica Contemporary. The other three available looks are black and white and didn’t spark my interest. So, after trying them out, I really liked the look they gave me but in very contrasty situations, they are not very useful since the jpgs don’t have much headroom for post production. That bothered me and I wished the looks would also be available for raw files.
So, the first few months, I was shooting RAW+JPG with switching between the looks. That helped me to emulate the look and to create a Lightroom presets that comes fairly close to the original Leica Looks. However, now I can use them even when shooting while having all the benefits of the dngs.
Just to give you an idea, here are a few examples:
Leica Classic
JPG out of camera
RAW + Lightroom preset
RAW export out of Lightroom untouched
JPG out of camera
RAW + Lightroom preset
RAW export out of Lightroom untouched
Leica Contemporary
JPG out of camera
RAW + Lightroom preset
RAW export out of Lightroom untouched
JPG out of camera
RAW + Lightroom preset
RAW export out of Lightroom untouched
I think, the results speak for themselves. Finally, I can use the Leica Looks and shoot raw only. And the cool part is, that these presets also work with other Leica cameras that don’t come with these Leica looks and also cameras from other brands as well.
If you want to use those Lightroom presents too, you can and it is absolutely free! Simple, subscribe to my brand new newsletter and I am going to send you the download link. (This won’t work any longer) However, I recreated the looks from scratch and all 19 are available in my shop:
Love the look of Leica Looks but want to keep the flexibility of shooting RAW?
Now you can recreate the Leica Looks in Adobe Lightroom while retaining the full editing flexibility of your RAW files.
This collection currently includes 19 Leica Looks:
Brass, Teal, Chrome, Classic, Contemporary, Eternal, Cine, Pure, Bleach, Silver, Greg Williams, Sepia, Selenium, Blue, Standard, Natural, Vivid, Monochrome, and Monochrome HC.
When new Looks are released or existing Looks are refined, you’ll receive the updates free of charge.
The included color profiles are designed to work with RAW files only. They can be used with Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom Classic, Lightroom, and the Lightroom mobile app.
To use the profiles in Lightroom and Lightroom mobile, you’ll first need to install them through Lightroom Classic. Please follow the included PDF installation guide for detailed instructions.
The Looks are compatible with all Leica cameras equipped with a color sensor. They also work with RAW files from many other camera manufacturers, allowing you to apply these Leica-inspired Looks to images captured with other camera systems.
Compatible with:
- Adobe Camera Raw 10.3 (April 2018) or newer
- Lightroom Classic CC 7.3 (April 2018) or newer
- Lightroom CC (April 2018 update) or newer
- Lightroom Mobile for iOS 3.2 or newer
- Lightroom Mobile for Android 3.4 or newer
The color profiles require these versions or newer.
After downloading, unzip the folder and follow the step-by-step instructions in the included PDF installation guide.
All new looks will be added as a free update!
