Six months ago I bought a Leica Q3 43. Costing me £6,000 (around $8,000), this compact camera has gone with me across Europe, photographing everything from street and travel scenes to speeding cars on frozen lakes and major editorial features. 

I’ve really gotten to know the camera, and I love having something that’s so high quality but still so easy to carry around. It offers a different, no-nonsense form of shooting that my other cameras don’t, and sure, the Leica badge still gives me something of a thrill when I see it. 

I’ve taken over 25,000 photos with the camera in my time owning it so far, and I’ve put together a selection of my favorites here for you to scroll through. Most images are captured as JPEGs, taking advantage of the camera’s built-in Chrome color profile, which gives a beautiful look to the colors and contrast. 

I love this shot of this person looking out over the Barcelona coast. Their denim clothes and hat couldn’t have been better if I’d have hired a model and a stylist. The tones from the camera’s Chrome profile really work here.

I love the repeating patterns of the arches here, and I moved around to put the church spire in the distance perfectly between the two columns. Again, the in-camera color tones are beautiful.

I exposed for the highlights in this high-contrast scene, throwing the shadows into almost total blackness. I love how it accents the solitary figure sitting on the bench.

I applied a narrow crop here — it’s something I fell in love with when using the Hasselblad 907X camera with its built-in XPAN panoramic crop mode. The Leica doesn’t have this, but I achieved the same effect by cropping it in Lightroom. I really enjoy creating these narrow scenes.

An abandoned chair. Lovely tones from the camera.

Taken in Aberdeen, Scotland, I liked the juxtaposition of the old cottage with the modern oil storage tanks in the background.

Another narrow crop, this time of the famous Rattray Head lighthouse in Scotland. By putting the lighthouse between the sand dunes, I created a natural frame to help draw the eye.

The same lighthouse a short time later when the storm clouds shifted and a vibrant rainbow appeared.

A dog with its pint and phone. Taken indoors at an Edinburgh pub. 

A parkour athlete doing some drills with Edinburgh in the background. 

Exposing for the bright highlights here really created a lovely contrast that allows the single figure — and their shadow — to really stand out. 

While here, the thin highlight around my friend carved out their shape, letting the rest of them fall to darkness.

Possibly one of the most stunning sunsets I’ve ever seen. I slightly pulled back the saturation of this as it looked almost fake straight out of the camera. An incredible evening.

I also tried it with some product photography. Normally, I use my Canon R5 and 100mm macro lens for this sort of thing, but I was interested to see how well the Q3 43 would fare as a studio camera. The answer? Not bad at all!

A still scene overlooking the waters of Leith in winter. I love the solitary swan, juxtaposed against the industrial shipping backdrop.

I love trying street photography, and the Q3 43 allows me to shoot quickly when I’m out and about. In this case, I captured people thoroughly enjoying a live street performance. I really like the expression shown here. 

And I love the natural pose of this person, seen at an outdoor market in Stockholm.

While nearly all the images here are taken hand-held, this is the only one I used a tripod for. I set the shutter speed to three seconds to capture enough light for the aurora to be visible in the sky, using the snowmobiles as some foreground interest. 

Taken from a car window in Sweden, I love the twilight tones the camera’s Chrome profile has achieved here.

I had to hang out the back of a speeding car to take this photo — with no harness to keep me held in. While dangerous, I’m really pleased with the result. I used a slow shutter speed to create motion blur around the subject car to give the sense of action.

Two figures, perfectly framed in this alleyway. 

An ice fisherman on a frozen lake in Sweden.

A beautiful scene in Stockholm as a single chunk of ice floated into frame, helpfully giving some extra interest in the foreground.

A great moment to capture on the Barcelona coast as a group of people take part in a yoga class.

A friend of mine is looking over the cliff edge. I’ve applied deeper color toning in Lightroom here, creating a stronger “look” that aimed to more closely mimic vintage film stocks.

I was on the Forth River next to Edinburgh. I’d never seen the bridges’ undersides from the water, and I’m pleased to have captured what I feel is an interesting view. 

A classically stunning lounge in a hotel I stayed at. Warm tones and soft contrast play well here.

By exposing for the window highlight, the rest of this scene has pleasing shadows.

I used the foreground tree as a natural frame for the boat and shed. 

Taken up in the Highlands of Scotland, I waited a while for the light to shift to the mountain. I’m glad I was patient.

I was also patient in waiting for the light to come through and liven up this view down the valley, but I didn’t expect that patience to be rewarded with a massive military plane doing a fly-through. It’s a great moment to have captured that adds extra interest to an otherwise fairly dull scene.

I photographed this lighthouse from the water as I was passing by. The early morning light looked amazing, and I think it works well as a panoramic crop.

One of Scotland’s many stunning white-sand beaches.

I had a great time taking photos from the deck of the ferry, particularly these passengers all in a row looking out to sea.

While here, I used the lifeboat and crane as a sub-frame for the sailboat on the water.

The Q3 43 has been great as an everyday carry camera, and I’m pleased with many of the “quick snaps” I’ve taken. In this case, I was able to get a shot right as this dog was showing off its clever levitation act. 

I felt that photographing the volleyball players would be a bit boring, so I backed up and included this onlooker in the scene to create layering within the image. Then, I waited for a good action moment and hit the shutter.