Morrisons Island Leica Q3 Session 2025 - Select Image To View Photographs

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ACCESS WAS LIMITED 2025-2026

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Back in May 2025 I got a Leica Q3 and my visit to Cork to in September 2025 was supposed a Leica only visit but fortunately I brought a "loan" Sony A7RV camera as a backup. This is discussed in greater detail below.

Situated on the south channel of the River Lee, Father Mathew Quay (historically spelled Fr Matthew Quay) stands as a vital artery of Cork City’s maritime, architectural, and cultural heritage. Named in honour of Father Theobald Mathew—the famous 19th-century Capuchin friar and "Apostle of Temperance"—the quay reflects Cork's evolution from a bustling, sail-driven merchant port into a modern civic centre.

Historically, this waterfront was alive with the sights and sounds of trade. Tall-masted sailing ships traversed up the River Lee, docking directly along the central quays to load and unload goods. Positioned just downriver from the iconic Beamish & Crawford brewery and tucked below Parliament Bridge, the quay was a buzzing industrial zone where merchant wealth met religious devotion and working-class grit.

Father Mathew Quay is on Morrison’s Island. Together with Morrison’s Quay, it forms the continuous southern waterfront of this specific urban landmass.

To understand exactly what Morrison’s Island is, it helps to understand the unique geography of Cork City.

What exactly is Morrison’s Island?

Historically and geographically, Cork City centre is built on a marshy river delta where the River Lee splits into two main channels (the North Channel and the South Channel). These channels loop around to form a massive central island where the main shopping streets (like Oliver Plunkett Street and Patrick Street) are located.
However, within this urban layout, Morrison’s Island is a distinct, smaller sub-island situated on the southeastern edge of the main city centre.
The Boundaries: It is bounded by the South Mall to the north (historically a water channel, now a wide financial street) and the open South Channel of the River Lee to the south.
The Quays: The island is framed by two main quays that wrap around its river-facing edge: Father Mathew Quay on the western half (stretching toward Parliament Bridge) and Morrison’s Quay on the eastern half (stretching toward Parnell Bridge).

Its Significance and Character

A "Porous" Urban Wedge: Shaped roughly like a long wedge or rectangle, Morrison's Island acts as a transition zone between the bustling financial district of South Mall and the open water of the River Lee.
From Swamp to Suburb: In the 17th and early 18th centuries, it was just a series of mudflats and marshy islands. It was eventually drained, reclaimed, and walled in by merchants—most notably by a wealthy timber merchant named Jemmett Morrison, after whom the island and eastern quay are named.
The Blueprint for Regeneration: Because it sits directly on the river and has historically been prone to severe tidal flooding, the entire island is currently the focus of the Morrison’s Island Public Realm and Flood Defence Scheme. This multi-million-euro project is converting the island from an underutilised, car-heavy parking zone into a pedestrianised, tree-lined riverside promenade, completely changing how the island interacts with the rest of Cork City.

And Now My Leica Q3 Story

The Cost of Premium Photography: Living Through the Leica Q3 Firmware Saga

Investing in a premium fixed-lens camera like the Leica Q3 comes with the expectation of an elite, uncompromised photographic experience. However, since its initial release, a shadow has lingered over its brilliant 60-megapixel sensor and summilux optics—unreliability. For photographers who picked up the camera around mid-2025, early travel sessions often felt less like art creation and more like an exercise in software troubleshooting.

The question many have asked while standing frustrated in the field is simple: Is this an isolated hardware defect, or is it a widespread systemic problem?

The data and community consensus are clear: the early frustrations were far from unique.

The Early Days: Crashing, Ghost Video Modes, and Missing Geotags

During travel photography sessions in late 2025, relying on the Leica Q3 as a primary body proved to be a gamble. Many photographers resorted to carrying robust backups, such as the Sony A7RV, simply to guarantee they could bring home images.

Early firmware versions were plagued by severe operational bugs:

The Infinite Video Trap: The camera would unpredictably switch into video mode, locking the user out of standard photographic controls with no intuitive escape path.

Unstable GPS/Geotagging: Locational tracking via the Leica FOTOS app was deeply flawed. The camera would either fail to establish a GPS link entirely or capture a single location upon power-up and erroneously stamp that exact coordinate onto every subsequent image captured throughout the day, regardless of actual movement.

System Freezes: Total system lockups required physically pulling the battery to force a reset, an agonizing routine when trying to capture fleeting street scenes.

Firmware Version 4.0: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

The photography community breathed a collective sigh of relief when Leica introduced the massive Version 4.0 firmware update early in 2026. This patch completely redesigned the user interface, vastly improved continuous autofocus tracking, and successfully eliminated the notorious video switching bug.
Unfortunately, it introduced a fresh batch of erratic behavior. Rather than curing the stability issues, Version 4.0 shifted the criteria for them. Users quickly discovered that to mitigate the frequent freezing, strict hardware workarounds were required:
Upgrading exclusively to high-speed V60 or V90 SD cards to handle post-capture buffering.
nsuring the use of the latest BP-SCL6 battery variant.
Even with these precautions, the update initially crippled GPS connectivity. Users developed meticulously timed operational habits just to keep the camera functioning, such as strictly avoiding the playback button. Entering "Play Mode" during an active shooting session became an almost guaranteed way to lock up the interface, requiring another hard battery cycle.
Furthermore, a frustrating legacy hardware bug caused the camera to mistakenly flag genuine, updated batteries with an intrusive, un-dismissible warning message on boot, assuming the user was using older-generation power cells.

The Leica Q3 Community Experience: Am I Unique?

It is incredibly isolating to watch a luxury piece of machinery fail in the middle of a shoot, but the online forums, Leica user groups, and global support threads prove that these issues were widespread.
Thousands of users documented identical experiences regarding:

Post-capture buffering crashes.

Bricked profiles that caused immediate freezing when toggling wireless connectivity settings.
Leica’s engineering philosophy relies heavily on shifting physical controls into digital architecture. When code fails, the entire tactile experience of shooting with a Leica collapses. You were never alone; the global Q3 user base was navigating the exact same beta-testing landscape in real-time.

Light at the End of the Lens: Firmware Version 4.1.0

In May 2026, Leica responded to the community's mounting frustration by releasing Firmware Version 4.1.0. This targeted update specifically aims to clean up the debris left behind by the Version 4.0 launch.
According to Leica’s official release notes, Version 4.1.0 resolves the most glaring stability issues across the entire Q3 lineup, including the standard Q3, the Q3 43, and the Q3 Monochrom.

Leica Q3 Firmware Evolution ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Early 2025 – FW 1.x / 2.x -> Video traps, GPS drops, lockups
Early 2026 – FW 4.0.0 -> Better AF, UI redesign, new profile freezes
May 2026 – FW 4.1.0 -> Legacy battery bug removed, profile fix

The persistent and annoying warning message displayed upon power-up when using compliant rechargeable batteries has finally been removed. Additionally, a critical software patch was applied to user profiles: the bug where the camera would freeze entirely when switching from a profile with Leica FOTOS turned "Off" to a profile with it turned "On" has been corrected.

For photographers who have spent the last year nursing this camera through street sessions and travel expeditions, Version 4.1.0 represents the stable, reliable tool that should have shipped in the box from day one.

Peoples Republic Art - Select Image To View Photographs