Pentax 12.4 Megapixels Q Mirrorless Camera Review by BobAtkins

On June 23 2011, Pentax announced the 'Q' mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. The camera is the first to use the company's Q mount and features a 12.4 Megapixels 1/2.3 inch image stabilized (sensor-shift Shake Reduction) CMOS sensor. This backlit sensor is a highly efficient light-gathering instrument that produces very little noise at high sensitivity levels particularly in low light settings. It also comes with a variety of creative modes, Smart Effect options, or camera settings that assign to the Q's Quick Dial located on the front of the camera. Smart Effects modes enhance digital photography by applying a series of effects to images to achieve high quality finishing. Brilliant Color, Vintage Color, Warm Fade, Bold Monochrome, and Water Color are just some of the Smart Effects available and may be assigned on the Q's Quick Dial. This is a in-camera HDR capture mode shoots 3 images of varying exposures, blending them to bring out the picture details. The Q camera can support high quality video at full 1080p HD 30fps resolution using H.264 compression. It can capture at a speed of 5 fps for continuous shooting.  

Along with the Q camera, Pentax also announces the PENTAX 01 Standard Prime kit lens and an optional optical viewfinder. The unifocal standard lens has a focal length equivalent to 47mm in the 35mm format. With a maximum aperture of F1.9, it performs superbly in dim lighting and may be easily adjusted for bokeh. It is incorporating two high grade aspherical optical elements and the AF motor installed assures smooth & quiet focusing operation. The lens shutter mechanism allows the built-in auto flash to be synchronized to the camera's top shutter speed of 1/2000 second (or 1/250 second when using an accessory flash unit). This lens is also equipped with a built-in ND (neutral density) filter. The shoe-mounted viewfinder attachment is an optional accessory. Available in white or black body models, the Pentax Q and Standard Prime lens (available in silver) kit is listed for retail at around $750. Here's the summary of review by BobAtkins:

"For a camera with such a small image sensor, image quality is very good. Pentax seem to have done an excellent job in squeezing all they could out of the image. ISO ranges from 125 to 6400, but the higher setting are best avoided unless it's absolutely necessary to use them. Up to maybe ISO 800 noise is well controlled, but at ISO 1600, 3200 and especially 6400 noise is present and image sharpness is reduced due to the amount of noise reduction it's necessary to apply to keep noise under some sort of control. As a reference point the Canon T1i (500D) has about a 2 stop advantage over the Pentax Q in terms of noise, so you'd get about the same amount of noise in a Pentax Q image at ISO 400 as you would in a Canon EOS 500D (T1i) image at ISO 1600. In fact this isn't bad considering the sensor size of the Pentax Q. The Pentax Q noise performance is about the same as that of the Canon Powershot G12, Canon's top of the line compact digital camera. Dynamic range is pretty good at ISO 125 and is comparable to that of the Canon Powershot 12G and slightly lower than that of a DSLR camera like the EOS 500D. However as ISO is increased the dynamic range of the small sensor cameras drops much faster than that of the APS-C DSLR and at mid and high ISO settings the DSLR probably has about 2EV more dynamic range.

Overall, the Pentax Q is something of a mixed bag. There's no denying it has a huge appeal to anyone who loves gadgets. It's a fine piece of engineering and obviously built to a high standard of quality. However it has a tiny sensor and it's expensive at around $800. From the point of view of image quality it's not really any better than a high end P&S camera such as the Canon G12, and the G12 costs under $400, has a slightly larger sensor and has a 28-140/2.8-4.5 zoom. Granted it's not f1.9, but from a DOF viewpoint a faster lens really doesn't get you much with a small sensor camera. The G12 also has an optical viewfinder and a swing out LCD screen. You can't change lenses, but then again there aren't that many Pentax Q lenses and the only "serious" lens other than the 47/1.9 (actually 8.5/1.9) prime is the 27.5-83/2.8-4.5 (actually 5-15/2.8-4) zoom at $300 and the G12 already has a 28-140/2.8-4.5 (and an optical viewfinder) included in the price. The optical viewfinder for the Pentax Q (usable only with the 47mm prime) is an extra $250. So who is the Pentax Q going to appeal to? Well, maybe the camera collector or someone who values a camera as much for its design and uniqueness as much as it's actual photographic utility. There's no denying that the Pentax Q is "cute and sexy", but given the price you can certainly get more bang for your buck by going a more conventional route, whether that's a cheaper high end compact P&S camera or an equivalently priced entry level DSLR with kit lenses and a 50/1.8 prime."