My Oh So Cute Pentax Q

[legoladd]

I am impressed by the timelapse video, my only gripe is no proper viewfinder for bright days.

[Anthony Lee]

Now, the Nikon N1 will be available shortly and it's almost similar to the Q in size and price. IQ ????

[edutilos-]

So far it's very impressive. I have downgraded and am thinking of this or wait for the Fuji X10.

Hrmm... But I thought you like shallow DOF and sharpness??

[pinholecam]

Now, the Nikon N1 will be available shortly and it's almost similar to the Q in size and price. IQ ????

Seems to be targeted at PnS users.
Another missed opportunity imo.
I'd be happier if they joined m4/3.
At least I'd get more bodies and lenses to play with (and consumers in general)
But I think its precisely that, that they choose another standard, so that they don't need to share from a m4/3 pie.

Design looks like a NX100, XZ-1 or EPM1.
Initial lenses too slow.
Most of them too big.


At least with the Q, its supposed to be a pns competitor and there is the odd-ball effect of a 5.5 crop on adapted lenses for unique opportunities. (ie. macro; super telephoto)
The Nikon one is a very direct competitor to m4/3 which has a larger sensor and good array of small fast primes.

[CorneliusK]

Many of the features on the nikon 1 series seem to be orientated towards action / movie -> (supposedly) extremely fast phase detect AF, extremely high fps, ability to auto select the best picture from a burst of shots etc.

There also seem to be a whole range of lenses being planned - http://www.dpreview.com/news/1109/11...tthelaunch.asp (scroll down)

The sample pics from the camera seem terrible though...

[airconvent]

Yeah...missed opportunity for Nikon. The camera has the same size as the Q but a bigger sensor (not not aps-c) with super fast phase detect focus and full HD at 60 frames.
And the body looks cute too so you're wondering why on earth they left out the vibration reduction and built in flash. It would have been ok if they had the same flash type as the NEX but the external flash is humongous...
Looks like the Q will face a little competition but nothing major to worry about for now, especially with the young woman market that it's probably targetting because the flash would probably be the deal breaker.

[tangoinquestion]

<snipped>why on earth they left out the vibration reduction and built in flash<snipped>

actually, both the j1 and v1 have built-in flash

also most of the lenses have VR: http://www.dpreview.com/news/1109/11...ikonlenses.asp

but i find the styling of the pentax q cuter... the new nikons seem rather bland

[caterham7]

9-day review by adorama
http://www.adorama.com/alc/blogartic...Final-Thoughts

the links to the earlier days are near the top of the webpage

[zoom3]

Really had fun since getting the Q.

The flash trigger is nearly as big as the Q. Or is it the other way round? The Q is nearly as small as the trigger

25. This combo was used to shoot


26. this

[airconvent]

Really had fun since getting the Q.

The flash trigger is nearly as big as the Q. Or is it the other way round? The Q is nearly as small as the trigger

25. This combo was used to shoot


26. this

Thanks for sharing xoom3. Looks like the night performance is very good! Hardly any noise!

actually, both the j1 and v1 have built-in flash

also most of the lenses have VR: http://www.dpreview.com/news/1109/11...ikonlenses.asp

but i find the styling of the pentax q cuter... the new nikons seem rather bland

I stand corrected on this. As more videos appear, I realised the J1 has a built in telescopic flash which looks less flimsy than the one on the Q although the Q one is more unique and will catch XXM eye more easily..haha. But the V1 does not seem to have one and rely on an external flash instead. At least that's what the videos show.

[tangoinquestion]

I stand corrected on this. As more videos appear, I realised the J1 has a built in telescopic flash which looks less flimsy than the one on the Q although the Q one is more unique and will catch XXM eye more easily..haha. But the V1 does not seem to have one and rely on an external flash instead. At least that's what the videos show.

yeah apparently V1 only has the external flash. the Q definitely easier on the eyes compared to the J1/V1

[edutilos-]

Thanks for sharing xoom3. Looks like the night performance is very good! Hardly any noise!

Flash is used, therefore this isn't really low-light performance per se and I would not expect a huge amount of noise...

[airconvent]

Flash is used, therefore this isn't really low-light performance per se and I would not expect a huge amount of noise...

Hi bro
I'm talking about the dark areas the flash can't reach like the background. The noise level is well controlled over there. For regular PnS, even the F100EXR would have showed some noise under such conditions.

[CorneliusK]

airconvent, you cannot derive such a conclusion.

It appears likely that he is using low ISO with flash, that's why the background areas are so dark. And if he is using low ISO then the picture is tells us nothing about the camera's high ISO performance.

[creampuff]

Hi bro
I'm talking about the dark areas the flash can't reach like the background. The noise level is well controlled over there. For regular PnS, even the F100EXR would have showed some noise under such conditions.

C'mon, this is a small camera... quite unrealistic to expect the small flash to illuminate the background. And CorneliusK is correct as well.
Pointless to make direct comparisons with other cameras imo as the sensors, image processing and age of the cameras are quite different.

[fengwei]

Some nice shots again, Warren.

I took quite a few Q photos last weekend, but stuck w work for a whole week, nood mood or time to post any photo. Will try to post some in the coming week.

One thing I found out is that the built-in flash works very well, far better than our dSLR cameras' built-in flashes.

[airconvent]

airconvent, you cannot derive such a conclusion.

It appears likely that he is using low ISO with flash, that's why the background areas are so dark. And if he is using low ISO then the picture is tells us nothing about the camera's high ISO performance.

C'mon, this is a small camera... quite unrealistic to expect the small flash to illuminate the background. And CorneliusK is correct as well.
Pointless to make direct comparisons with other cameras imo as the sensors, image processing and age of the cameras are quite different.

Hi Guys, Need to read my post again. I'm not actually comparing. I just noted that inspite of the smaller sensor, the performance was good and even better than my ex F200EXR. That's an endorsement for the Q!

[tsammyc]

Many of the features on the nikon 1 series seem to be orientated towards action / movie -> (supposedly) extremely fast phase detect AF, extremely high fps, ability to auto select the best picture from a burst of shots etc.

There also seem to be a whole range of lenses being planned - http://www.dpreview.com/news/1109/11...tthelaunch.asp (scroll down)

The sample pics from the camera seem terrible though...

Imaging Resource just posted their test suite on the Nikon J1. I've compared the images and at the pixel level, IMHO at ISO 1600 the new Nikons' image quality is on par with the EP3 and GF3. More detail, less noise reduction. It's slightly below the G3 and far below the 5N, K5 and C3.

That is impressive for a 2.7x crop sensor

[CorneliusK]

Its a bit unfair to compare the 1 (haha what a terrible name) sensor with m43 sensors, as they are all rather old. Once the m43 system finally gets a new sensor, they will regain the IQ advantage again.

I think as whole it is good that photogs have so many choices. There will certainly be photogs who will be drawn to the combination of reach / aperture / compactness offered by these small sensor systems. And others who will treasure the DR / tonal range / dof / high ISO advantage of larger sensor systems.

[zoom3]

Some photos taken by my wife at last weekend's appearance of Miss Universe 2011. The good news is that she loves the Q for it's size, portability, ease of use and PQ. The bad news is that she wants one too. So how to tell her that she can't have one because it is $900, not the $299 toy camera I lied to her

No flash used for these 3 photos.
27. I'm in there somewhere


28. Jean Danker of 95FM interviewing Miss Singapore Universe 2011 Valerie Lim


29. Soooo nice ! From a woman perspective, ha!


For more pics of this event
http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/threa...1-in-Singapore

Except the first pic, the rest were taken with the K5 & DA*50-135