Today Pentax announced their new “Q” mirrorless system! For $700 you get a camera with 47mm lens and a sensor that is smaller (1:2.33 inch) than the one used inside the [shoplink 19904]Olympus XZ-1[/shoplink]. I know Pentax will announce a more serious APS-C mirrorless system in autumn but isn’t that “Q” system way overpriced? And isn’t Pentax wasting to much of their (few) resources?
You can read the full announcement article on MirrorlessRumors (Click here).
111 Responses
First!
get a life.
d, you could be the first next time, dont worry..:)
+1 LOL!
No comment..
I’m a Pentax addict but this Q system will fail 🙁
I had hopes to play with it as a digital lomo (note that the the two front lenses mention “toy lens” right there on the barrel), but for $800?!! It’s gonna be the Leica of lomos!
And we thought Olympus were doing poorly.
R.I.P Asahi Pentax.
The only thing left unknown is which company will buy Pentax next year. Canon? Samsung?
the right 75% of the black model looks good. They should have just stuck with a larger sensor version. I like the looks of build quality and materials, and the lenses look pretty well built. Way too expensive, but interesting system camera.
Wow, a company that has worse mirrorless system than Olympus, and way, way, way overpriced! Who the $%#& would buy such a thing? Especially when you can have a LX5 or XZ-1 for way less money, let alone a E-PL1.
That white version is possibly the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen. Yikes!
I agree with you admin, this “Q” system is a complete waste of time and resources. What a shame. I actually feel sorry for Pentax, I really do.
Olympius
Assuming Pentax really wants to sell these and doesn’t artificially keep the price high by manufacturing very small batches, market pressure *will* bring the price down in a few months.
My guess is that we can buy the camera + lens combo for less than $400 (but more than $300) in less than a year.
What price do you think this will settle for in the market?
I agree with you! There is no reason for me to choose such “super DC”. I suppose there is no change for any new user to choose Q system but not high end DC such as LX5. If you want better performance than DC you can choose GF3/EP2 or Sony mirroless at lower price.
I remember how people looked at the original iMac and they thought Apple was sure to go belly up. No Floppy or SCSI?
You can never tell, Hobbits might be a huge untapped market.
I hope it succeeds. It is a truly pocketable interchangeable camera.
Not a single millimeter smaller than GF3 with 14mm f/2.5 mounted on it (total depth. that’s what counts).
Maybe they think it will sell to those who think it is “cute.”
Well…, Apple had loyal customers, and Apple does have something others don’t have, they convinced people Apple is easier to use.
Pentax…, 1/2.33″ sensor. So basically it’s an interchangeable lens P&S. Do they really think people will just hand in their hard-earned money no matter what they make? Looks like GM all over again. By the way, there is not one single thing I can think of that Pentax does better than anybody else, so where is their strategic advantage.
It is a toy.
I will consider xz-1 first.
It’s cute! If this had been the new Pentax with aps-c I think I would have liked it.
Its Q camera, so must be designed by Mr. Q. It can help James Bond to fight bad guys when Bond takes one.
To those F/1.9=F/1.9=F/1.9 sayers – how about this?
haha!
This is SO ridiculous http://img1.focus-numerique.com/focus/news/2/2689/pentax-q-face-capteur-620px(1).jpg
whoa that sensor is really small
It is rather amazing the judgements passed by people who haven’t touched hardware and haven’t even seen an image from it.
If sensor size was all that mattered in a camera system we would all shoot FF or medium format! Clearly it isn’t the end all be all.
The sensor is backlit and the camera has an interesting HDR mode which hasn’t been covered yet at all…
It also uses shutters in the lens. This makes it silent for street photography. It has good points and bad points.
Would I rather have this or clone of Sony’s NEX? Hummm… I’d rather have this because it is truly a different product instead of a copy. Like the Ricoh system it is creative design in place of cookie cutter.
I personally don’t need one but I hope they get a nitch of people who need silent shutters for street work, ultra pocketable telephotos (50 mm => 200 mm, could be good for wildlife), etc.
Pentax doesn’t make their own sensors, to make a camera they would have to join 4/3s to get those sensor or they have to use a Samsung or Sony one. That means 1/2.33 etc or APC-C.
I don’t see any harm in bringing this product to market, particularly if they are going to also do a K-mount one. But if they do a straight K-mount I don’t see much point as they could/should just string DSLRs with good liveview…
maybe an 8MP 2/3 sensor would have been better, than running the smallest ILC body race.
What’s wrong with evaluating camera specs as a consumer who might by the camera? The two faults I see with this camera:
1. If the sensor is no bigger or better than a P&S, people will probably choose the P&S instead since this system will be much more expensive.
2. If you’re going to introduce a mirrorless system at this point, you have to do something better than the rest. Image quality will probably NOT be better than M43 and the camera isn’t smaller than M43 either.
So what’s the selling point of this system? You don’t have to touch the hardware to come up with that. I’m thinking as a consumer who wants to buy stuff that meets my needs and my pocketbook. And for me (and many others apparently), this system doesn’t make any sense. I’m more interested to see what Pentax does with an APS-C mirrorless system.
Oh man, let’see
You said “If sensor size was all that mattered in a camera system we would all shoot FF or medium format! Clearly it isn’t the end all be all” And the world would be such a beautiful place if al would be like that, somewhat like good old times when everything was FF and MF actually. did you forget, or you are just one of those new age kids who didnt shoot one picture with film camera besides those disposable.
You said “The sensor is backlit and the camera has an interesting HDR mode which hasn’t been covered yet at all…” And again world would be a better place with all sensors backlit.
You said “It also uses shutters in the lens. This makes it silent for street photography. It has good points and bad points.” And jet another thing to remember we really dont need any mechanical shutters in this age, couse all wee need is some kind of shutter to prevent dust on sensor when changing lens.
This is maybe worth the money if its all in one kit with all this lenses in it. That would be nice. maybe 500e or so
I just realized tiny Pentax has more lenses for this mount than Sony does for NEX. Shows how bad Sony’s lens line up is for NEX.
more =/ good
The camera as a system isn’t smaller than NEX though. And the sensor is way too small. Nobody will buy a glorified P&S for that amount of money. Pentax’s lenses aren’t top quality either….
The reason people don’t buy a FF over m4/3 is because m4/3 has the size advantage and it suits people’s lifestyle better. I care about quality a lot, but even I don’t want to lug around a FF…. Too BIG! So I settle for a regular 4/3. Not everyone wants to be a professional photographer (or want to look like one), so m4/3 makes a lot of sense. However, this Pentax camera is neither small nor cute… (though Pentax lenses are very small, but their quality isn’t very good either…). It can’t shoot better than a XZ-1, and the price tag isn’t very aggressive.
suicide system ,, I love this word
this is no suicide guys the lens are cheap
But the camera is not.
Also, they’ll be charging $300 for their standard zoom, which is idiotic.
the Toy Lens 04 05 manual focus is just like CCTV Lens in better build quality
Fisheye 03 don’t even have the focus ring,
Yes, lenses are cheap, but Pentax has no high end lenses!
Engadget has hands-on video and pictures.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/23/pentax-releases-q-worlds-smallest-interchangeable-lens-digital/
Image samples with pre-production model (smaller size):
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/PENTAXQ/PENTAXQTHMB.HTM
It could be a good system camera, but if you have a small sensor then you have to make faster lenses, because even at this small image samples anything over ISO 400 lacks detail.
The prime lens should be at least f1.2 and I think this wouldn’t be a problem with sensor this size (XZ-1 has F1.8 – F2.5 ON A ZOOM LENS AND BIGGER SENSOR)
What the hell were they thinking?
the lenses are:
01 = 47mm equiv, f1.9
02 = 27.5-83mm equiv zoom, f2.8-f4.5
03 = 17.5mm fisheye, f5.6
04 = 35mm equiv, f7.1 (“toy lens”)
05 = 100m equiv, f8 (“toy lens”)
For that pixel size diffraction is already starting to do its job at f3 and also DOF is so huge to start with that those dim as welder’s mask lenses are pointless.
Lol massive fail.
f/8 manual focus telephoto? What the hell are they thinking?
400 iso….. I think these samples only look slightly good at 125 iso. Even then you can see smearing in the noise reduction. Hopefully the production camera photos will be better. What were Pentax thinking of. The Pentax 110 SLR was popular but never a huge seller and they seem to have based the whole small interchangeable lens camera idea on that. But that was not a $800 camera kit, it was much more affordable.They need to make a cheaper body ASAP if the system is ever to stand a chance otherwise this is just an excuse for Pentax’s owners to put them up for sale. I wonder how much they spent on development cost and set up cost.
and i notice the image quality is good comparing it with my XZ1… at iso 6400… hehe secret pentax is partner with sony
Why bother, when an Olympuz XZ-1 has a bigger sensor, one great zoom lens and much more simpler operation, when you don’t have to hassle with changign lenses?
Naaah :< Oly XZ-1 or Sony HX9V (Q has the same sensor) would be a better choice…
That turning dial on the front left of the camera looks like a wart on a witch's nose :<
no for me the concept of pentax is something to think about or should i say the game changer for this mirrorless thing… think twice guys, if pentax didnt do anything i guess OLYMPUS m43 will never improved there products the cycle will ways be like a epl1 and ep2… and if you want a good mirrorless thing we should get a panasonic instead… haven’t you guys notice olympus suddenly lunch the 3 cameras lol
Design looks good and clean. Other manufacturers should take a cue (ha) and not put all the “megapixels” and “HD” branding all over the camera. Like the control layout and magnesium body. Silent shutter. Would’ve loved to have seen Pentax join m43 with the Q instead of this tiny sensor.
this would be better at a $500 price point.
the images are not bad, but still not compelling to get this mirrorless where at most you can only get “on par” images with great compacts
i would also like to know how the bokeh is, not expecting much really
on 2nd thought, the image samples for ISO 1600 and higher seem way better than advanced compacts (s95, lx5, xz-1)
comparing it to the G3 images though, the IQ difference is quite noticeable. but the Pentax did a good job anyway for it’s sensor size
I was thinking more of a 300 dollar price point for the body. Really, while it’s magnesium alloy, other cameras with more capability are available at even the 500 dollar range.
However, it’s relatively small. And you know what? It’s pretty good in the dark. Fast glass is available, it’ll be good for snapshots and it makes a good backpack camera.
But at that price, it’s out of “backup camera” range.
funny reactions here, curious to see if this pentax is still laughed at if it beats the pens in IQ, if people will still laugh, despite the DOF penalty… unike olympus i guess pentax won’t be ‘saving money’ on sensor tech as oly does, if they put for eample D3x sensor tech, resized to the tiny size, it could still be a good camera, better than any point and shoot on the market.. also note that they have no competition, it’s kind of blue ocean strategy, escape to the future, as oly did when introducing the pens. also note that the system is not targeted at the pro crowd.
pentax will also announce an aps-c sized mirrorless by next photokina, this will be targeted at the pro crowd.
so i guess nothing to laugh about here. an interesting system imo
Pentax has made 2 of the best cameras of recent years: the K5 and the 645 D (medium format). They did not invent nothing, just made 2 wonderful well made cameras.
I do not understand their stategy with this new Q system. It seems that their Marketing Departament made a cocktail with what the market is asking for: camera with a retro look + interchangeble lenses + some cool filters. We still have to wait for the usability factor and the results in terms of Image Quality, but I would not pay more than 300 Euros for a system like this.
I think they should stick with 645 D…. Pentax really has no trump card over any other company, so the only thing they should do is doing the less saturated market like 645 and focus on professional market only. Their lens line up should expand though. Pentax lenses aren’t something people will drool for.
I think it looks awesome aesthetically, nicer than all other mirrorless options bar the x100. Hope they make it with a bigger sensor, at least they’re more of serious camera brand than panasonic and samsung who let’s be honest are technology companies which mainstream money making focus and positioning. They should be able to get it right at some time..
Yes… Pentax made the K5 with the SONY A55 sensor :>
pentax will be bought by canon soon… think about my words.
Why would Canon buy it? If Canon is smart, it would use the money to bankrupt Pentax, and take over the market share.
I hate to see brands like pentax wasting great ideas like this one
It’s good to see Pentax thinking outside the box, and coming up with something unique. I don’t see the Q system fulfilling any needs for me; I’ve already decided that MFT offers me the best compromise between portability and image quality. But I can imagine there is a market for a miniature body with interchangeable lenses. Even if just to get the creative juices flowing with some of the more unusual lenses Pentax will be offering in the near future.
Well it’s overpriced for sure but I think it’s fun and there are plenty of people with enough money to make an impulse purchase on a very small camera with the “cool factor” of interchangeable lenses. The price will come down and if it’s well-made and feels nice in the hand, I think it will sell. Particularly if there’s a little bit of weight about the construction.
Some of you guys are SO DAMN SERIOUS. Almost everybody here talks from their own point of view and can’t seem to imagine that not everyone shares it. You can’t ALL be professional photographers surely!? Not everybody wants the best quality camera in the world. Some people just want something small and fun and cool.
All they have to do is give a free one to Paris Hilton and I think it’ll do OK. 😉
But it’s not a fun camera! People who want to do impulsive buying will buy a Diana. It’s less than $100 and they can throw it away if they got tired of it. $700 is a lot of money to be thrown away in trash bin…. Maybe you’re rich….
I’m still very interested in the upcoming Pentax APS mirrorless, but really… Wtf?
Imagine what you can do with this camera and adaptors…
A 50mm lens becomes here a 275mm equivalent lens…
A 200mm tele lens becomes 1100mm equivalent lens
🙂
I think legacy lenses are going to have trouble resolving enough detail for a sensor this dense. I wouldn’t expect acceptable results…
And I expect there will be a lot of geometric problem.
so hmm… small sensor… wonder if c-mount adapter is possible? endless fun with old lenses, no vignetting.
if you’re into that
I am thinking of D-mount or CS mount, they are now very cheap
and there are many good lenses
According to nikon rumors, the sensor of Nikon’s mirror-less system was also going to be very small. And also the ‘Q’-name for nikon mirrorless was already rumored about a year ago. Compatibility bewteen pentax/nikon?
You people should check the IQ on Imaging Resource, because even though this system has zero appeal to me, you are in for a surprise… :O
Silent shutter, new generation Sony sensor, very decent IQ, magnesium alloy body. Something’s up here besides the silly high price.
And Pentax/Hoya will certainly not be slouches in developing an interesting range of primes for this (already more in place than any other mirrorless upon launch).
I’ll withold judgement until I see a full test, but this is I think targeted at street shooters as well as the XZ-1/LX5 market once the price comes down.
They may be making an initial statement that it’s a quality piece by pegging the price so high, then allowing it to drop to its natural place in the market.
At this point, I would rather invest in the Pentax Q system than Olympus 4/3.
Wait a minute guys! The Pentax Q does not compete with mirroless. It is a high end P&S competing with Canon S95, Panasonic LX5 and similar. Goo to “The Online Photographer” and see what Mike Johnstone and Ctein say before ditching the PentaxQ!
Johnston is sponsored by Pentax and he gives way too much attention to that brand. A few days ago when he announced that something was to going to be presented today, it was a given it would be something Pentax. He’s not onto rumors but this time he was, why? Well, he was paid to be.
Well yes and no, Pentax does sponsor (put advertisements) on his website but I highly doubt he was paid for the Pentax Q rumors… He’s Mike Johnston after all and has a reputation to watch!
+1
Just because he has ad on his website doesn’t mean he is sponsored. Swayed, maybe yes, but he has no obligation to say good words about Pentax.
There are lots of Pentax fans, believe or not, so maybe he is one of them. He can say what he wants to say (it’s a free country) and we as audience make our own judgement. Simple. He probably will have a good point or two, but we don’t have to buy the whole argument, just ones that make sense. We don’t judge an argument based on who it came from.
I like the headline on this blog post.
I’m wonderind why all the IR samples are resized to 3 mp. For a 3 mp camera the iq and the sensor size seems to be ok, but for 12 mp???
People will love it and buy it ………….. forum dropkicks well they can please themselves, you are the minority that Pentax didn’t even consider as buyers. My my what pompous ignorance we have here especially those that think camera companies owe them a favour…………… laughing. Good stuff Pentax you are thinking about the people who like to take photos not peeping pixies.
This is the same argument we always have against APS-C.
but the point is, when you compare a high end P&S (LX5, S95, XZ-1) against this, then you’d ask, what’s the point of the extra hassle.
Is it April Fools Day?????????
I don t get why pentax is alawys doing everything wrong. I mean look at this it is obvious it doesn’t make any sense on the current market ! Again !
What s going on at pentax?
Take off it’s lens and see the tiny .. ehm sensor.
I would say Joke of Year.
what is wrong with these negative posts and titles.
trying to kill a system before even seeing results.
these posts are 90% negative, 10% maybe positive.
Reading this forum for past few months, all I see are negative comments. please be positive people.
Damn it has a full magnesium alloy body !
quote from the marketing text:
Effortless bokeh control with the Q’s Bokeh Control filter. (Traditionally controlled through a DSLR lens’s aperture, bokeh is the out of focus part of the background that helps to emphasize the subject, drawing the viewer’s eyes to the most important part of the photo.) The Q offers a fine degree of extra control over image bokeh via an in-camera filter operation.
i wonder how that looks
Just like the “tilt and shift” effect :like Photoshop blur outside focus area. ie_NOT Optically.
If I were pentax, or any camara company, ignore all 43 rumors comments. Comments = Complete garbage, and ignorance.
The novice consumer who wants to upgrade from a point and shoot to an ultra small DSLR will have no idea how big/small 1/2.3 inches really is. They will see the small size, that it can take inexpensive interchangeable lens, has 1080p video, and a big bright screen. Then they will see it is made by Pentax and they will buy the Sony next to it instead because of the name.
You can’t win for trying.
Question for anyone who knows something about how cameras are made:
Why does the lens mount on the new Pentax seem so much larger then the sensor? When the goal is a compact camera surely one would make the mount as small as possible?
Let’s use a hyperbole here: imagine that the mount is 1 cm in diameter. Then attach a 1kg lens to it. What happens to the mount and the body?
Lens needs AF motor (unlike Pentax 110), and 2 out of the 5 lenses have a leaf-shutter built in.
Personally I think the camera is awesome. It does everything right except for be inexpensive. Controls seem super intuitive, well-built, high ISO, fast lenses, vintage lens option, hd video, in body stabilized, tiny… you get a whole lot of camera.
This is their modern Auto 110.
… and Pentax asked, “Harakiri, anyone?”
Nobody answered.
“So, we’ll have to do it ourselves …”
… and so the Q-sh*t hits the fan. 😉
This will be the perfect gadget for people not really caring about ISO6400, but who wants something to play with. My brother will buy one for sure! Anyway, is it not the lenses we pay for (like on the xz-1 I just bought)? The technology will be outdated in five years, but the lenses will not. This is one of the smartest moves, I have seen for a long time!
I would buy it for my wife/sister/a friend’s hot wife if it had equivalent 1/1.7″ or 1/1.63″ high performance sensor of S95 / LX3.
How many of you thinks the same way? +1 please.
The price for this is insane.
Dear Pentax,
I don’t want a bigger Optio 90, I want a smaller K-R.
Love,
Dave
Yeah, the price is too high, hopefully it will come down over time. I think people are being a bit too negative about this system though; it could be very nice as a good-light walkabout camera. If you don’t need small DoF or high ISO, it might just fit the bill!
Heck, those are the situations for which I got a µ4/3, this new system just skews further towards small and less towards quality. Although I think the µ4/3 sensor size is a better compromise personally, there really may be a market for the Pentax stuff if they get the price in line.
It is an expensive JOKE, Pantex. R.I.P.
Hey, let’s not be too hard on Pentax. If the existing mirrorless cameras (Olympus, Panasonic, etc.) didn’t exist, we’d be thrilled over this. Let’s take it for what it is, and it is really cool and really risky. But so was a 110 camera w/interchangeable lenses. Yes, the price of the system is high, but it’s so cool to see not only Olympus but the Pentax name still making cameras for an old-schooler like me. I still can’t pick up a camera with the name Panasonic, Samsung or Sony on the front of it, sorry!
Pentax did outsmart Olympus and Panasonic.
Pentax released 5 new lens all at SAME time as the camera release. Pentax did not make the customer suffer, waiting years for the next camera lens. The customer can buy any lens at time of camera purchase instead of waiting. Pretty awesome.
might as well just get a Minox 😛
PS: Agreed with the above, If they released this 3-4 years ago…. all the comments would be so positive!
Sorry to say, comments from this forum sound low class. Bashing = low thoughts. Look at Engadget, titles and comments are quite deeper, not group bashing, as here.
The only way to change this is to moderate comments. I might will start doing that!
Same thing on dpreview that just introduced the commenting system this week. It was a good start with regular news, but it’s all mindless burps of hate now with the Pentax announcement. This product really is a great idea for many reasons, and will especially appeal in Japan, and lomo shooters. As soon as the price will settle. Obviously never going to be a cheap plastic camera price tho, because it isn’t a cheap plastic camera. Magnesium alloy, hello! What other interchangeable compact has that. All this blind hate about noise or DoF, blind for anything else. In fact a large DoF is obviously a benefit for this type of camera, but Bokeh is so hyped how could anyone do without. And half the bad performance of small-sensor compacts is not the sensor but the lens and jpeg processor. This things shoots raw, and with raw you can make it look however you want, and a little grain isn’t gonna kill ya. I could go on forever with reasons this camera isn’t crazy or suicide. Man, I’m really disappointed in humanity sometimes.
I think some the comments responses are driven by the negative title. No one can predict the future. How does anyone know this Pentax will fail/suicide. That’s a lot of power trying to predict a new system will fail.
Pentax is quite smart to put on the market something very small and with… an electronic shutter. This thanks to the small sensor size. Except the high price, I will be very interested to have and try this camera for street photography with fixed focal and wide aperture.
More to the point, why is Hoya (who owns Pentax) doing this? Maybe sales in the Japanese market, who seem to like these tiny cameras?
One thing is sure, this is certainly the ugliest camera announced in 2011.
The system looks horrible, from design and the specs.
Sure… lol
Maybe, this camera is especially for guys making macros? 😉 I mean, some guys working for advertising companies shooting their creations like watches and jewelry with just mini-sensor-cameras.
I think the system looks awesome. It would be suicide to introduce another APS-C or 4/3 system, there are already 4 brands in this segment. The only chance to succeed for Pentax is something new. Of course they might fail but the chances are lower than competing with Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and Olympus.
What kind of grass they are smoking?