In September 2010 Nikonrumors found that image. After a couple of days we were all pretty sure that this was a joke. In the meanwhile Pentax announced their Pentax Q mirrorless rumor and the memory of the Nikon leak cam back in our minds. Now the German Systemkamera-forum contacted me to say that trusted sources confirmed them that Nikon will indeed launch their Q system that uses exactly the same Pentax Q sensor! Suprised?
P.S.: Check the Pentax Q specs at BHphoto.
29 Responses
Nikon wants this system to fail, so their DSLR sales would look good.
In away they want to say “hey, this Mirrorless cameras do have interchangable lens, but they are still toys compared to DSLR, so u better keep buying our dslrs instead of mirrorless”
Same sensor, or same mount and sensor?
There is no way Nikon is going to share a mount with Pentax!
They’ve done it before.. I would be surprised if they used a different mount actually.
Was für ein Schwachsinn.
If there is a Nikon “Q”, it won’t have anything to do with the Pentax Q system.
Surprise! It really is a joke. No way no how is this going to happen.
Think of the options for Nikon as a latecomer to the mirrorless market:
1) Full frame compact camera with 24.6 MP sensor.
If cheap, it undermines the D3X sales, if expensive, e.g. Leica M9 price level, sales will be limited.
2) APS-C. The big problem is that the NEXs have a good sensor in and are small and pretty cheap. Unless Nikon suddenly comes up with a wide lens range they have little advantage. If they make something good, it could undermine their APS-C slr sales.
3) M43. I think most people presume that Nikon will not become part of the m43 consortium.
4) Smaller sensors. The main benefit of the smaller sensor is that they don’t compete with slr’s and Nikon then promote their mirrorless cameras as small with slrs as being for people who want high I.Q. But any camera with a smaller sensor is likely to be compared unfavourably to M43 and other formats in respect of IQ. The only way it is likely to be appealing is by being both small and cheap and may be seen as offering little IQ advantage over a fixed lens compact. Producing a camera in this sector may be seen as the best option as it doesn’t hold the risk of coming out second best to Sony.
The main benefits of the smaller sensor are:
1. Large depth of field is available handheld, at high shutter speeds, without requiring super-sensitive pixels.
2. Lenses with focal length larger than the sensor diagonal are smaller than angle-of-view-equivalent lenses for larger formats.
3. More sensors can be manufactured on a single silicon wafer, and if there are a constant number of defects on a wafer, then there is a higher % yield of defect-free sensors.
4. The smaller mount leaves more room on the camera for physical controls, like that dial on the front of the Pentax Q.
5. Having a 9mm flange-back distance must be helpful when designing a thin camera body.
renowned manufacturer is ready to press itself into the dirt.. what a shame.
Wasn’t there talk about a 2.6 crop Nikon mirrorless? That would make more sense to me…
No no noooo!!!!
At least 2,7 crop factor please
Nikon Q Pentax Q ?
I see lawsuits on the horizon! 🙂
Not unless they shared the development with Pentax. It could be that these two may have an agreement for an open standard, and that they may even share mounts, with Pentax providing the fun lenses and Nikon providing the more advanced lenses.
Obviously, there is always some room for speculations. In principle, the Q mount could be an alternative to m43, allowing even APS-C sized sensors. Just think about Pentax, Nikon and Canon joining for another superior mirrorless standard. Nevertheless, I am just waiting for a Pentax-FF with OVF.
Anything will that small of a sensor is a JOKE!
A SAD JOKE!
🙁
Go FullFrame Nikon!!!
This sounds to me as if Nikon and Pentax could share that Q mount. Not impossible, it would be advantageous to both, as m4/3 is to Panasonic and Olympus, but I think Ricoh will now have to comply as well.
Just think of it: joint mirrorless mount between Nikon and Pentax that enables AF of existing lenses of both ( with adapters I suppose ) that can be put as a module on Ricoh’s GXR. Sounds nice to me – that’s a real competition to m4/3.
It seems the tiny sensor is really the way Nikon is going. I bet there will be a torrent of groans from current Nikon users if this does happen, and it is nothing more than a compact-quality camera, especially considering how far behind the game they already are. It’s hard to stay optimistic or even remotely interested in a Nikon mirrorless cam now. What a shame. Still, the new Oly’s and Panny’s look good… 😉
using that tiny pentax q sensor is pretty much the worst thing nikon could do. hope canon will do better if they launch a mirrorless system.