New Pentax Q System

[KevinBarrett]

I wonder who is going to spend good money on those ‘Toy lenses,’ two lenses in the Q range that have been deliberately made with poor optics so they produce photos equivalent to some el’cheepo camera, and another strange thing is that a prominent control on the camera is not dedicated to PASM, but instead to applying a choice between a bunch of inbuilt image effects. I wonder what those guys were on because the sure seem to have lost the plot?
Greg

Consider the cost of Lomography's various toy cameras (I think they start around $90 MSRP) and the $80 Q-mount toy lenses become a bit more reasonable. I suspect then that the target audience is a rebellious crowd--rebelling against the common notions of image quality and sharpness. I know more than a couple of people who've put down their D90s and their 40Ds to pick up iPhones and use the Instagram application (and if the goal is to create something "different," the irony is so strong it hurts).

[bakubo]

Consider the cost of Lomography's various toy cameras (I think they start around $90 MSRP) and the $80 Q-mount toy lenses become a bit more reasonable. I suspect then that the target audience is a rebellious crowd--rebelling against the common notions of image quality and sharpness. I know more than a couple of people who've put down their D90s and their 40Ds to pick up iPhones and use the Instagram application (and if the goal is to create something "different," the irony is so strong it hurts).

Some people, especially young people, are sort of rejecting a lot of high-tech stuff and going back to the older stuff (often stuff they never actually used before):

Teen hipsters discover joys of analog photography

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20062810-93.html

Take a step back from technology

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/ed ... ml?sid=101

[KevinBarrett]

Some people, especially young people, are sort of rejecting a lot of high-tech stuff and going back to the older stuff (often stuff they never actually used before)

Yeah, their parents' cameras! The kids (married kids in their 20s) I was speaking of are part of a generation who really enjoyed their childhood (good economy), and want to take pictures of their own lives like their parents took pictures of them, way back in the good old days of film.

Don't get me wrong, I've certainly given thought to digging up my dad's old view cameras, but he never took a picture with them in my lifetime, and to be honest, I haven't even put a roll of film in my Maxxum 5 since I got my a700 three years ago, so how likely am I to repair and use an ancient view camera?

Anyway, Pentax Q: It's campy enough in appearance, and impractical enough, and elietist technocrats will condemn it--I think it will do quite well in the hipster crowd, but for $800 it should come with a pre-owned fixie bike.

[Greg Beetham]

Yeah I see your point KB, ever since Heisenberg’s uncertainty principal people realized subconsciously that you can’t really prove anything anymore, perfection is unobtainable so why subscribe to the illusion, it’s much easier to relax and mentally wallow in frivolous chaos and randomness, it’s a wonder a progressive company like Sony haven’t twigged to this trend and arranged their photographic strategy accordingly ….hmmm wait a minute, come to think of it I think they have been doing that right from the start ha ha.
Greg

[David Kilpatrick]

I can see from our website stats that I have never seen interest fall off more sharply than this article. A mere 142 views yesterday compared with over 1500 the day it was announced. Usually, interest in a new product sustains high traffic levels for several days. This has peaked and collapsed within a single day (so much that it is now ranking fifth most read article despite being new and comprehensive and widely shared/posted).

Says a lot to me.

David

[KevinBarrett]

The circle of confusion now has a little wavy line through it at the 5 o'clock position: Q

[bfitzgerald]

The Pentax 110 had smaller lenses and a format that is far larger than the sensor in the Q camera.
The concept of genuinely compact lens change cameras cannot be realised until they are able to deal with lenses sitting so close to the sensor. Either they oversize the lenses (like NEX and micro 4/3) or use a much smaller sensor (like Q)

To my eyes all current offerings are compromises and do not fully exploit the potential of a compact system. It's quite simple really, they need off set micro lenses and good ones. Fuji had to do this with the X100 again lens very close to the sensor they needed it.

Starting any kind of system without solving the real problem (the sensor performance) is simply avoiding the root issue and making compromises in other areas to "cover it up" This is why I'm not that interested in any of these offerings they're simply not really getting the concept nailed down. Long term it's a lot more logical to use a special sensor than to oversize lenses and kill the real design goal of these cameras. Camera makers are making huge errors by doing what they are IMO only stop gap solutions

Leaving that aside I highly doubt Nikon would release a model with such a small sensor. The Pentax had to be at least..2/3" sensor wise if not a bit more to possibly grab some interest.

[bakubo]

Leaving that aside I highly doubt Nikon would release a model with such a small sensor.

Me too. The rumor, as I said, is that the sensor is smaller than 4/3, but bigger than this Pentax, or S95, etc. Just a rumor though and you know how much they are worth.

[KevinBarrett]

Just a rumor though and you know how much they are worth.

Yeah, they're worth a whole living to the guys that run the sites!

[Dusty]

You nailed it, Barry. "Compact" yet high performance systems don't really exist because the compact bodies - like this one or NEX - have such massive lenses it makes if no longer pocket-able. That also make handling horrible.

Last thing I want to do it hold my 75-300 at arm's length to view the framing on the back of a screen and snap a picture. It's easier to do that with a body up to your face and getting 3 contact points, not 2. So, if I want a smaller system, I might as well go with one with a smaller sensor, lose IQ from sensor size. But I don't want that, so I have to go for the bigger, traditional size bodies.

Some day, very small sensors will be able to produce 14 -18 MP low noise photos, of a decent dynamic range and useable ISO range (maybe never at 256,000, but who really needs that?). Then we'll all be able to buy a good camera with a fixed 18-250 equivalent lens that we can use for an everyday camera, and only take out the DSLRs for special situations.

Dusty

[sparaxis]

Nothing to do with the amusing Q. (As in, I nearly choked when I saw the specification and the price), But I recently found a way to stabilize my NEX with longer lenses...set the neck strap to the right length and then move the camera away from you until the strap is taut. Works like a charm - just like my 28 f1.9, 50 f2 and 90 f3.5 voigtlaender lenses

(After the peaking software upgrade! Easier to focus than a Rolleiflex or Autocord or anything with plain ground glass. Of course, TLR mode is the other stable way to hold the NEX, tilt the screen up and hold the camera against your chest)

Oh, and sort of back-on-topic. I had a Pentax 110 SLR in the good old days. It was far cuter than usable. The hit and miss focal plane accuracy of the paper backed 110 film was infuriating. One frame could be razor sharp, the next a fuzzy mess. I am sure the Queen with its 1/2.3 sensor will give better images than 110 with Kodacolor II. And that was good enough for many folks. I even shot some Kodachrome....Some pics were sharp, but more were soft, and often not evenly across the frame.

Alan

[Marcell Nikolausz]

Nothing to do with the amusing Q. (As in, I nearly choked when I saw the specification and the price), But I recently found a way to stabilize my NEX with longer lenses...set the neck strap to the right length and then move the camera away from you until the strap is taut. Works like a charm - just like my 28 f1.9, 50 f2 and 90 f3.5 voigtlaender lenses


Alan

I also do the same way and works quite well!!

Marcell

[DrScottNicol]

My friend (a camera shop owner) just emailed me to say he's used the new Q system this morning and he was mildly impressed in terms of its design / size. He thinks it will sell to p&s owners looking to upgrade to a system camera - he went as far as to say he though it would outsell the u4/3 Pen cameras! The UK price is likely to be just over 500 GBP for camera plus kit lens and 700 GBP for a twin lens kit, which is better than the initial rumours / previews suggested.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as sceptical as almost everyone else on this forum - even at those prices it still seems like a lot of money for a camera with such a small sensor, but he's prepared to stock it as he thinks he can shift them so time will tell - by contrast he's bemoaned the lack of traction the Pen series seems to have here in the UK and keeps that stock down to a bare minimum.

Scott*

*he also noted that the sales rep was very easy on the eye but I'm sure he wouldn't allow that to unduly influence him.. hmm, knowing him maybe he would

[agorabasta]

A small sensor with a very fast readout may be used to combine normal exposures out of sequence of very short consecutive elementary exposures. (And it's also possible to shift the sensor slightly between those sub-exposures, thus increasing the resolution and reverting the diffraction blur.)

When such a thing comes real, the sensor size may be kept as small as needed. All you lose is the shallow DOF, then.

[bossel]

Some day, very small sensors will be able to produce 14 -18 MP low noise photos, of a decent dynamic range and useable ISO range (maybe never at 256,000, but who really needs that?). Then we'll all be able to buy a good camera with a fixed 18-250 equivalent lens that we can use for an everyday camera, and only take out the DSLRs for special situations.

I want to have this on my cell phone in 3 years time. Then I'll only have to take out my large system (NEX) for special situations