[ritualnet]

Hi, I'm almost on the edge of buying, but I just want to ask a few questions regarding the Q range.

1: I saw some posts here, regarding control issues with the 02 lenses (some were quite bad with their image quality, and had to be replaced). Is that still an issue? The cheapest place I can get the Q cameras is Ebay, and even if it's new stock, I'd have a hard time convincing Ebay that the lens is "not good enough". (I don't have a local Pentax dealer, and even if I did, it would be at least an extra £50-100 on top for the same camera kit!)

2: Q vs Q10. I know there are firmware updates (1.14 I believe is the latest), after applying these, is the only difference between these two diddy cameras the grip layout and the casing material?

3: Q vs Q7. I can get a Q7 for £152, body only (new). That means adding an 01 will put the price to £260-ish, while an 02 will make that £220-ish. An 01/02 lens kit with the Q is under £200. Is the IQ really that different? I am heading to the US in Nov, so I guess with the recent news of the Q-S1, I might be able to score myself a Q7 abroad. (especially in yellow/black! I will call it the angry bumblebee!)

Thanks! The moment I get some (positive) confirmation, I'll be buying!

[GUB]

Hi, I'm almost on the edge of buying, but I just want to ask a few questions regarding the Q range.

1: I saw some posts here, regarding control issues with the 02 lenses (some were quite bad with their image quality, and had to be replaced). Is that still an issue? The cheapest place I can get the Q cameras is Ebay, and even if it's new stock, I'd have a hard time convincing Ebay that the lens is "not good enough". (I don't have a local Pentax dealer, and even if I did, it would be at least an extra £50-100 on top for the same camera kit!)

2: Q vs Q10. I know there are firmware updates (1.14 I believe is the latest), after applying these, is the only difference between these two diddy cameras the grip layout and the casing material?

3: Q vs Q7. I can get a Q7 for £152, body only (new). That means adding an 01 will put the price to £260-ish, while an 02 will make that £220-ish. An 01/02 lens kit with the Q is under £200. Is the IQ really that different? I am heading to the US in Nov, so I guess with the recent news of the Q-S1, I might be able to score myself a Q7 abroad. (especially in yellow/black! I will call it the angry bumblebee!)

Thanks! The moment I get some (positive) confirmation, I'll be buying!

Hi I can only speak for my experience with the 01 and 02.
Think of the 02 like the 18-55 kit lens for the DSLRs -- ie a middle of the road zoom.
And the 01 performs like you would expect from a prime.(excellent)
It really boils down to whether you enjoy the extra discipline of a fixed focal length or are happy to compromise for the convenience of a zoom.
From what I gather the only real difference between the Q and the Q10 is the Q is a magnesium body versus plastic in the Q10.
I am using the Q but from what I hear about the Q7 if I was about to buy I would opt for the Q7 at the price differential you are quoting above. Apparently there is a significant IQ difference.

[ruggiex]

Besides IQ difference between Q and Q7, Q7 is also snappier. Its start up time is also shorter which is different enough that I miss fewer spontaneous shots. To me, the IQ from Q is a bit too close to P&S or phone while you can appreciate the lenses on Q7 a bit better.

[TER-OR]

I have the 02 and the 01 and usually just use the 01. I did get lens hoods for both. The 01 makes the Q a tiny rangefinder camera, and gives very good results.

[jethro10]

From my experience, the Q7 offers noticeable picture improvement over the Q/Q10.
But as big a difference is what is seemingly a faster processor and it works quite a bit faster, feels nicer.
I have 02, 06, 08 lenses. the 02 is still quite OK really.
this was the 02 lens and I'm quite happy with it.



J

[CWRailman]

I have the 02 and the 01 and usually just use the 01. I did get lens hoods for both. The 01 makes the Q a tiny rangefinder camera, and gives very good results.

Did you notice much of a difference when you started using the lens shades?
I used to have a lady friend who lived in Dundee so I spent some time there. You have some great old houses there to photograph. How's that river doing these days.
Denny

[TER-OR]

Did you notice much of a difference when you started using the lens shades?
I used to have a lady friend who lived in Dundee so I spent some time there. You have some great old houses there to photograph. How's that river doing these days.
Denny

I haven't done any qualitative studies, but certainly a hood can't hurt - and it protects the front element. On the 01 it doesn't take much space, but the screw-off cap does take more time. The 02 hood allows the pinch cap inside.

Yeah, both Dundees are cool. The West Dundee houses are bigger (in the old part of town) but East is starting to see more investment and improvements. The Fox is low now, it's been a pretty dry cool summer but we're seeing more wildlife in the area including rare ducks in the winter. All the Fox River communities are picturesque, it's nice here.

I have a buddy in Scottsdale, he's been there for 25+ years now. How he keeps a husky I don't know, ours are lumps in the summer but in winter you can't wear them out.

---------- Post added 08-01-14 at 09:29 AM ----------

From my experience, the Q7 offers noticeable picture improvement over the Q/Q10.
But as big a difference is what is seemingly a faster processor and it works quite a bit faster, feels nicer.
I have 02, 06, 08 lenses. the 02 is still quite OK really.
this was the 02 lens and I'm quite happy with it.

J

Nice colors! How much processing did it take or did you just nail your exposure?

[ritualnet]

Thanks for the replies. It all seems positive so far. I am going to try some hands on with the MX-1 today (no shops by me stock the Pentax-Q) just to take that out of the equation.

If the Q7 really is head and shoulders above the Q/Q10, then I'll try and chase that body up from Ebay. I know that there was an 02 that was the same colour (yellow/black) but not sure where to pick them up from, I'd rather have my angry bumblebee in one piece if possible!

I think the thing I'm worried about is the quality of the results. Most of the shots from this forum look amazing, but I am not sure if they are OOC, or PP'd. I intend to either use JPEG OOC, or learn to do PP, because I am dire at it, and have no idea what I'm doing.

Suppose it could be a learning experience too, but not one I'd rather have forced on me.

[ruggiex]

I usually do OOC Jpeg and then PP a tiny bit to give it a bit more punch for favorite photos. As long as you meter correctly, it's probably the quickest workflow. I certainly don't feel like spending that much time PPing something from this kind of camera that you tend to take a lot of snapshots...

Make sure to raise the sharpness for Jpeg setting in the camera a bit. It makes a big difference.

[ritualnet]

Good point. I'll have a look at how to set up the Pentax Q, and make some notes. I love the idea of the front dial with different settings (Like the youtuber Blunty set up).

[jethro10]

I haven't done any qualitative studies, but certainly a hood can't hurt - and it protects the front element. On the 01 it doesn't take much space, but the screw-off cap does take more time. The 02 hood allows the pinch cap inside.

Yeah, both Dundees are cool. The West Dundee houses are bigger (in the old part of town) but East is starting to see more investment and improvements. The Fox is low now, it's been a pretty dry cool summer but we're seeing more wildlife in the area including rare ducks in the winter. All the Fox River communities are picturesque, it's nice here.

I have a buddy in Scottsdale, he's been there for 25+ years now. How he keeps a husky I don't know, ours are lumps in the summer but in winter you can't wear them out.

---------- Post added 08-01-14 at 09:29 AM ----------



Nice colors! How much processing did it take or did you just nail your exposure?

If I remember correctly, it was mostly increasing the saturation of yellow / green for the grass and quite a bit of red for the right foreground.
J

[6BQ5]

I wanted a Q7 but got an original Q at the beginning of the year. It came with the 02 zoom lens and I have since gotten the 01 prime and the 03 fisheye. As others have said, the 01 prime is excellent! At f/2.2 it provides what I think to be the sharpest images. The 02 zoom is a bit of step down from the 01 but not by much unless you pixel peep at 100% - 200% or make really large prints. I think the real limitation I'm running into is not in any of the lenses but in the small, now aged 1/2.3" sensor in the Q. The images requires liberal amounts of sharpening plus a small combined boost in contrast, vibrancy, and saturation. Then again, I may be fighting against the default settings in Apple Aperture which create a softer images as the starting point. The Q line has a lot of in-camera processing available to the user. They seem to work well if you're willing to experiment. I learned to post process my images so I use the Q as a pocket sized RAW image recorder and do my JPG conversion on select shots afterwards. The effects can be always be recreated later if you have the RAW data. This allows me to focus on shooting vs. fiddling with settings.

Coming from a K-30's perspective the Q is significantly slower. Sometimes I think I must not be pressing the buttons long enough, deep enough, etc but I think that's just the Q. The Q7 is falling in price and I'm really tempted to get one for the faster response time and better IQ but I think they will fall even more with the release of the upcoming successor. I don't mind being a generation or two behind.

[ritualnet]

I wanted a Q7 but got an original Q at the beginning of the year. It came with the 02 zoom lens and I have since gotten the 01 prime and the 03 fisheye. As others have said, the 01 prime is excellent! At f/2.2 it provides what I think to be the sharpest images. The 02 zoom is a bit of step down from the 01 but not by much unless you pixel peep at 100% - 200% or make really large prints. I think the real limitation I'm running into is not in any of the lenses but in the small, now aged 1/2.3" sensor in the Q. The images requires liberal amounts of sharpening plus a small combined boost in contrast, vibrancy, and saturation. Then again, I may be fighting against the default settings in Apple Aperture which create a softer images as the starting point. The Q line has a lot of in-camera processing available to the user. They seem to work well if you're willing to experiment. I learned to post process my images so I use the Q as a pocket sized RAW image recorder and do my JPG conversion on select shots afterwards. The effects can be always be recreated later if you have the RAW data. This allows me to focus on shooting vs. fiddling with settings.

Coming from a K-30's perspective the Q is significantly slower. Sometimes I think I must not be pressing the buttons long enough, deep enough, etc but I think that's just the Q. The Q7 is falling in price and I'm really tempted to get one for the faster response time and better IQ but I think they will fall even more with the release of the upcoming successor. I don't mind being a generation or two behind.

This is the one worry I have. I love the idea of having a fun camera, but if it's not going to take that great an image, or the OOC shots need considerable work (I can't PP to save my life, I suppose it's a skill to learn, but I've always wanted to be able to get away from the whole "take ten shots, spend ten hours to make them presentable" feel), then I'm a little unsure.

I'm not an 'pixel peeper' (I think that's the correct term) or some image snob, but if this is to be my everyday camera, I don't want to think "gawds, I wish I had taken my other camera instead) each time I take a shot.

Still, the pictures I've seen on this forum (on my phone, and on a 11" chromebook screen) all look very good, if not excellent.

The Q7 and a lens puts it over my original budget of £200 a little, which the MX-1 still fits into.

[6BQ5]

This is the one worry I have. I love the idea of having a fun camera, but if it's not going to take that great an image, or the OOC shots need considerable work (I can't PP to save my life, I suppose it's a skill to learn, but I've always wanted to be able to get away from the whole "take ten shots, spend ten hours to make them presentable" feel), then I'm a little unsure.

I'm not an 'pixel peeper' (I think that's the correct term) or some image snob, but if this is to be my everyday camera, I don't want to think "gawds, I wish I had taken my other camera instead) each time I take a shot.

Still, the pictures I've seen on this forum (on my phone, and on a 11" chromebook screen) all look very good, if not excellent.

The Q7 and a lens puts it over my original budget of £200 a little, which the MX-1 still fits into.

The only time you may wish you had another camera is in low light conditions. I find the IQ acceptable for general screen viewing at ISO 1600 when the image was taken in dim lighting. At ISO 6400 in dim lighting I think you'll be thankful you took the shot but you'll wish the image was cleaner. Then again, remember the small sensor in the small camera. It will never match a larger sensor'ed system like APS. Although the flash is powerful for its size and it does articulate the unit is tiny. You may want to invest in an external flash. I use a cheapie unit from the 90s and run the camera on manual M mode.

In daylight you'll be just fine. You may find yourself turning on the internal ND filter because the shutter in the Q maxes out at 1/2000 and your lowest ISO is 125.

Check out some of the "Post your Q shots here" threads on the forums. There are many examples of what people have created with OOC JPG processing.

One quibble you may have is with the filter thread size. It's 40.5mm which is not as popular as 49mm or 52mm. So finding hoods, polarizers, caps, etc may be a little more difficult but that's what eBay and Amazon are for, right?

[GUB]

The only time you may wish you had another camera is in low light conditions

I think the dynamic range is less than ideal too. I took my Q on a 12 day hike and copped a lot of burned out clouds while imaging valley trekking. The Q was fairly new and now with experience behind me I could have improved the images no end by under exposing by half a stop.