Pentax Q7 Review

High-ISO Performance

We ran the Q7 through it's ISO range of ISO 100 to ISO 12,800 with our color checker as the subject. We shot at F4.5. The lens used was the 01 zoom set at 15mm. These images are crops of the JPG files straight out of the camera using the default settings.  Note that in-camera noise reduction cannot be disabled on the Q7, so plan on shooting in RAW for the best possible results.

The scene

This test shows that the Q7 JPG images are clean and perfectly useable up to ISO 800.  A bit more detail loss occurs at ISO 1600, and ISO 3200 can be used in a pinch, whereas from ISO 6400 the images start to suffer from significant noise and greatly reduced dynamic range.  These results are very good for such a small sensor.

Hand-held night shooting generally requires you to use ISO 3200.  We found this to produce usable results for web use, but don't expect to scale your images any larger than 1000px or so.

Hand-held night photo at ISO 3200

Below we illustrate the quality that can be achieved with some post-processing effort even at the ISO 12,800 setting. Click on a thumbnail to browse a larger version of the images:

JPG straight out of the Q7 with default settings	Noise reduction performed in Adobe Camera Raw	Topaz Denoise on a converted RAW file

Topaz Denoise is very easy to use thanks to the many presets whereas more time and effort is required when using Adobe Camera Raw for the noise reduction.

We were positively surprised to see that ISO 12800 is quite useable with some postprocessing effort!

Noise Verdict

The Q7 has an 0.5 to 1-stop advantage over its predecessors thanks to its larger sensor.   The 1/1.7" sensor still struggles at high ISOs at night, but it now lets you comfortably shoot at up to ISO 800 without thinking twice.  As we've shown above, higher ISOs can be used with a bit of effort in post.

Image Quality Verdict

Given the hardware that the Q7 has to work with as well as its small size, it really performs quite well.  When used with the right lenses, the Q7 can without a doubt be used to capture print-quality images.  Its main weak point is its resolution, as you can't expect to do much cropping when shooting distant objects.  The Q7 also has a tendency to blow highlights, so we recommend enabling highlight alerts in playback mode and re-shooting with exposure compensation as needed. Lastly, lLike other compact cameras, the Q7 suffers from issues associated with small lenses; the 02 kit lens for the Q is especially prone to flare and fringing.  Choosing the right lens is key to success with the Q family of cameras.

If you're looking for a DSLR replacement, the Q7 would probably not be the right choice.  However, as a compact go-anywhere camera, you can keep it with you at all times and miss a photo opportunity again!

We invite you to refer to the sample photo page or download the full-size photos on the previous page to see for yourself what the Q7 is (and isn't) capable of doing.