[CWRailman]

All this discussion about the Q verses Q10 or Q7 and the naming of the new Q-S1 brought to mind another camera that wore a S designation on it’s body.

In the 1970’s, the Konica S series was a sensible alternative for those who did not want to sell their car or get two or three months behind in their rent payments just to purchase a Leica which at the time was the street shooters dream camera. After a bit of saving, during my financially strained years, I was able to afford this Konica S3.

Small in size this Konica rangefinder camera has a lens that was highly rated for it’s time. My newly acquired Black Q7 in this brown “never ready” type case reminds me a lot of the time I spent wandering the streets and parks in Chicago using the Konica S3 to capture images on bulk loaded rolls of Plus X film. Note the wear on the Konica case that protected the S3 which is in pristine condition. ( I still have two 100’ rolls of Plus X in my freezer purchased from Central Camera in Chicago and dated 1989.)

Unfortunately I never quite got the hang or had the eye to be a successful street shooter and that may be why I so admire the work of those who have posted their street shots in this forum

I am wondering how the Q series of cameras is ranked among street shooters today.

Denny

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[crewl1]

I am wondering how the Q series of cameras is ranked among street shooters today.

I don't think it is very popular mainly because Pentax in general lags far behind the others in terms of numbers of users due to poor marketing.

I was in downtown last weekend and saw a photo walk group passing through, they all had Canon and Nikon DSLRs.

When you see the younger street shooter gurus with large followings many use Leica, so I would think majority of shooters are striving for that or one of its look alike Fuji/Sony incarnations.

See the various flickr groups, like https://www.flickr.com/groups/streetphotography-uk/pool/ which is curated and has better content or https://www.flickr.com/groups/street_photographia/ which is not curated

There is a Q street group also https://www.flickr.com/groups/1927228@N24/pool/ but I wouldn't call every photo there street photography.

[CWRailman]

I continue to explore the possibilities of the Q7 in relationship to street photography. I have also been looking at several pieces of software used to enhance B&W images. For some reason my mind does not relate a color image to street photography but I am sure that is a filter my mind puts on photographs. I thought this tutorial was a good demonstration of using Lightroom as well as Silver Efex Pro 2 which I have now ordered.

You Tube

You Tube

Till next time,

[reh321]

All this discussion about the Q verses Q10 or Q7 and the naming of the new Q-S1 brought to mind another camera that wore a S designation on it’s body.

In the 1970’s, the Konica S series was a sensible alternative for those who did not want to sell their car or get two or three months behind in their rent payments just to purchase a Leica which at the time was the street shooters dream camera. After a bit of saving, during my financially strained years, I was able to afford this Konica S3.

Small in size this Konica rangefinder camera has a lens that was highly rated for it’s time. My newly acquired Black Q7 in this brown “never ready” type case reminds me a lot of the time I spent wandering the streets and parks in Chicago using the Konica S3 to capture images on bulk loaded rolls of Plus X film. Note the wear on the Konica case that protected the S3 which is in pristine condition. ( I still have two 100’ rolls of Plus X in my freezer purchased from Central Camera in Chicago and dated 1989.)

Unfortunately I never quite got the hang or had the eye to be a successful street shooter and that may be why I so admire the work of those who have posted their street shots in this forum

I am wondering how the Q series of cameras is ranked among street shooters today.

Denny

It should rate very high. My understanding is that the phrase "f/8 and be there", which is often attributed to famous street shooter Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, reflects the fact that the lens used by street shooters of the time gave a good depth-of-field when set at f/8, so a winning strategy was to set your camera at f/8, then pick the corresponding shutter speed and a middle-distance focus, so you'd be ready to take a picture instantly without having to worry about the technical details. People sometimes complain that small-sensored cameras like the Q-family don't produced any bokeh, let along good bokeh, but that is just the flip-side of the fact that a Q-family camera will have a good-depth-of-field without our having to do anything about it. You and I disagree about a tilting LCD, but my primary reason for wanting that is to allow me to be more discrete when taking street pictures since part of the idea is to record the activity without disturbing it; I've practiced holding the camera a foot or two lower than my face and then taking advantage of the fact that modern LCDs can be viewed at a fairly sharp angle, but I don't quite have that mastered yet. I also like my yellow camera for that purpose, because it looks more like a toy than like a serious camera.

[barondla]

Think the Q can be great for street photography. As Crewl1 pointed out , it doesn't have the prestige of Leica, and Fuji, nor the popularity of Canon/Nikon. I don't do street photography, but one of the best articles about the Q is by photographer Wouter Brandsma. He really put the Q thru the paces.
thanks
barondla

[6BQ5]

I agree that the Q series could be very good for street photography. It's small, discrete, and produces excellent quality images for the subject matter. The 01 lens is perfect for this. I always have a blast wandering around with my Q7 on busy streets when I travel.

Due to the AF performance lag I would say that using the Q requires a bit of work, skill, and luck. You have to anticipate shots and be ready to shoot at any time faster than someone using a more powerful camera. This may be why shooters shy away from the Q series. I had a chance to try a Ricoh GR. Holy lens caps, Batman! That camera locks on fast and the screen is beautiful! I think the Q series was never designed for this application so that is why we see the difference.

[CWRailman]

Think the Q can be great for street photography. As Crewl1 pointed out , it doesn't have the prestige of Leica, and Fuji, nor the popularity of Canon/Nikon. I don't do street photography, but one of the best articles about the Q is by photographer Wouter Brandsma. He really put the Q thru the paces.
thanks
barondla

Thanks for posting the link to that review. That is one I had not read before. I agree with his observations on both the Eastern and Western perspectives on cameras. Those philosophies seem to mirror what was going on in the automotive industry in the early 1960’s to early 1980’s. American cars were getting bigger and less efficient and Japanese cars were getting smaller and more efficient. I guess we now know who won that battle.

I have a friend who lived in Japan as an interpreter for 18 years and she has mentioned the Japanese preference for smaller devices which seems to coincide with what he says. They much prefer the smaller smart phones than those that are like small tablets. I also note that he is again stating what just about everyone else has said that the Q would not be good as a one and only camera but does great in a supporting role.

I found his statement about using the color filters to increase and manipulate B&W contrast interesting but I am not sure if he was talking about the cameras internal filters or filters he screwed onto the lens. As I am experimenting with lens filters and finding that the contrast gotten by the internal filters is no where as dramatic as those gotten from external lens filters. I would have liked better clarification on which he was using.

Speaking of large verses small. One of the concepts of street shooting, that is constantly being restated, is to dress and blend into the scenery and not be carrying a big camera bag or wearing a photographers vest and preferably to use a small inconspicuous camera. (That is the reason I prefer black colored cameras as in most lighting conditions, they are not as easy to see as some lighter colors.) There are video’s of an apparently jovial street shooter who has to weigh every bit of 350 lbs named Fred Fogherty using a small Fuji camera. By contrast I watched a video of a small oriental street shooter, who does product reviews, using a Nikon that was about as big as his head and at times it looked like he was going to topple over with it. Then there was a video of a guy demonstrating how he took “street shots” using a baseball bat length long focal length lens. How do people not know what he is doing? I really do not see how any of these guys could “blend into” the scenery and become inconspicuous.

Again, thanks for the link.



---------- Post added 06-24-15 at 04:20 PM ----------

.........
Due to the AF performance lag I would say that using the Q requires a bit of work, skill, and luck. You have to anticipate shots and be ready to shoot at any time faster than someone using a more powerful camera. This may be why shooters shy away from the Q series. I had a chance to try a Ricoh GR. Holy lens caps, Batman! That camera locks on fast and the screen is beautiful! I think the Q series was never designed for this application so that is why we see the difference.

Like a sniper you have to prepare to take the shot. If you just respond to a situation and try and “grab” a shot then you will have focus and camera response issues. Here is a video that explains “Setting up your shots” which basically is getting your camera ready and preparing before taking the shot. This is another concept that I have found to be common among many of the street shooters who make all settings to their cameras and sometimes take a test shot then watch a situation develop while looking for that “Decisive moment”. Of course standing in the middle of the street with a camera crew videoing him he probably did not blend in with what was going on around him.

You Tube

You Tube

[Tony Belding]

There are no rules. Apparently, Vivian Maier did all her shooting with a Rollieflex.

I took my Ricoh Diacord G to a flea market a while back. . . It was an interesting experience because, even though it's a large camera, many people didn't even seem to recognize it as a camera. (The few old timers who did were just delighted to see someone actually using a TLR in 2015!) I was looking down into the waist-level viewfinder instead of holding up the camera and looking directly at the subjects, which is completely unlike the normal pose of taking a picture, and it worked well. It also helped that the shutter is whisper-quiet.

I haven't had my Q7 long enough to really test in that situation, but I should expect it to do well. The 01 lens has basically the same coverage as the Diacord, and the shutter is just as quiet (after turning off the fake shutter sounds!). I have the 08 lens too, so I can set it to 16:9 and indulge a long-running fascination with ultrawide panoramas.

[wildman]

Being as this is nostalgia time....

Back in 1958 I lived in NYC for three months over the Summer before returning to Europe.
Had unlimited use of an M3 and a Nikon S2. Much preferred the Nikon. Faster and more responsive for the street than the M3. Better optics too.

Don't have the original negative anymore but from an old scanned print.
The Bowery NYC 1958, Nikon S2....

[Antonio Marques]

The Q might be great for a lot of things if it had a bloddy freaking EVF. Without it, it can be more or less good, hardly ever great.That the OVF usable with the 01 costs an arm and a leg doesn't help.

[crewl1]

The Q might be great for a lot of things if it had a bloddy freaking EVF. Without it, it can be more or less good, hardly ever great.That the OVF usable with the 01 costs an arm and a leg doesn't help.

You can use any hotshoe mounted ovf, such as the vintage Tele Wide finder found on eBay.
It's what I use when I don't want to use the lcd.

[reh321]

The Q might be great for a lot of things if it had a bloddy freaking EVF. Without it, it can be more or less good, hardly ever great.That the OVF usable with the 01 costs an arm and a leg doesn't help.

I believe that any viewfinder is a give-away that you're taking pictures. I really want a tilting LCD, but without that I'm trying to learn to take pictures by getting a feel for pictures by a sharp angle view of the LCD. (you don't want your activity to change the scene)

The best street shooters I know turn their EVF off and rarely use their rear monitor viewfinder at all. They don't need them. They know their gear so well that they preset everything, go with their gut feeling, then just point their camera and fire away

I'm just not good enough to do without any help.

[raider]

For street shooting using the Q, I would like to know how to do the hyperfocus focusing...anyone knows?

[crewl1]

I don't know if this is what you mean but you can set focus type to MF, and find an area near where you want to focus using the viewfinder.
Then set the camera to your desired shutter speed and shoot when subjects appear in the approximate distance you have pre-focused at.
DOF is pretty good with this camera due to the small sensor.
In this AF shot everything from the lady's tennis shoe all the way to the sign on the warehouse doorway is in focus.
Q - 01 lens - f2.8, 1/500, ISO 125 (was trying to catch dad checking out the hottie and his daughters saw me)

[raider]

I don't know if this is what you mean but you can set focus type to MF, and find an area near where you want to focus using the viewfinder.
Then set the camera to your desired shutter speed and shoot when subjects appear in the approximate distance you have pre-focused at.

Thanks. Didn't think of this method Will try this out next time.