[Suleeto]

Just picked up my Q7 a week ago... couldn't believe how tiny it is! I have a proper Pentax DSLR already, but carrying it around all the time was a hassle. I had scaled down the usual camera bag pretty small but still. And my cellphone, as good as it is, just couldn't give me he control over shutter speed and aperture that I wanted. So the Q7 fills the niche nicely. Super easy to carry, and honestly the LCD makes quick framing of a shot easy. And I can take shots without putting it up to my eyes and alerting candid subjects of what I'm up to LOL. I picked the Q7 because it has the bigger 1/1.7 sensor, but without the weird, modern looks of the Q-S1; to me, the Q7 retains the original Q's vintage rangefinder looks. I like that.


I had some time to play around with it and take some shots. Some are edited in Fotor, others with the in-camera presets... and a couple are completely untouched.


Bricked



Cookie Cutter Cottages



Racked



Bronzed Play



A Bird In the Hand



Pedal Power



Lightening




I even got a nifty little bag at a camera shop... there's enough room for an 06, an 01, and maybe an 07 in there.



And next to a Pentax-M 50mm f2 for some size comparison...



I'm considering one of the cheap, aperture-less adapters to convert this Promaster 80-210mm zoom to full time use with the Q7' As you see it has manual aperture control. I can imagine the telephoto potential of this lens on the Q.... I can't wait to point it at the moon!

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I'm also interested in C and D mount lenses.... CCTV... old Russian glass... and playing around with things on the Q. I've been reading in here all day about how to properly identify the C lenses (and avoid CS), and getting a feel for what I need to look for on Ebay when I start shopping. I think I will get a shield lens first, then a C adapter. Then a cheap K to Q to leave on the Promaster zoom.

I also ordered one of those vintage carry cases... the one that has the half case and the detachable top hood part. Should be in next week. So much fun, this Q series! Glad to be on board!

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Last edited by Suleeto; 09-06-2015 at 10:03 PM.

[Giklab]

Nice! Would you mind sharing your processing?

[Professor Batty]

If you get only one non-Q lens, get the Pentax 110 50mm f. 2.8. Sharp, long throw, hand-holdable, and tiny, even with the adapter..

C mount lenses are great on the Q, but not cheap. D mount telephotos (38mm) can be good, but will be soft at the edges (nice for portraits.). CCTV lenses vary greatly in performance, usually not sharp edge to edge, but there are some exceptions.

You may find that the Promaster's performance is diffraction limited when stopped down.

[Suleeto]

I was told that the Pentax 110 would be a bat fit for a Q, but the more I think about it the more I think that person was incorrect. If I understand right, the Pentax 110 was designed for a surface area larger than the Q7's 1/1.7 sensor, so as long as the image circle of a given lens is larger than the sensor, it's good to go. I was looking at this:

Pentax Auto 110 Lenses

Apparently the Pentax 110 is comparable to a micro 4/3, so the image circle is still large enough to completely bathe the Q7 sensor (and therefore any Q series sensor) in the image. I saw adapters for the Pentax 110 to Q.

I think the best thing for me to do is get a C, D, and PTX110 adapter. Between those three I have access to the greatest selection of small lenses available to my Q. I see some of the C adapters come with a lens (probably not the best but hey it's something) and the D adapters are like five bucks. PTX110 a bit more but the more I learn about the 110 lenses the more I like the idea of them.

---------- Post added 09-07-15 at 11:50 AM ----------

Nice! Would you mind sharing your processing?

As in what I use? Sometimes I use the in-camera preset for the Q, but usually I use a program called Fotor. It has its limitations but it reads DNG and does some amazing things. I have it on my Windows 10 computer and as a phone app and believe it or not it's powerful both ways. In some cases I can eyefi straight to my phone, run it into Fotor, make changes, and bam.

Eventually I'll break down and get LR but for what I do now, that and some of the edit tools in Aviary are working fine. Hell, in Aviary I use a stylus to do some amazing things to portraits.

[Giklab]

I meant as in do you bump saturation, contrast etc.
I had Fotor both as a Windows program and Windows app, as well as a host of other things. They were very nice to use, especially on my small screen. But now that the Paint.NET raw import plugin has been updated I use that.

[Professor Batty]

Here is a sample of what the Pentax 110 50mm @f4.5 (with a stop-down disc in the 110 PTX adapter) can do:

_IMP2763_zpsy3bblms8.jpg Photo by dktrfz | Photobucket

Be sure to click on magnifying glass icon for large image.

[Suleeto]

I meant as in do you bump saturation, contrast etc.
I had Fotor both as a Windows program and Windows app, as well as a host of other things. They were very nice to use, especially on my small screen. But now that the Paint.NET raw import plugin has been updated I use that.

Ahhh I think I didn't understand the question because it really depends on the image in question. Often times I slightly underexpose because Fotor can read the RAW file and pull out a lot from it. So I intentionally stop down or speed up the shutter (usually the latter unless capturing motion). I suppose I've learned to manage my lens and camera configs with post-processing in mind some of the time. I've also enjoyed some of Fotor's presets... I especially like Lomo Summertime, and Bright Spot, and HK, as well as some of the B&W options (epecially Comic). I occasionally throw false vignetting on there unless it was shot with my toy lens which, well, does it from the get-go.

But every shot is different. And gets different touches. Or none at all in some cases. Especially with this Q, as even without in-camera processing, the sensor and the kit lens seems to render colors so wonderfully that some shots are ready to rock as-is.

---------- Post added 09-08-15 at 12:58 AM ----------

Oh and Fotor for WIndows 8 and up is waaay better than the previous "desktop" version you had to use with Windows 7 and earlier environments. Also, I sometimes use Fotor on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 because the Q sends the Eyefi right to the phone. Works great.

[Giklab]

Thanks! I just asked because I loved the colours in these.
I like bright colours

Yes, I liked the App version of Fotor more as well, although I preferred Polarr to both after discovering it (a Chrome app that looks a bit too much like Lightroom).

[enoeske]

I'm not a fan of the radioactive colors (you're clipping the channels!), but glad to have a new Q user on board. These cameras are so much fun.

[Suleeto]

I like to throw things out of kilter. I'm also a fan of HDR, which some people abhor lol.