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09-20-2015, 09:05 PM   #1
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Setting up the Q7 for adapters

How do you configure the Q to allow the use of adapters? Or does the Q not even care, and you just slap on the adapter and lens and start shooting? How does it know to switch to the electronic shutter when there is no physical shutter in the adapter or lens mounted? How does the shutter in the 02 Standard Zoom and the genuine Pentax Q-to-K adapter work? I've gone through pretty much all the posts in this Q section and not seen an explanation of this. The Q is quite a bit different than a DSLR.

I did order an RJ Q to K adapter from Ebay for 24 bux... says it has an aperture ring and tripod mount.... lists itself as a "PK PK-A AF DA" adapter but to the best of my understanding, "AF" isn't true... there is no autofocus for AF K-mount lenses on the Q with *any* known adapter... right? Or am I (gladly) wrong?

Also... are any of you using PTX110 adapters on your Q? I know the 110 Pentax lenses are actually a good size for our sensors... even big enough for the Q7 sensor. I was thinking that Pentax 110 size lenses might be the best option for old glass on our small crop.


Last edited by Suleeto; 09-20-2015 at 09:12 PM.
09-20-2015, 09:12 PM   #2
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The Q7 works with adapters out of the box. Only the original Q will require a firmware update to use the genuine K to Q adapter. Third-party adapters do not have a leaf shutter so you will have to deal with the limitations of the camera's electronic shutter.

And no, there is no AF with adapted lenses.

Here's an explanation of how the aperture ring works:
Using the K-Mount Adapter for Pentax Q - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

And here's our full review of the Pentax adapter for even more background info:
Pentax K to Q-mount Adapter Review - Introduction | PentaxForums.com Reviews

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09-20-2015, 09:14 PM   #3
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What exactly are the limitations of the electronic "shutter"?
09-21-2015, 02:22 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by Suleeto Quote
Also... are any of you using PTX110 adapters on your Q? I know the 110 Pentax lenses are actually a good size for our sensors... even big enough for the Q7 sensor. I was thinking that Pentax 110 size lenses might be the best option for old glass on our small crop.
I've used a range of Auto 110 lenses on both the Q and QS1 (same sensor as the Q7). They are good but I've only shot them wide open (no aperture in these lenses). You can use lensbaby aperture discs to stop them down but I've not tried this.

With the Auto 110 70mm @ f2.8 (X-posted from B&W thread)



09-21-2015, 06:19 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by Suleeto Quote
What exactly are the limitations of the electronic "shutter"?
Distortion in moving objects - they can appear to "bend" as the camera or subject moves during the exposure. The electronic shutter doesn't read the entire scene at once so the effective speed is lower than the exposure would suggest. There are example shots in other threads. Just imagine you took a shot from a moving car of a telephone pole, the pole will appear to be curved due to the movement of the car during the exposure.
09-21-2015, 06:38 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by Suleeto Quote
What exactly are the limitations of the electronic "shutter"?
Here is a thread from when I was first experimenting with adapted long lenses.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/136-pentax-q/284804-baby-steps.html
Compare the first and third pictures; it is the same bird-feeder in the two pictures, but the wind was blowing in the first one, and the electronic shutter effect has the effect of making the feeder look curved.
09-21-2015, 07:29 AM   #7
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"Also... are any of you using PTX110 adapters on your Q? I know the 110 Pentax lenses are actually a good size for our sensors... even big enough for the Q7 sensor. I was thinking that Pentax 110 size lenses might be the best option for old glass on our small crop."

I've got PTX110 Adapters for the 18mm, 25mm, 50mm, and 70mm. They work great on my Q7 and Q-S1 but with some issues:

The PTX110 adapters need to be shimmed to achieve proper infinity focus. I simply remove the mount on the PTX110 adapter (three screws) put a layer of thin box-sealing tape over the opening, cut away any excess, and re-attach the mount.

The 110 lenses all benefit greatly from having a 'deep' lens hood—especially the 24mm which has gotten a bad rap on the lens reviews for flare. You might have to get creative on this (I used part of an old flashlight for one), it may be hard to find the right sizes except for the 70mm which accepts 49mm.

A good hardware store should have 1 and 1/4" rubber washers with a 3/8" hole which fits inside the 110PTX adapter giving an effective f-stop of 4.5, which seems to be optimal for the best balance of sharpness and diffraction with these lenses. Used at 2.8 they are a little "glowy" but quite usable.

The 110PTX adapter mount's 'tightness' in gripping the lens depends upon tension from two thin slots in the inner part of the mounting ring, which have to adjusted from time to time if you put the lens on and off a lot. Once it's set, it holds. The original Pentax mount on the 110 camera has a proper spring which did not need adjustment.

The 110 lenses do vary in performance, I've got a couple of each of the 18, 24, and 50 and found some variations in quality, one of the 18's was unusable.

The 50mm makes a great combo with the Q system: small, sharp and light. The others work well, the 70mm suffers a bit from fringing, but is very usable and gives an incredible 325mm equivalent FOV in a pocketable lens.. The 18mm works well, but not much of an advantage compared to the normal 02 zoom at 15mm. The 24mm with the diopter lens makes for a handy little macro set-up.

The electronic shutter is automatically engaged when using the PTX adapter. It can produce distortions, much like any focal plane shutter at high speeds. I haven't found it to be a problem, but I don't do much action photography. Flash sync is only at 1/13th of second, however.

The real beauty of using these lenses is the fact that the Q allows you to dial in Shake Reduction (on start-up). Not many other cameras with adapters allow you to do that so easily.With a little practice it's easy to get sharp images with the 50mm (230mm effective FOV!) at 1/10th of a second handheld.

The 110 lenses actually cover quite a bit more than the Q sensor and are optimized for center sharpness, therefore giving edge to edge sharpness and illumination, better than using these on a M4/3 camera and much better than a D-mount lens.

A sample of what the 50mm (with f4.5 stop) can do:

_IMP2763_zpsy3bblms8.jpg Photo by dktrfz | Photobucket


Last edited by Professor Batty; 09-22-2015 at 06:20 AM. Reason: typos
09-21-2015, 12:35 PM   #8
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I definitely concur regarding the A110 50mm. An excellent choice for a '200mm' lens and a pleasure to use with 10-20mm of extension for close-up/macro; and all three I've used were consistently excellent. The 18 and 70mm lenses are certainly usable but I find them more attractive because of their small size than for exceptional IQ.

Soligor makes a 1.7x TC for the A110 lenses which is a useful accessory with all due consideration for utility over absolute IQ. It's hard to be too critical of a thumb-nail sized item that can turn a 50/2.8 into a'400'/4 and the 70mm into a '560'/4 (Q7) for less than $100 total. The limiting factor, which can be an issue, is the electronic shutter effect (and the lack of a true OVF IMO).
09-21-2015, 03:50 PM   #9
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Hmmm well then I think my next purchase should be a PTX110 adapter. I had originally planned to get a C and a D adapter but I think the 110 is going to be the better choice.

I'm going to assume that the limitations of the electronic shutter are largely at slower shutter speeds, and higher shutter speeds avoids the issue... meaning upping the ISO and letting it "snap" quicker should deal with the distortion issue. Yes?
09-21-2015, 03:59 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Suleeto Quote
Hmmm well then I think my next purchase should be a PTX110 adapter. I had originally planned to get a C and a D adapter but I think the 110 is going to be the better choice.

I'm going to assume that the limitations of the electronic shutter are largely at slower shutter speeds, and higher shutter speeds avoids the issue... meaning upping the ISO and letting it "snap" quicker should deal with the distortion issue. Yes?
No. It reads the sensor array one line at a time. Regardless of exposure time for each line, total time for reading the entire array is fixed at 1/13-th second (so for faster exposure, there is apparently some wait time before it goes on to the next line).

Last edited by reh321; 09-21-2015 at 04:08 PM.
09-21-2015, 04:04 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Suleeto Quote
Hmmm well then I think my next purchase should be a PTX110 adapter. I had originally planned to get a C and a D adapter but I think the 110 is going to be the better choice.

I'm going to assume that the limitations of the electronic shutter are largely at slower shutter speeds, and higher shutter speeds avoids the issue... meaning upping the ISO and letting it "snap" quicker should deal with the distortion issue. Yes?
The opposite is true. Essentially the sync speed tells you what you need to know. 1/13s is the fastest that the entire array can be read. Everything over that speed is a partial rolling read. So movement can induce the curved surfaces you saw in the earlier examples. Imagine you look out a slit in your car window to the side and the slit moves as you drive by a vertical object. The object will be visible but in a different place at different times.
09-21-2015, 04:52 PM   #12
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Ok... is that how ALL sensors work? Why is it different when there's a physical shutter?
09-21-2015, 06:00 PM   #13
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That's how all slit-type shutters work. The old Speed Graphics had a slit-style shutter and you could get distortions with it in the same way. The early single lens reflex cameras did too- but only at high shutter speeds, at slower speeds one curtain would open the exposure would be made, and the trailing curtain would close, enabling flash sync. At high speeds, the curtain never opened all the way- and a slit would make the exposure, flash sync wasn't possible. That's why leaf shutters remained popular. The Q zooms and the 01 do have leaf shutters, with a very high sync speed and no rolling shutter.

I've got C and D adapters, the D mount lenses can be very sharp in the center but usually have bad resolution and fall-off at the edges. C mount lenses for movie cameras can be great, but good ones are very expensive (much more expensive than the Q lenses.) C mount lenses for cctv are usually compromised in some way: coverage, CA, curvature of field, etc. but can be useful—I have the Fujinon 9mm F1.4 and it can make very 'atmospheric' images wide open. Some C and D lenses need to be adjusted to attain infinity focus, no big deal if you've done it before but can be very hard if you haven't (and you could wreck your lens.

The 110PTX adapter is a great combo with the 50mm (have I said that before?)
09-21-2015, 07:45 PM   #14
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Well when I get the extra cash next January I plan to buy the Pentax genuine because it has the built-in shutter. I'n honestly surprised that nobody has made one with a shutter yet.

I think my next adapter will indeed be a PTX110.
09-21-2015, 08:32 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Suleeto Quote
Well when I get the extra cash next January I plan to buy the Pentax genuine because it has the built-in shutter. I'n honestly surprised that nobody has made one with a shutter yet.

I think my next adapter will indeed be a PTX110.
I assume the communication method from the adapter to the body is not published. It is also fairly specialized and expensive to make compared to dumb adapters.
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