[normhead]

Like BigMack, I don't use my Q that much, but it's never going to be sold. We have many great images that we wouldn't have without it. I actually expect the price of this camera will go up over time. I bought from Japan when prices were pretty much rock bottom. If I were forced to sell, I'd ask for 2 to 3 times what I paid for it. I don't really care what it's worth in the market, I only care about what it's worth to me.

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Last edited by normhead; 01-31-2019 at 08:34 AM.

[BigMackCam]

Like BigMack, I don't use my Q that much, but it's never going to be sold. We have many great images that we wouldn't have without it. I actually expect the price of this camera will go up over time. I bought from Japan when prices were pretty much rock bottom. If I were forced to sell, I'd ask for 2 to 3 times what I paid for it. I don't really care what it's worth in the market, I only care about what it's worth to me.

I bought my Q7 from Japan too, when the prices were low It has been - and continues to be - an invaluable tool when I need it. I know some folks use it as their main system, but for me it's an additional element - yet an important one. Hanging on to mine for dear life...

[Perfessor5646]

From $499 to $154 is a big price gap just for color! The 03 fisheye is highly recommended.
Thanks,
barondla

You talked me into it. O3 arriving Saturday. Curse you Buy with 1 Click button!

[barondla]

You talked me into it. O3 arriving Saturday. Curse you Buy with 1 Click button!

The 03 fisheye gets lumped in with the toy wide and tele lenses. While it is a fixed aperture and has no shutter, it is a real lens. Pentax didn't label it a toy lens . It is very small and lots of fun. At least it is very inexpensive. Can't wait to see your photos.
Thanks,
barondla

[Perfessor5646]

The 03 fisheye gets lumped in with the toy wide and tele lenses. While it is a fixed aperture and has no shutter, it is a real lens. Pentax didn't label it a toy lens . It is very small and lots of fun. At least it is very inexpensive. Can't wait to see your photos.
Thanks,
barondla

Barondla, Per your request. The very first photo with the 03 Fisheye. Today I had just gotten in my car with a Q7 in my pocket when the mail person pulled up down the street. I intercepted her before she got to the porch. I didn’t even go back in the house. Just tore open the package and swapped it out with the lens on camera. More later.

[BigMackCam]

I had just gotten in my car with a Q7 in my pocket when the mail person pulled up down the street. I intercepted her before she got to the porch. I didn’t even go back in the house. Just tore open the package and swapped it out with the lens on camera.

^ When you know you're a gear nut

[normhead]

I didn’t even go back in the house. Just tore open the package and swapped it out with the lens on camera. More later.

I opened my DFA 28-105 in the post office in front of the Post Mistress Bernadtte (on the post office counter) and took a few images before I got back in my car. The beer store is right across the street from the post office...

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Last edited by normhead; 02-02-2019 at 02:00 PM.

[barondla]

Baronial, Per your request. The very first photo with the 03 Fisheye. Today I had just gotten in my car with a Q7 in my pocket when the mail person pulled up down the street. I intercepted her before she got to the porch. I didn’t even go back in the house. Just tore open the package and swapped it out with the lens on camera. More later.

Great job! Nice 1st image. Already having fun with the 03!
Thanks for sharing,
barondla

[Perfessor5646]

I’ve had workmen in and out of the house while I was at work for about a week. The DSLRs and lenses, the firearms and guitars, essentially the easily pawnables, have been removed and are being kept at friends house leaving me with just 2 Q7s and the 01, 02, 03, 06 and 08 lenses to play with. Such a hardship, right? When in doubt about what to shoot, get something to eat and go to the river.



From the counter of my second favorite breakfast joint, Eggs Over Frankfort. 03 taken through the glasses of my companion. Giraffe neck girl was a happy accident.



If I have have an itchy shutter finger but no inspriration I go to the river. The Big Four Pedestrian Bridge, Water Front Park or The Falls of the Ohio. With the 03 I occasionally, meaning too often, manage to include a finger in the picture.

[barondla]

I’ve had workmen in and out of the house while I was at work for about a week. The DSLRs and lenses, the firearms and guitars, essentially the easily pawnables, have been removed and are being kept at friends house leaving me with just 2 Q7s and the 01, 02, 03, 06 and 08 lenses to play with. Such a hardship, right? When in doubt about what to shoot, get something to eat and go to the river.



From the counter of my second favorite breakfast joint, Eggs Over Frankfort. 03 taken through the glasses of my companion. Giraffe neck girl was a happy accident.



If I have have an itchy shutter finger but no inspriration I go to the river. The. Big Four Pedestrian Bridge, Water Front park or The Falls of the Ohio. With the 03 I occasionally, meaning too often, manage to include a finger in the picture.

Giraffe neck girl is hilarious. What a capture. You are putting the Q system to great use. Be careful, Q are addictive. The temptation to leave the big dslrs at the friend's house can be very real.
Thanks for sharing,
barondla

[Perfessor5646]

Thanks, I shot nearly 300 frames with the Q7s and all the lenses I have over the weekend at the dog park and from the Indiana side of the Ohio River. I put few in an album here called The Q7 Files. I played with a lot of the user programmable settings dial and pretty well figured out what I like and don’t like. Most of them I’d not use because I can create the same effects in post but the intent over the weekend was to explore and experiment. My friend’s IPhone did a better job of the people with the puppy on the porch but the Q lenses are capable of images she can’t, at least easily get, with the iPhone.

As much as I love the portability and versatility of the Q series, there are a couple little things about the Q7 that bug me just a bit. One is I often accidentally change a setting on the d-pad while handling it. I had the same issue with the Sony a6000. I think I can learn how to avoid that. Also I wear bifocals and composing with just live view requires a certain amount of luck or post processing. I’m wondering if it would be worth getting the optical viewfinder and if that view finder would work on a K-01 as well.

(When I was doing competitive handgunning my bifocal vision breaks about where the front sight is on a 4” barrel handgun. Thus I found myself nodding trying determine if I should aim through the top half or the bottom half of the eye glasses. I got better results by wearing my eye glasses upside down or using something with a 6” barrel to push that front sight out just a little bit further.)

(SIdebar: For shooting 90% of my photos with Pentax DSLRs and a Sony a6000, most of my posts here have been about the K-01 and Q7.)

[barondla]

Thanks, I shot nearly 300 frames with the Q7s and all the lenses I have over the weekend at the dog park and from the Indiana side of the Ohio River. I put few in an album here called The Q7 Files. I played with a lot of the user programmable settings dial and pretty well figured out what I like and don’t like. Most of them I’d not use because I can create the same effects in post but the intent over the weekend was to explore and experiment. My friend’s IPhone did a better job of the people with the puppy on the porch but the Q lenses are capable of images she can’t, at least easily get, with the iPhone.

As much as I love the portability and versatility of the Q series, there are a couple little things about the Q7 that bug me just a bit. One is I often accidentally change a setting on the d-pad while handling it. I had the same issue with the Sony a6000. I think I can learn how to avoid that. Also I wear bifocals and composing with just live view requires a certain amount of luck or post processing. I’m wondering if it would be worth getting the optical viewfinder and if that view finder would work on a K-01 as well.

(When I was doing competitive handgunning my bifocal vision breaks about where the front sight is on a 4” barrel handgun. Thus I found myself nodding trying determine if I should aim through the top half or the bottom half of the eye glasses. I got better results by wearing my eye glasses upside down or using something with a 6” barrel to push that front sight out just a little bit further.)

(SIdebar: For shooting 90% of my photos with Pentax DSLRs and a Sony a6000, most of my posts here have been about the K-01 and Q7.)

There's a thumb rest that fits into the hotshoe of a Q and many other small cameras. They are on ebay or Amazon. Might help you get better purchase on camera and avoid accidentally pressing d pad. The grips are cheap enough to try.

Optical viewfinder only works for one lens. I have an old Yashica that came from old aux lens tele wide kit. Don't use it often.

Wearing glasses upside is an innovative way to deal with the firearm problem!
Thanks,
barondla

[er1kksen]

Now that there's all this fun discussion about the fisheye, I was wondering what the minimum focus distance is like with that lens in the experience of actual users? My needs for 'macro" aren't conventional and revolve around photographing identifying traits of plants very close to the lens, usually just using a compact camera these days. The Q was a lot of fun and I'm not willing to count out the possibility of trying it again in the future.

I was wondering what the minimum focus distance is like with that lens in the experience of actual users?

It is about 1 inch from the front surface of the lens:



Here is what I found to be the focus distance for the tick marks on the lens barrel (left to right, looking at the lens from behind the camera:

1. Way beyond infinity
2. Beyond Infinity
3. Hyperfocal (3 feet to infinity)
4. About 1 foot (from the front of the lens)
5. About 6 inches
6. About 4 inches
7. About 3 inches
8. About 2 inches
9. About 1 inch (as above)

If you take the 03 apart and shim the three screws that hold the mount to the lens body you can get down to about 1/2 inch and the infinity mark will be at the first tick, you will have to experiment with the shims to get the right distance. You could get even closer, but it would be hard to avoid casting a shadow on the subject.

[er1kksen]

That is really interesting, about the shimming. Is there a writeup of that process somewhere on the web?