Originally posted by konraDarnok Your assertions of "substantially the same" and "enormous compromises" are completely subjective. I have no idea how to reply to this, because I have no idea what you're using for these judgements.
Well, then, let me explain. I am using measurements of the sensor sizes. This is not subjective. And I follow up by looking at actual images. Which is rather more subjective, but not really.
Relative to 35mm, APS-C has an equivalence factor of 1.53 and MFT is 1.96. There's a difference, but I would defy you to see it in actual photos. (I've tried and I can, sometimes.) I label this "substantially the same", since I don't want to falsely say they are "the same". There are differences in noise, etc. and images from some sensors are more malleable than others. But still, to all intents and purposes, in real images, they are both equally useful.
Yes, even the bokeh effects, while different, do not favour one or the other. If they do... they favour MFT. I don't really know why, but I have tests on my blog and that is the only conclusion one can draw after looking at real images. It's something to do with magnification, apparently.
Meanwhile the Pentax Q has an equivalence factor of 5.55. That is not even on the same planet. Once again, I can clearly see this in images. These have nowhere near the same level of detail, are relatively full of noise, etc. Since I have confidence in your powers of observation, I'm quite sure you would be able to see it too.
(Full disclosure: since I wasn't silly enough to buy a Q, I've relied on other people's images for this comparison.)
I could also mention that all Q lenses are diffraction-limited at all apertures, some severely. That's just sad. And that the best equivalent aperture you can muster is something like f/10 (I forget -- look it up on my blog). Which is why they resort to a fake bokeh setting. Oh, the pain!
My conclusion is that shooting with the Q is indeed an "enormous compromise". I have no idea how that could be a contentious statement. Does anyone really expect a point and shoot sensor to compete with a much larger sensor?
Now, some may wish to make that compromise. That is a different matter. But pretending it isn't a compromise is demonstrably wrong and not a matter of opinion.