[reh321]

I’ve long felt the Q platform was ripe for licensing. It’s small and inexpensive enough for someone to exploit in some creative ways while returning a few dollars to Ricoh to roll into other things.

Imagine a Q-compatible body using one of the new ~50mp phone sensors. Birders would love it...

-Eric

Only if they issued another Q-mount lens longer than 45mm.The 'crop' of my "Q-7" relative to my "KP" is only 3; once I got that KP, my "Q-7" became much less desirable as a birding camera.

Putting a 50mp sensor in what had been a 12mp camera just doubles linear dimension, and I doubt if it would that would be much more desirable.
I haven't done the arithmetic, but 150mm or longer AF would be needed to give a 'Q" enough strength to be "loved" by birders.

[monochrome]

We all were feeling it for years even if not officialy retired... Let's hope 645 line will not experience the same fate

They let Fuji take the market. The whole purpose of 645D and 645Z was to sell the stock of FA 645 lenses. I have grave doubts there will be a 645-New or any updated lenses.

[BigDave]

[Cue unfounded rumours and expectations of a new Q-mount camera...]

Odd, that so much emphasis is being placed on mirrorless becoming more popular, a replacement seems almost inevitable. We shall see!

[mickey]

I had many a thought to buy a second QS-1 body.
I havent, but very much like the one that I have.
Great little camera.

[fsge]

They let Fuji take the market. The whole purpose of 645D and 645Z was to sell the stock of FA 645 lenses. I have grave doubts there will be a 645-New or any updated lenses.

Even if I wish they would I share the same doubts as you. No new 645 lens is a negative signal and recent successes of Theta and GRiii which are more casual/residential type of products dont go into this upper professional range

[MMVIII]

Even if I wish they would I share the same doubts as you. No new 645 lens is a negative signal and recent successes of Theta and GRiii which are more casual/residential type of products dont go into this upper professional range

I agree with the statement but don't necessarily think the Theta is is more casual, as it seems most sales go to business entities, maybe not imaging on an artistic level, but documentary. Ricoh might have some experience in catering b2b and document handling and digitalisation.

[Ontarian50]

While there are those who can speculate on, and wish for a higher resolution sensor for the Q or something like it, the fact is all four Q models were 12 megapixel cameras. Pentax had too much honesty to put higher resolution sensors in the cameras, even though sensors in the 16 and 20 megapixel range were available.

If you read through the Q forum, you realize that actual resolution is often limited by lens diffraction. The small compact 12mp camera sensor used in the Q was limited to lenses having apertures wider than f4.0 or so. Any smaller aperture, and resolution drops - on a 12mp sensor. Increase the pixel count, and you max out your resolution at even wider apertures.

These laws of optics are ignored by marketing departments, who know that cellphone buyers are swayed by the pixel count of the camera sensor, not knowing they can't actually resolve 20 or 50 megapixels on a sensor that small by a lens of that type. This is why cellphone images always look like cellphone images. There's only so much resolution to go round in a lens module that small.

And the guys who go digiscoping, putting high-res sensors behind small aperture spotting scopes, are usually fooling themselves by wishing for higher-spec sensors, not realizing the biggest limitation is optical diffraction effects. They can get more pixels, but they don't resolve any more detail.

[mlt]

Even if I wish they would I share the same doubts as you. No new 645 lens is a negative signal and recent successes of Theta and GRiii which are more casual/residential type of products dont go into this upper professional range

There was a comment on a Chinese forum earlier this month that the next Pentax mf would be a ff 645 with larger than 100 mp sensor and a different mount to enable sensor shift and pixel shift. Seemed to have originated in another rumor location that gave an arrival in 2022, along with 3 new lenses.

[reh321]

While there are those who can speculate on, and wish for a higher resolution sensor for the Q or something like it, the fact is all four Q models were 12 megapixel cameras. Pentax had too much honesty to put higher resolution sensors in the cameras, even though sensors in the 16 and 20 megapixel range were available.

If you read through the Q forum, you realize that actual resolution is often limited by lens diffraction. The small compact 12mp camera sensor used in the Q was limited to lenses having apertures wider than f4.0 or so. Any smaller aperture, and resolution drops - on a 12mp sensor. Increase the pixel count, and you max out your resolution at even wider apertures.

These laws of optics are ignored by marketing departments, who know that cellphone buyers are swayed by the pixel count of the camera sensor, not knowing they can't actually resolve 20 or 50 megapixels on a sensor that small by a lens of that type. This is why cellphone images always look like cellphone images. There's only so much resolution to go round in a lens module that small.

And the guys who go digiscoping, putting high-res sensors behind small aperture spotting scopes, are usually fooling themselves by wishing for higher-spec sensors, not realizing the biggest limitation is optical diffraction effects. They can get more pixels, but they don't resolve any more detail.

My experience is that many users worry way too much about diffraction - it depends on lens and circumstances - and there are people who have produced very good photography starting with a "Q" - but Ricoh was not interested in putting resources into the Q-line, and that is that.

The big question is whether Ricoh will make the same decision about the 645-line. I repeat that it was said at CP+ 2019 that they visibly exhaled every time they thought they would get a "645" question, but didn't - that they were no more interested in talking about the 645-line than about the Q-line.

[BigDave]

Something for all of us to keep in mind, is the optical physics breakthrough that occurred last year. I am sure all the lens manufacturers are looking at the data and figuring out how they can take advantage of this development. New lens designs may lag a bit at first, but may also provide lower cost lenses in the future... here is a link for a quick read....


Mexican Physicist Incredibly Solves 2,000 Year-Old Ancient Lens Problem

[clickclick]

I had many a thought to buy a second QS-1 body.

Me too. I keep a casual eye out for one at the "right" price, but no luck so far.

[clickclick]

My experience is that many users worry way too much about diffraction

Reading about this kept me away from the Q for quiet some time. Really happy I got over it and bought my QS-1. Great little camera, and it rarely disappoints. Hard to believe it's "only" 12mp on such a small sensor.

[luftfluss]

Pentax had too much honesty to put higher resolution sensors in the cameras, even though sensors in the 16 and 20 megapixel range were available

When the Q was introduced in 2011, the 1/2.33" CMOS sensor it used was available at 12MP.


When the Q7 was introduced 2 years later, the 1/1.7" CMOS sensor it used was available at 12MP.

"Honesty" had nothing to do with it, Pentax simply used what was available at the time. There were higher-megapixel CCD sensors available, but they were noisy and had poor video quality and were used only in bargain-basement compacts and lower-end superzoom cameras.

[luftfluss]

Reading about this kept me away from the Q for quiet some time. Really happy I got over it and bought my QS-1. Great little camera, and it rarely disappoints. Hard to believe it's "only" 12mp on such a small sensor.

If you don't already own the 03 Fish-Eye you really should get one. It's pretty amazing to walk around festooned with "serious" gear and then have my Q7 + 03 in a pocket.

[redrockcoulee]

Just to make BigMackCam happy...

There's probably a new Q-T3.14 camera coming down the line that improves on the low-light capability and focusing of the Q-S1 and goes back to the Q7 form factor. Also will be coming in a whopping 53271 different color combinations with 3 brand new lens options...

But on fortunately not in either combination i was saving towards