Pentax K to Q-mount Adapter

Construction and Handling

The Pentax K to Q adapter sports a durable all-metal build.

The aperture ring, shown above, turns smoothly and allows you to adjust the aperture setting arbitrarily.  When the ring is set to 0 (open), the lens's aperture will be wide-open.  The numbers on the ring correspond to the number of stops that you're closing down the aperture.  At L (on the left end) you'll be at the minimum aperture.

There are two ways of using the aperture ring on this adapter if your lens also has an aperture ring.  You can learn more about using the aperture ring here.

On the back, you will find slots for the tripod foot.  Through the front, the 5-blade leaf shutter can be seen...

...while the back side of the adapter has electic contacts which allow the Q to control the shutter mechanism.  Note: if you have the original Pentax Q, you will need to upgrade its firmware to version 1.10 or higher in order to get the adapter to work properly.

Below are some photos of what the adapter looks like when mounted on the Pentax Q. Click on any photo to enlarge:

Speaking of the tripod foot, once it was mounted and tightened (we recommend tightening the screw using a coin), it had no play whatsoever and felt like it was a part of the adapter to begin with.  Its sturdiness was very reassuring when mounting the Q on a tripod or even carrying it around.

Handling Verdict

The genuine Pentax adapter features an absolutely superb build quality compared to third-party offerings, and handling a Kiwi adapter made us appreciate this Pentax piece even more.  From the lens mounts to the focusing ring, the Pentax adapter is simply more durable and built to lower tolerances.

The only thing we didn't like about this adapter from a handling standpoint was its lens release button.  We think that Pentax should have made it bigger and easier to hold down.  This that said, the third-party adapters that we tried had even more rudimentary lens release buttons.

Apart from this, the only other issue is that the adapter wobbles slightly when mounted on the Q, but this problem isn't unique to the adapter.  Because the Q mount is so small, a slight amount of play is to be expected.  For this reason we also recommend never using the camera (or its strap) to support the adapter and whatever else you may have mounted on it.  Always hold your Q by the lens or by the adapter and tripod foot.