Cross - Pentax Q & Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f2.8 M42
Showing posts with label Pentax Q. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pentax Q. Show all posts
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Cross
Tried out a 50mm lens on the Pentax Q today and it sure is hard to use. The manual focus aids on the camera is just not in the same league as the NEX or M4/3 cameras. For one thing, the LCD screen is not of the high resolution one, making it harder still to get critical focus. The focus peeking is also sub par on the Q. Didn't get too many keepers from around 75 shots. Can't image how much harder it's to use for longer lenses.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Kern-Paillard Switar 25mm f1.5 AR on Pentax Q
The Switar 25mm f1.5 is one of those stupid mistakes that I sometimes made with too much assumption. This lens has an AR designation which means the lens register is slightly shorter than the standard c-mount, though the mount itself is the same. The lens goes further into the camera than a standard c-mount lens does and it would hit the frame area of the sensor on the NEX or M4/3 and would not go further in. This prevents the lens from focusing to infinity. Out of desperation, sawed off a small part of the rear of the lens, hoping to make it focus to infinity, but to no avail, though it can now focus further than before.
The Pentax Q has an even short lens to sensor register than the NEX system, allowing more space between lens and sensor for lenses other than those with native Pentax Q mount. This AR 25mm f1.5 works perfectly on the Q with infinity focus. Since the Q has a 5.5x multiplier, a 25mm lens would become a 137.5mm! Sure, it's great for telephoto shots, but a pain to obtain any wide angle lenses. Imagine a 100mm lens, when mounted on the Q becomes a 550mm, which makes most lenses with focus length > 50mm difficult to handhold. The in-body image stabilization works, but not as effectively as lens based. I briefly tried the Kern-Paillard 75mm f1.9 lens on the Q and it was just too long for practical use.
The Switar AR 25mm f1.5 has typical quality of most Switar lenses, and very similar to the Switar 25mm f.4 that I used. Excellent even wide open, and has pleasing rendering of pictures. On the Q, there is no vignetting, of course, and the blurred corners are significantly less than that on M4/3 or NEX, because only the small center area of the lens is used. Focusing the lens is painful, especially if you are used to an EVF. The focus peeking feature on the Q is nowhere as good as the one on Sony NEX. On the Q, the contrast is set sky high to simulate focus peeking, unlike the NEX cameras, where a colour is displayed for the in-focus portion. I find it very frustrating and difficult to get critical focus. Consequently, I turned this what should be a very useful feature off.
In terms of usability for manual focus lenses, the Q is simply not in the same league as the NEX cameras with focus peeking/EVF, but usable.
The Pentax Q has an even short lens to sensor register than the NEX system, allowing more space between lens and sensor for lenses other than those with native Pentax Q mount. This AR 25mm f1.5 works perfectly on the Q with infinity focus. Since the Q has a 5.5x multiplier, a 25mm lens would become a 137.5mm! Sure, it's great for telephoto shots, but a pain to obtain any wide angle lenses. Imagine a 100mm lens, when mounted on the Q becomes a 550mm, which makes most lenses with focus length > 50mm difficult to handhold. The in-body image stabilization works, but not as effectively as lens based. I briefly tried the Kern-Paillard 75mm f1.9 lens on the Q and it was just too long for practical use.
The Switar AR 25mm f1.5 has typical quality of most Switar lenses, and very similar to the Switar 25mm f.4 that I used. Excellent even wide open, and has pleasing rendering of pictures. On the Q, there is no vignetting, of course, and the blurred corners are significantly less than that on M4/3 or NEX, because only the small center area of the lens is used. Focusing the lens is painful, especially if you are used to an EVF. The focus peeking feature on the Q is nowhere as good as the one on Sony NEX. On the Q, the contrast is set sky high to simulate focus peeking, unlike the NEX cameras, where a colour is displayed for the in-focus portion. I find it very frustrating and difficult to get critical focus. Consequently, I turned this what should be a very useful feature off.
In terms of usability for manual focus lenses, the Q is simply not in the same league as the NEX cameras with focus peeking/EVF, but usable.
Lines - Pentax Q & Kern-Paillard Switar 25mm f1.5. Click for larger.
Lion - Pentax Q & Kern-Paillard Switar 25mm f1.5. Click for larger.
Barb Wires - Pentax Q & Kern-Paillard Switar 25mm f1.5. @ f1.5. Click for larger.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Pentax Q - First Look
One thing perplexes me for a long time is how camera manufacturers set initial prices for some of their products. The Sigma SD1, Nikon J1/J2, Pentax K-01, and the Pentax Q are all examples of setting the price very high initially, and some of these products would eventually dumped at less than half the price of the original price less than a year later. The Pentax Q is no doubt a unique product, but other than being very cute and small, is has no attributes that can compete with slightly larger mirrorless cameras in the same category, and yet, it was priced at more than $800 with a kit lens. I do understand that manufacturers need to recoup their R&D investment by setting the initial price higher, and there will always be early adapters who would buy them. My view is that, unless the product is truly unique, like the Leica M9/Monochom or Sony RX-1, where there are no competitors in their product segment, setting the initial price too high will just alienate their loyal customers and ignored by new buyers.
The Nikon J1 and Pentax Q cost about the same when introduced, and at the end of product life cycle, less than a year later, both are selling at less than half of the new price. If both of these products were something like $400 to start with, I think the situation would be very different. Enough rant, on to the Pentax Q.
The Pentax Q is a neat little camera. Cute as a button, and almost toy like in appearance, but it's a very well built camera, similar to the Panasonic LX series. In fact, holding both the LX2 and Pentax Q with the 01 standard lens at the same time, both weigh about the same and have similar heft, though the LX-2 is actually slightly larger. The selling point of the Q is of course its lens interchangeable feature. Mine comes with the 8.5mm (about 50mm) f1.9 standard lens.
Despite its small size, handling is surprisingly good. Better than a lot of point & shoots with similar size.
Image quality is nowhere near the NEX-6. If image quality is your primary concern, this is not the camera for you. But, I find it very good for the small sensor, especially when shooting RAW, up to ISO 400 is very usable. The 01 standard lens that came with my Q is not particularly good, not sure if it's the sensor or the lens, but pictures taken with the combination is not very sharp. Since I don't have other lenses, I can't say if it's the lens. I have ordered a C-mount and D-mount adapters for it, but it will take a few weeks to arrive from China.
Is it worth the money? It depends on how much you pay for it. This camera does allow you to use some very wide angle c-mount lenses which are not usable on M4/3 or NEX. Even the smaller D-mount lenses can be used. So, it's a fun camera. Buy it for its fun factor, but not for its image quality, which is not bad but not on-par with M4/3 or APS-C sensors.
The American Falls - Pentax Q with 8.5mm f1.9 lens. Click for larger.
The Nikon J1 and Pentax Q cost about the same when introduced, and at the end of product life cycle, less than a year later, both are selling at less than half of the new price. If both of these products were something like $400 to start with, I think the situation would be very different. Enough rant, on to the Pentax Q.
The Pentax Q is a neat little camera. Cute as a button, and almost toy like in appearance, but it's a very well built camera, similar to the Panasonic LX series. In fact, holding both the LX2 and Pentax Q with the 01 standard lens at the same time, both weigh about the same and have similar heft, though the LX-2 is actually slightly larger. The selling point of the Q is of course its lens interchangeable feature. Mine comes with the 8.5mm (about 50mm) f1.9 standard lens.
Salt Truck - Pentax Q & 8.5mm f1.9 lens. Click for larger.
Despite its small size, handling is surprisingly good. Better than a lot of point & shoots with similar size.
Image quality is nowhere near the NEX-6. If image quality is your primary concern, this is not the camera for you. But, I find it very good for the small sensor, especially when shooting RAW, up to ISO 400 is very usable. The 01 standard lens that came with my Q is not particularly good, not sure if it's the sensor or the lens, but pictures taken with the combination is not very sharp. Since I don't have other lenses, I can't say if it's the lens. I have ordered a C-mount and D-mount adapters for it, but it will take a few weeks to arrive from China.
Is it worth the money? It depends on how much you pay for it. This camera does allow you to use some very wide angle c-mount lenses which are not usable on M4/3 or NEX. Even the smaller D-mount lenses can be used. So, it's a fun camera. Buy it for its fun factor, but not for its image quality, which is not bad but not on-par with M4/3 or APS-C sensors.
Mellow Yellow - Pentax Q & 8.5mm f1.9 Lens. Click for larger.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Resistance Is Futile - Here Comes the NEX-6 & Pentax Q
Thanks to Deano who tipped me off that the Henry's Outlet store has a 25% off on everything, and told me that they had an NEX-7 on sale. Seeing that we have survived the Apocalypse of December 21, 2012, I went to the Outlet store today but didn't find the NEX-7. There was an open-box NEX-6 as well as as a Fuji XE-1 with the 18-55mm lens, but I was a bit late, only the X-Pro-1 body is available in the Fuji section. Tried it, and didn't like it much, though the price was good.
The NEX-6 with the 16-50mm kit lens that was there, unfortunately, had a deep scratch on the LCD near the bottom. Maybe that's why it was still there. So, $350 more for the new body, or an open-box one with a scratch? For me it was easy. That $350 would pay for a nice Sony 50mm f1.8 lens.
On my way out, I noticed a tiny little Pentax-Q sitting in the display case. Couldn't resist and bought that as well as the price was reasonable. Purely impulsive buy. I may return it if I don't find it suit my needs. Cute as heck though, but I find it too small for my hands.
Tomorrow I will post some initial impressions on the NEX-6, but I can tell it now that I love it.
The NEX-6 with the 16-50mm kit lens that was there, unfortunately, had a deep scratch on the LCD near the bottom. Maybe that's why it was still there. So, $350 more for the new body, or an open-box one with a scratch? For me it was easy. That $350 would pay for a nice Sony 50mm f1.8 lens.
On my way out, I noticed a tiny little Pentax-Q sitting in the display case. Couldn't resist and bought that as well as the price was reasonable. Purely impulsive buy. I may return it if I don't find it suit my needs. Cute as heck though, but I find it too small for my hands.
Tomorrow I will post some initial impressions on the NEX-6, but I can tell it now that I love it.
Sony NEX-6 with 16-50mm kit lens & Pentax Q
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