06-23-2011, 01:40 PM
[quote name='joachim' timestamp='1308809898' post='9418']
Hi,
Learned about the Pentax Q today. It has some nice ideas, but a 1/2.3" sensor and a US$800 price tag. Not sure this will/can fly. There are not that many lenses on offer. I would expect for the time being (until that is a real system, if it ever becomes), many users are better served with the likes of Canon S95, G12, Lumix LX or Olympus XZ1.
Will be interesting to see how that copes with dust, the small sensor must be a lot more prone to dust problems.
A few links:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/PENTAXQ/PENTAXQA.HTM
http://dpreview.com/previews/pentaxQ/
http://www.dcresource.com/news/newsitem.php?id=4330
Joachim
[/quote]
Thanks for the links.
This all happened before: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_Auto_110"]Pentax Auto 110[/url]. Pentax aims at a similar market segment again. I mean, somebody who bought an SLR for pocket film for a price ([url="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax#Pentax_Auto_110"]1000 Deutsche Mark[/url]) well in SLR range 30 years ago might as well shell out 800$ or more today.
For me, it is already such a big fun to read the previews and look at the product shots. Did you notice the photo of the magnesium alloy body? A magnesium alloy body for such a tiny camera is just hilarious as are the excellent photos by imaging resource with the camera as a key fob to illustrate the cameras tininess. Add to that the carefully arranged stills of the lens selection alone or combined with camera bodies in both colours accompanied by some distinguished accessories as a rectangular lens shade. The standard lens even seems to feature a - hold you breath - metal mount!
All in all this is awesome marketing by Pentax. From the classic or I would rather say old-fashioned body styling, the lenses which make me think of the silvery Zeiss lenses for Hasselblad from before the days black anodized metal became prevalent down to the tiny details as the "PENTAX METAL LENS HOOD MH-RA 40,5mm" engraved in capital letters. There may be two toy lenses, but they are clearly labeled as such. The rest of the of the gagdgets appeals to a subconcious region in my photographers brain in whispering on name: Leica!
Some of this reminds me of the heydey of classic SLR systems where nobody actually bought 220 degrees angle of view fisheyes, 360-1200mm zooms, 2000/11 mirror lenses, 250/5.6 Superachromats, exchangeable viewfinders or 250 shots film backs. But who wasn't fascinated to some degree by the spell of these systems! I still have the brochures of those MX, LX, F1, F3 and OM systems from the 1980ies somewhere in the closet.
This is not camera lust, nor lens lust - it is system lust. So, what's the price for the full-system-kit? <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> It should be big fun to show off and play with this gadget and hey, it even produces digital images!
Hi,
Learned about the Pentax Q today. It has some nice ideas, but a 1/2.3" sensor and a US$800 price tag. Not sure this will/can fly. There are not that many lenses on offer. I would expect for the time being (until that is a real system, if it ever becomes), many users are better served with the likes of Canon S95, G12, Lumix LX or Olympus XZ1.
Will be interesting to see how that copes with dust, the small sensor must be a lot more prone to dust problems.
A few links:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/PENTAXQ/PENTAXQA.HTM
http://dpreview.com/previews/pentaxQ/
http://www.dcresource.com/news/newsitem.php?id=4330
Joachim
[/quote]
Thanks for the links.
This all happened before: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_Auto_110"]Pentax Auto 110[/url]. Pentax aims at a similar market segment again. I mean, somebody who bought an SLR for pocket film for a price ([url="http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax#Pentax_Auto_110"]1000 Deutsche Mark[/url]) well in SLR range 30 years ago might as well shell out 800$ or more today.
For me, it is already such a big fun to read the previews and look at the product shots. Did you notice the photo of the magnesium alloy body? A magnesium alloy body for such a tiny camera is just hilarious as are the excellent photos by imaging resource with the camera as a key fob to illustrate the cameras tininess. Add to that the carefully arranged stills of the lens selection alone or combined with camera bodies in both colours accompanied by some distinguished accessories as a rectangular lens shade. The standard lens even seems to feature a - hold you breath - metal mount!
All in all this is awesome marketing by Pentax. From the classic or I would rather say old-fashioned body styling, the lenses which make me think of the silvery Zeiss lenses for Hasselblad from before the days black anodized metal became prevalent down to the tiny details as the "PENTAX METAL LENS HOOD MH-RA 40,5mm" engraved in capital letters. There may be two toy lenses, but they are clearly labeled as such. The rest of the of the gagdgets appeals to a subconcious region in my photographers brain in whispering on name: Leica!
Some of this reminds me of the heydey of classic SLR systems where nobody actually bought 220 degrees angle of view fisheyes, 360-1200mm zooms, 2000/11 mirror lenses, 250/5.6 Superachromats, exchangeable viewfinders or 250 shots film backs. But who wasn't fascinated to some degree by the spell of these systems! I still have the brochures of those MX, LX, F1, F3 and OM systems from the 1980ies somewhere in the closet.
This is not camera lust, nor lens lust - it is system lust. So, what's the price for the full-system-kit? <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> It should be big fun to show off and play with this gadget and hey, it even produces digital images!