Pentax Q7 (arrived and well)
Hey all, first time posting!
I've been looking into the Pentax Q cams as a compact system to get, I just think they're very neat. When actually comparing the Q, Q10 and Q7 (and QS-1 I suppose) I struggle to find a meaningful difference other than the Q being metal and the Q7 having a smaller crop factor. I had the impression Q7 was a big step up from earlier ones for some reason.
Is there something I'm missing, or are they just very simmilar? Any feedback or buying tips appreciated.
Quote from lil ie on November 7, 2023, 10:53 amHey all, first time posting!
I've been looking into the Pentax Q cams as a compact system to get, I just think they're very neat. When actually comparing the Q, Q10 and Q7 (and QS-1 I suppose) I struggle to find a meaningful difference other than the Q being metal and the Q7 having a smaller crop factor. I had the impression Q7 was a big step up from earlier ones for some reason.
Is there something I'm missing, or are they just very simmilar? Any feedback or buying tips appreciated.
Hey there, welcome!
I've owned the Pentax Q, Pentax Q10 and now Pentax Q7. Practically, I don't think there's a huge difference in terms of final look of the images. That said the biggest differences are:
- As you mentioned, the larger sensor size can help giving you a wider effective field of view
- The newer sensors are also back-side illuminated (BSI), so at least theoretically better low-light performance
- The body styles are all a bit different, including the material
There's also other random spec increases, like frames per second shooting modes, but that's stuff I've never bothered much on the Q system with.
I think they're all nice. I liked the Q's build material. I like the Q7's quirky colors. All take nice images and are cute 🙂
Quote from lil ie on November 7, 2023, 10:53 amHey all, first time posting!
I've been looking into the Pentax Q cams as a compact system to get, I just think they're very neat. When actually comparing the Q, Q10 and Q7 (and QS-1 I suppose) I struggle to find a meaningful difference other than the Q being metal and the Q7 having a smaller crop factor. I had the impression Q7 was a big step up from earlier ones for some reason.
Is there something I'm missing, or are they just very simmilar? Any feedback or buying tips appreciated.
Welcome Lil ie!
Quote from lil ie on November 7, 2023, 10:53 amHey all, first time posting!
I've been looking into the Pentax Q cams as a compact system to get, I just think they're very neat. When actually comparing the Q, Q10 and Q7 (and QS-1 I suppose) I struggle to find a meaningful difference other than the Q being metal and the Q7 having a smaller crop factor. I had the impression Q7 was a big step up from earlier ones for some reason.
Is there something I'm missing, or are they just very simmilar? Any feedback or buying tips appreciated.
Welcome! I have the Q, Q7 and Q-S1. The Q-S1 is my go-to everyday carry. It's perfect for shooting just about anything, you can even get some decent dropoff if you use the 06 lens at the long end! I'll post some of my results below.
Iowa Storm Clouds by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Iowa Storm Clouds by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Iowa Storm Clouds by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Prairie Land by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Aurora Borealis Over The Lake by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
On Air by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Starburst by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Starburst by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Debate by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Spring Through The Pinhole III by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Open Range by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
Power by Alec Heggen, on Flickr
I'll write a quick summary because I could probably write a novel about how much I love the Q-S1. Here's my top reasons I love this camera.
- The colors are amazing SOOC, the color on RAWs are probably the best Pentax has put into one of their cameras.
- There's actually still a surprising amount of exposure latitude for such a tiny sensor, so landscapes are very possible. you can always underexpose and recover.
- The lenses are all pin-sharp, really incredible for how small and light they are. I have the 01, 02, 06, 07 and all four are great. The pinhole is fun for messing around with abstract concepts.
- It fits in a pocket and can go anywhere you go. My Q-S1 has been to Iceland, Panama, all over the US without ever being a second-thought to pack because it's always in my backpack, it's so small there's no need to leave it behind ever.
- The Q-S1 actually has better image quality than the Q in my experience, it feels the most refined and the noise is actually really well controlled all the way to 800 ISO, it's really easy to remove that noise in LRC with AI denoise as well.
One thing I forgot to mention, the BSI sensor is actually amazingly good at gathering in low-light. I shot pictures of that aurora on both my K-1 and Q-S1 and only ended up keeping the Q-S1 shots because of how much better the aurora was lit.
Hiya! Got my Q7 a few days ago, keeping the thread alive to solicit free advice. Although judging by the responses I really should've gone for the Q-S1.
(is my phone camera lens radioactive?) There weren't any good colors and now I wish I got a fully black one. The double zoom kit is pictured here with a banana in case you ever need to communicate the sheer scale to a non-believer.
I took some test shots, but not much more than that 'cause it's holiday season and I'm still preparing for mine.
Here's a salad I had the other day, I suppose it is a bit of a macro photograph. I'll confess, I've never actually owned a digital body before and the post processing usually didn't fall on me; so I couldn't get both the salad and the bread to look as tasty as they were.
Here is a different meal I had, this time with the in camera filters. This was not a good subject for them, they look nearly as gaudy as my attempts at processing images. It was shot at 1/50 of a second speed in doors at 70mm equavalent, I don't know if I have much less handshake than I gave myself credit for or the ibis worked, but there was no motion blur, which was a nice surprise.
These are some landscape pictures I took from a balkony, only after editing I noticed there was some purple fringing in pictures taken with the 06 telephoto lens (probably not helped by my cranking up the saturation on mid tones like crazy). Downscaled to 1080p I don't think it'd be noticable, but I'll look out for it later
The camera feels super nice in hand. The 02 lens is real smooth, but the 06 lens feels cheap as all hell which was a real dissapointment as I was excited to carry around a pocketable telephoto. Between the Lenses, ibis and ergonomics my impression is that Pentax was more advanced in 2013 than Canon is now, definitely no regrets. I might buy another one if I don't find a nice and colorful Q-S1 in a year or two. If you have any tips or tricks with the camera they are very appreciated.
Quote from lil ie on December 29, 2023, 11:58 pmHiya! Got my Q7 a few days ago, keeping the thread alive to solicit free advice. Although judging by the responses I really should've gone for the Q-S1.
I took some test shots, but not much more than that 'cause it's holiday season and I'm still preparing for mine.
Here's a salad I had the other day, I suppose it is a bit of a macro photograph. I'll confess, I've never actually owned a digital body before and the post processing usually didn't fall on me; so I couldn't get both the salad and the bread to look as tasty as they were.
Here is a different meal I had, this time with the in camera filters. This was not a good subject for them, they look nearly as gaudy as my attempts at processing images. It was shot at 1/50 of a second speed in doors at 70mm equavalent, I don't know if I have much less handshake than I gave myself credit for or the ibis worked, but there was no motion blur, which was a nice surprise.
These are some landscape pictures I took from a balkony, only after editing I noticed there was some purple fringing in pictures taken with the 06 telephoto lens (probably not helped by my cranking up the saturation on mid tones like crazy). Downscaled to 1080p I don't think it'd be noticable, but I'll look out for it later
The camera feels super nice in hand. The 02 lens is real smooth, but the 06 lens feels cheap as all hell which was a real dissapointment as I was excited to carry around a pocketable telephoto. Between the Lenses, ibis and ergonomics my impression is that Pentax was more advanced in 2013 than Canon is now, definitely no regrets. I might buy another one if I don't find a nice and colorful Q-S1 in a year or two. If you have any tips or tricks with the camera they are very appreciated.
Nice examples! I think the 06 has become my favorite lens with time, at first the build quality turned me away from it at first, much like you. But after some use I found the 06 to be one of the most incredible lenses in the lineup, especially since on the long end it's around a 200mm equiv. but remains sharp looking and with strong contrast. I think you'll find with more use it may become a favorite, also at the long end you can use it as the sole native portrait lens on Q.
attached is a test photo I did just to prove the point of the 06 as a portrait lens.
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