what the Q can and cannot do

Well, a week with the Q has been interesting.  I feel pretty comfortable in saying this is a camera that will give you the best possible images from its sensor.  As many have noted, that's the good and the bad news; a 1/2.3" sensor is good in good light, indifferent when photons are fewer.


This shot looks nice when taken by itself: an iso2000 image that still has some fine detail.  Crop it down near 100% of your screen though, and the bricks are detailed yet covered in bonus data, the noisy stuff that records on the sensor but isn't really there. 

Let's be honest: for iso2000 and jpeg this is still quite impressive for a tiny sensor - but larger sensors exist for a reason, and scenes like this can really look great in my K-01 or K-5 even at iso3200-4000 and jpeg.  A large-sensor lens would probably show less purple tinting in the upper-left branches too.  I have heard great things from owners about the 01 Prime lens, and no doubt it would fare better.
I should have saved this in raw format to see how clean it could be -- but that will have to wait for another pre-dawn opportunity I guess.  No doubt it can look better after a bit of post-processing; I know the Fuji F550 surprised me quite a bit with its 1/2" EXR sensor.  Sooner or later I'll check the Q's raw abilities & post that answer here.

kidding, right? Right?!?

Somehow, I'm not.  Another camera is on the way.

I recently despaired of getting another camera for my wife, despite my certainty that a yellow K-01 would prove irresistible.  We have similar Lumix G1s so that would be the vehicle that allows us to shoot 'identical' images, so she would learn to see what I see on the same subject.  The G1 is a great camera with some nice features, and it's an ideal learning tool, but my wife's health is such that even micro-43 is pretty bulky for her use.

As Pentax did with the K-01, they now do with the Q - drop the price to a fraction of its original MSRP and watch them vanish.  The K-01 cured me of new cameras... but I failed to account for the cuteness factor as applied to my wife.  She found it absurdly cute and small and felt that the sub-$200 price was worth a dent in our budget.  Saying this actually meant a sub-$400 price as she still wants us to have identical cameras to shorten her learning curve - so here we go, again.  The sale includes the standard zoom lens of about 28-85mm so it is not shown in the image above (that's the prime lens).  Still let's face it, this is a really small camera!

Talented too, by the way.  Its backlit 12Mpx sensor can do quite well to iso1600 or a bit more, and it has raw abilities for personalized processing for sharpness, noise and everything (unlike jpg with its fine but compressed images that don't decompress the same twice).  I really liked the Fuji F550 (until it hit the pavement, hard) for its 1/2" sensor with raw shooting, so part of this will be familiar to me.  Many things, actually - the menu system is almost a mirror copy of the larger Pentaxi in my collection, so my learning curve will likely be quite short!

So the Pentax Trifecta is complete - do not hold your breath for the Grand Slam, as the $10k± 645D will not be in my financial league for the foreseeable future.  Plus it's kinda big.

image from quesabede.com

Oh hey, did I mention the adapter to allow K-mount lenses to work with the Q?  

That DA40 pancake lens just mutated into a 230mm telephoto... so they tell me.

Duncan with K-01 and DA70

This was processed from DNG in Elements 9.  ISO6400, 1/6s at f/3.5, manually focused until whiskers glowed with focus peaking.  The camera was set to -0.7EV so I boosted the light a bit, but not too much!  Also removed color noise but luminance NR is set to zero; also removed a slight magenta color cast.  Given 1/6 second exposure this is mighty good, and the small amount of processing at iso6400 speaks volumes about the sensor & internal circuitry in the K-01.  The lens cannot help but impress too; wish I'd gone to f/2.8 for this.

Oh yeah: I'm happy with this!

proof of concept: Raw recovery from a small (EXR) sensor

I now am test-driving a Fuji F550exr. Why? Several reasons:

• available for $175 'used'
• 24-360 equivqlent FL
• EXR modes to provide expanded dynamic range or better signal/noise performance
• Raw capture
• manual mode + P/A/S automation*
• back-side illuminated CMOS
• HD + a few hi-speed video options
• instant panorama mode
• multi-shot NR mode
• and a great price for all the above. 

 Yes, the price was good enough to mention twice - this was a 'used-very good' grab at Amazon's marketplace, their version of the Land of Misfit Toys - some times they're merely misunderstood, of course, so people return them without an objective reason.  Price alone is nice but I do not buy a camera just because it's under $200; this one is here because it's pretty much unique at that price for the features it offers.  For me, if a sub-$200 raw-image-capable camera if available, it's worth considering! This dense, pocketable camera also has GPS if you're into that - but bring a spare battery or two in that case.

 

This collage is both images from a Raw+jpg, clearly a harshly-lit scene (expecially for a 1/2.0" sensor) - but Raw processing nearly pulled out a miracle here. This was less than 5 minutes' work in PS Elements 9. It nearly brought back every washout, and detail came back in the wreath - and in both cases the larger print on the lower part of the door is legible. OK, I'm impressed.

* If one seeks the down sides, note that this is a 2-aperture camera with a third via ND filtration. It should also be noted that Fuji's EXR modes are accessible in several ways, only few of which are made clear in the virtual owners' manual - check forums and blogs for best settings. This complexity probably results in indifferent online reviews (and returns to the Amazon Marketplace!)  I must take the word of bloggers and forum members for now, as it's really quite baffling.. makes one wonder if even Fuji knows what their sensors can do!  


Right now I've gone with the common wisdom of M image size, 400% DR recovery and P setting, but occasionally go to auto-EXR and watch what it selects.  Sure, now I've 'crippled' it to mostly 8Mpxl shooting in M mode - but it's great there, and it's shooting Raw!  If you think this is stupid, the camera is not for you.


Note - here is a great source for Fuji real-world info, linked especially to a post on what M image size brings to the table over the full 16Mpixel shots.  Kim has tested many different cameras over time and has taken the time to see what works, documented or otherwise.  Worth browsing his site (and his site has an index... why don't I? :^).