The Pentax Q has emerged from the labs with its makers claiming its the smallest interchangeable lens camera yet. That would mean it’s stolen the crown from the Panasonic Lumix GF3 which was outed less than two weeks ago. But Pentax hasn’t given us details on the Q’s size and weight yet so the jury’s still out.
The retro-looking snapper achieves its slight size by ditching an optical viewfinder, mirror box, focusing plate and autofocus sensor. Those components are what add to the size of a common-or-garden DSLR but losing does lead to some compromises. Still, the Pentax Q has plenty of other tricks to deploy…
Inside the Pentax Q there’s a 1/2.3in CMOS image sensor that will shoot 12.4MP images and record 1080p video at 30fps. The sensor is quite a bit smaller than you’d find in rivals such as the Olympus Pen EP 2 and Sony NEX-5 which could mean the Pentax Q’s images are a little bit noisier.
It has an ISO range of 125 – 6400, a range of selection of built-in photo effects including a bokeh control to alter the amount of background or foreground blur in photos and the usual selection of shooting modes. It will also rock a 3in LCD monitor and microHDMI.
While the Pentax Q is due for release in mid-September, Pentax hasn’t revealed pricing for the camera or the selection of five lenses that are launching with it. They are: a 47mm fixed focal length, a 27.5-83mm zoom, a fish-eye lens and a pair of ‘toy’ lenses (35mm and 100mm).
Hit the comments to put us in the picture about what you think of the Pentax Q.
Out September | £TBC | Pentax
