Pentax launch the Q

I can't believe Pentax have wasted time and effort designing this and 5 toy lenses.
Would their money not have been better psent designing a Super-telephoto lens for their DSLR's?

It begs the question WHY?

The compact market is too competitive for this to be a success.

As a fanboy, this is a Massive FAIL.

Is Pentax digging it's own grave?

The compact market is huge. I know a number of people who don't want the weight and size of a DSLR, but do want something that is a step up from a normal point and shoot.

Just because most people here wouldn't buy it doesn't mean it won't be a success.

G

Major features of the “PENTAX-04 TOY LENS WIDE” and “PENTAX-05 TOY LENS TELEPHOTO”

With their optics designed specifically to retain various lens aberrations, these lenses produce subdued, heartwarming images like photos taken by a toy camera.

Someone's having a laugh, surely.

Aw come on! It's not an NEX competitor, but it ought to give the LX5 etc a run for their money. We've been asking Pentax for a better compact for years, well here it is.

Pentax should probably have released their apsc model first though, to avoid these sort of comments.

I guess it all depends on the price of the thing. I can see it will appeal to the Japanese/Chinese market - and lets face it China is where the money is nowadays.

It looks better in white .

Can we have that on our DSLRs please?!

hmmm... looks like an LX5/G12 etc competitor, but with interchangeable lenses.

Sensor about 50% smaller than LX5, bulky zoom (hopefully compensated for by better optical quality?), plus a useful prime. The optical VF only seems to be designed for the prime.

The sample images do look quite good. May be worth considering if I ever replace my LX3, though for a bulkier camera it will be competing with the G12.

I'm sure it will sell very well in the Japanese market.
I can't help but feel labelling two lenses as "Toy" is a huge marketing mistake though.
I'm sceptical, but I hope it does well.

/Ian

I guess "Featuring the newly designed Q lens mount" means that the old Auto 110 lenses will not fit, as some had hoped.

I won't be buying one, but then, I said the same about the K5.

Hmmm - it's an odd one. All depends on the image quality, I suppose. If the dedicated lenses do a better job compared to a compact's jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none lens, then I can see the appeal but only as a compact replacement.

I could see a DSLR owner having one of these instead of a compact for when they can't carry all the bulk of their full kit.

As a competitor to the current APS-C mirrorless camera systems though, I doubt the image quality is sufficient.

Reading the blurb it seems that there are some serious lenses (a 47mm equivalent f1.9 sounds good) and the 'toy' ones are designed to be gimmicks and apparently very cheap. If the toy lenses simple construction (fixed aperture, manual focus, plastic mount, etc) mean they can be sold for peanuts then they might be attractive for a bit of fun.

Overall I can see this working if it is priced along the lines of a compact rather than a mirrorless APS-C camera.

Just spotted this- suggesting a price of around $800 US in the states with a standard prime

http://www.pcworld.com/article/230906/pentax_q_pentaxs_first_swappablelens_compa...

Why doesn't Pentax create a rangefinder styled camera just like the Fuji X100, but with interchangeable lenses, which would blow the X100 out of the water. After all, the X100 is a bit of a hit and miss for it's money really.
I would definately buy it, you have my word...

More info just added on this here Pentax Q system compared with other smaller interchangeable lens systems

Someone give me a shout when Argos have them on clearance at £99