I must admit, I am warming to the Q now that I have played with one. Nicely made, lovely little lenses good controls, and small.
I won't get one (yet) until that price comes down like John says, and even then I have other photo priorities at the moment.

It could be the very same person ambient. Currently they only have two reps covering the whole country. At least they are taking the promotional bit of Pentax seriously now. Have you got the link to the DPR post as it would make interesting reading.

Anyway a couple of other snippets that I have remembered from lunch, mainly to do with the Q

The sensor is covered by a filter in front (bypass possibly) so no dust will get near the sensor at all, as it is a sealed unit. - Good thinking

The defocus option is interesting, it calculates from the focal plane of the shot and will defocus behind and in front. Not perfect, but at least Pentax have thought of a blur option post processing.

Flash guns. Yes it will take any Pentax flash - I put a 360 on it, and it was a tad top heavy..... Anyway, there is a probability of a small external flash designed for the Q. Think of a mini AF-200 if you like. This would also mean a nice pocketable flash for DSLR's too.

Anyway, some on this thread were speculating about the K-9/K-3 model. Well the way he was talking, it sounds like a model that will sit above the K-5, rather than a replacement for either current bodies. Think of it as a Nikon D300s/D400 rival if you will. I would not be surprised if it has the new Sony 24MP sensor in it, as Nikon (yes them!) have already ordered a very large supply of this very sensor (another snippet of info I found out the other day from another source).

Actually they could have some specialised camera's

the K-c - only used for taking photos of a band in the sunshine

Or the ultimate camera ever - the K-o as it would be knockout!

I've got me coat and I'm off....

That would be a bit of a slippery camera. But maybe all the functions will just Jel(ly)

I'll get me coat......

I went into Jessops at lunch today, and by chance they had the new Q in.

I rather like it as a compact camera. Well made, nice in the hand, tiny tiny lenses, and IQ of the images on the back of the screen looked good - especially the black and white ones, punchy blacks and contrasty.
It could be a big seller (if they get the price right - £599 is still a bit too steep imho). Most interesting are the "toy" lenses. This is a misnomer really, as they are not toy at all, it is what Pentax call the lenses which have no built in shutter, and manual focus and have a fixed aperture. Optically they are right up there with the very best SMC lenses.

Now the other bits of info.
The National Pentax rep was there, and we had a good chat. Obviously he could not comment on detailed future Pentax news, but I can tell you this:-

Pentax are very excited with the Ricoh takeover, and there will be some serious investment sooner rather than later with regard to kit.

With the Pentax Q, he could not confirm nor deny a k-mount adapter, but there we inklings that Pentax are heavily involved in the prototype.
Another Q news item, there could well be an EVF to fit on the hotshoe, but could not bring it out until the Ricoh deal is done (1st Oct)

He let slip that they have re-aligned the K-5 price point as the next product could not come out until after Ricoh have taken over, Nothing more was said, but he DID let slip the name - K-9! (I hope its not a dog....LOL).
There is NO FF short term, this is a given. However with our discussion, he did say that just about all DA lenses will work on FF, and if the FF came out, then there would be a range of lenses available - I am sure that the lenses that don't work are the kit (obviously) but the other wides? hmmmmm.

Once Ricoh take over, there will be some new stuff coming out quite quickly, lenses? possibly, but more accessories (TC adapters anyone?)

One area that will be improved is the Optio brand, of compacts. Of what I heard is that Ricoh won't be killing off the Pentax compacts, but improving the range, even if this mean rivalling their own compacts.
Anyway, Pentax don't actually make their own compacts, they come from third party OEM's where they choose "off the shelf" specs and only design the body. Don't worry Nikon do exactly the same with their coolpix compacts.

Nothing was said about a high end compact.

Finally, Pentax admit that they have under-invested in the marketing and distribution of the brand in the UK, and this is going to be addressed once Ricoh own the company.

so there you go.

The hard fact is that Tamron is abandoning the K-mount for some reason. It is a shame, as the 60mm F2.0 Macro, could be the perfect Macro/portrait lens that would be on a K-5. Nevertheless, Tamron is more small fry compared the Sigma, with a small range of lenses available.
Needless to say, even Sigma as pegging back lenses for the K-mount. Yes the mighty primes are available (thank god) but some lenses that have recently come out, such as the 120-300 F2.8, they have stepped back from the K-mount, inspite of the original announcement that it will be available. The same (so far) with the 105mm OS macro, and 150mm OS macro.

The third party brands, might be thinking that due to the small range of Pentax bodies and lenses, it is not worth investing in making K lenses.

So, I think it is a two way street, and Ricoh need to have an ability when they take over is showing that the Pentax brand is not only still around, but able to be considered a thriving DSLR brand to the consumer.
To do this, they HAVE to introduce a larger range of DSLR's (not have just two, albeit excellent DSLR's) and also have increased range of lenses. Only then will the likes of Tamron/Tokina/Sigma/Samyang realise that "hey the Pentax system is pretty large and available that we need to have the K mount on all our lenses".

If Ricoh don't then look long term and invest, we may have a situation of only two brands vying for the DSLR market, with a third (Sony) providing an alternative with their SLT camaras.

Melness, what do you already have?

If you have the 18-55 kit lens, you are well covered for landscapes as you will be shooting between F8 and F16, and TBH it is pretty good for that.

A macro, might be a great way to expand your photo abilities. Buying new might be out of budget, but there are a lot of pre-owned macro lenses out there. For example a few years ago I bought a Tamron 90mm F2.5 SP macro with the dedicated 2x extender and adaptall mount, for £120! Yes its manual, but macro slows you down anyway. It also doubles up as a great 90mm F2.5 portrait lens.
I also have the Sigma 105mm F2.8 Macro, again second hand and very sharp. This one was AF, and was £250, but it is a great lens, actually a VERY sharp great lens.

Personally, I would seriously consider a macro lens, and you might actually find it useful for certain landscapes too.

Hope this helps.

Nice focal length and speed, but boy it's a bigun!
I hope the focus ring is not as stiff as the 35mm version I tried at Focus.....But then again old pentax lenses do have a creamy smooth focus ring that not many other makes can meet....

Okay all,
I have had a play today with the above lens, and i have read the reviews on the "other" forum. So, I am asking, does anyone on here have or used this lens, and what do they think?

Good choice. Just add to the budget £5-10 for a screw-on rubber hood and you are ready.