The Pentax Q

All I want for Christmas is a Pentax Q...a Pentax Q...oh, a Pentax Q.  Gee, if I could only have a Pentax Q, then I could take some merry pictures.

Hee, hee.

Well, I got what I wanted for Christmas!

Let me introduce you to the smallest interchangeable lens camera on the market (well, it was when I last checked...but no telling with technology these days).

The Pentax Q is tiny, light weight and loads of fun! I was concerned that the small sensor size would take lousy pictures. But you can judge for yourself...

Right out of the box, set on Auto...

Beautiful, bold colors

 So far, my favorite setting: BC (blur control)

BC puts blur around the edges.  I had not read the manual yet,
so I did not know there were three levels of blur.  I love
the look of shallow depth of focus; even if it was a bit
"manipulated" here. 

Reggie is not the best subject to use with the BC mode.  Her
forehead is way to blurry...even though her eyes are in nice
focus.  And look at her fur, nice blend of detail and blur. Except
for the forehead blur, I like the photo.  I like the colors.  This
looks much like what my eyes were seeing.

Any problems with this picture is not due to the camera, but to the
photographer...lol.  Again, I love the shallow depth of focus.  I
love the ability of the camera to focus on what I intend for it
to focus on.

Also in the BC mode...I am impressed with the ability of this
camera to process color.  Oh, no flash used here and the light
was low and from the back.

With the nifty flash... 

Shot in camera raw.  Yes, the Pentax Q can shoot in raw!  I did NO
processing to the picture.  This is the pure raw, unmanipulated photo.

And, one more to share this evening:

Not the best picture.  Looks grainy.  But wanted to share this mode:
HDR.  I need more practice with this mode, but I already
know its going be a blast to play with.

So, my overall impression...2 thumbs up!  Pentax has created an uber fun, super small, interchangeable lens camera with loads of nifty filters.  In the manual mode I can change ISO, aperture and speed.  And like many large DSLRs there is an aperture priority mode and speed priority mode.  Like many point and shoot cameras, there are various filters/modes that can be applied from macro to portrait to toy camera and HDR.

Drawbacks...I have to use my thumb nail to manipulate the small buttons on the cameras interface.  Large fingered people will have lots of difficulty with the buttons.  There is no viewfinder.  And of course, with the small sensor, increased ISO = increased noise.  But, as you can gather from the photos above, the Pentax Q is able to take awesome pictures in lowish light.  I did take some self portraits with low light...was way to much noise.  But then again, any camera would have had difficult with that much lack of light.