I wasn’t in the market for a Pentax, or even another camera. However, I found a great deal on Craigslist for a Q and the 01 lens for $120! Considering that you can sell the lens for about that price online, I figured I had nothing to lose. Besides, I’ve been curious about them and always thought they looked cool.
My initial impressions of this camera is that it’s a neat and fun toy. I certainly would not have paid full price for it, but for $120, it’s a lot of fun! Ergonomically, it’s nice to hold. The focus is sluggish. JPEGs are too smooth due to noise reduction, but the RAW files have quite a bit of detail.
The photos below were shot in RAW and processed using Alien Skin’s Exposure X2. Since the images aren’t the highest quality to begin with, I didn’t want to mess with noise reduction and sacrifice detail. So, I decided to go for a retro look with the software without noise reduction. These are just casual snaps — nothing too serious. Vanessa was making dinner, Nadia had to get to swim lessons, on the way home a bolt got embedded in our tire (that’s me changing the tire), and the sun was going down.
I find that the images have an almost like film like look to them. Also, due to the sensor being tiny, it allows for close focusing to your subject.
I look forward to using the camera some more this weekend.
