Photography Gear News

"The Pentax-02 Standard Zoom 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 is the 2nd kit lens offered for the Pentax Q. Its focal lenght range is equivalent to a 27.5-83mm lens in full format terms. Just like in our previous Pentax Q lens review we need to point out that the max. aperture sounds attractive regarding the light gathering characteristic but if we apply the system's "crop factor" (5.5x) the limited depth-of-field potential gets rather obvious (equivalent to "f/15.4-24.7"). So unless you move very close to your subject you will basically have to live with an infinite depth-of-field even at max. aperture. For many applications such as landscape photography this is just fine though."

"Pentax offers two different species of lenses for the Q system - mainstream and "toy" lenses. The Pentax 03 3.2mm f/5.6 Fisheye is the third mainstream lens if this classification can be applied to a Fisheye lens anyway. That said it shares a couple of aspects with the "toy" Q lens group - it has a fixed max. aperture and doesn't offer AF. We reckon that the comparatively "fast" max. aperture lifted it into the mainstream class here. A focal length of just 3.2mm will sound odd for most readers but this relates, of course, to the small sensor size of the Q system. In full format terms it is equivalent to a 17.6mm fisheye lens which also explains the comparatively moderate field of view of "just" 160 degress (vs 180 degrees on most other fisheye lenses)."

"The release of the Pentax Q system produced some rather mixed reactions in the "blogosphere" - mostly regarding the small sensor size (1/2.3") of the camera. However, even so it remains a mirrorless system so we will provide some basic coverage here at photozone.de.
As of the time of this review the system offers 5 lenses - two "kit" lenses, a fisheye lens and two "toy" lenses. This review will focus on the Pentax-01 Standard Prime 8.5mm f/1.9. The first thing that we'll get used to is the focal length here. APS-C or micro-four-thirds lens specs are more or less familiar among "serious" users but 8.5mm sounds odd here. This relates to the size of the camera sensor which has a crop factor of 5.5x so in full format terms we are talking about "47mm" thus a standard lens. Now this is not the full story. The max. aperture of f/1.9 sound fast and it is terms of light gathering. However, if you apply the cropping factor (f/1.9x5.5 = ~f/10.4) things will appear not all that sexy anymore regarding the depth-of-field potential. You can still achieve some basic object isolation with this lens but only if you move very close to your subject..."