Pentax Initial Shots with the Pentax Q10 [Image Heavy]

KBeezie

Rookie
Location
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Name
Karl Blessing
So did some snaps with the Q10 earlier today while at campus, I received it yesterday but I didn't really do anything photo worthy, mostly going over all the settings getting familiar with the menu/etc.

Also earlier today, I wore both my Pentax MX + Pentax-M 50/1.4 with Kodak P3200 loaded (expired 2004, from a couple bricks of 40 rolls that has some aging, after testing three rolls, I can now get good near-original results shooting at 1600 and developing with Microphen 1:1), and the Pentax Q10 + 01 Prime with the neck strap attached. The Q10's neckstrap just slightly shorter so it sits right on top of the MX's hot shoe. Or what I call "Mama Pentax, Baby Pentax".

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Main thing I didn't care for was I noticed when I switched to one of the Smart Filters (via the quick dial), such as Bold Monochrome, even though I had Raw+Jpeg set, it only saved a jpeg copy. I'm used to where my Olympus, even with a heavy art filter enabled, would save both if I set it for both, the raw copy just wouldn't get the filter applied, but it would still be saved so I can edit it later, not the case with the Pentax.

So it seems that if I use Smart Filters or Digital Filters on the quick dial, it won't save Raw+Jpeg (even though I know it wouldn't apply the filter to raw, just would be nice to have a raw image of the same shot), but will retain if I use either Custom Image or aspect ratio setting for QD.

These are in chronological order:

On the ride out, since it was bright, I did a couple snaps with the 07 Shield lens, kind of nifty/funky and what not, but not something I would care to keep on the camera, especially since the fixed focusing distance is around 3 or 4 feet where its sharp-ish. But I can see some situations where it may come in handy for a few fun ideas.

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got into campus, up the stairs and saw some shapes I thought might look nice in the "Bold Monochrome" mode I checked out earlier. It's my second day with the Q10, course I gotta play with the preset filters... :D

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and then down to the classroom, and shot where I came in from with the Photo 102 work on the right side (their 'selfie' project), and not even visible on the left side are the advanced digital prints I printed out for the class (for this semester I'm in PO230 Advanced Digital Imaging, and PO126 Film Processing [which is combined with 4x5 view camera]).

A little after the Adv.Img class I headed over to the visual arts office since I needed to go ahead and print off one of the students huge composite image of a geode (course upon opening the 2GB file, I shrieked at all the sensor dust he had, like a friggin sandstorm, repeated over 30 composited frames... the healing brush did not like me, and I did like like him for not cleaning his sensor lol).

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Then the film processing class started, did some quick prints, and then when 6:30PM hit all of us in the class walked about 3 blocks over to WMCAT (West Michigan Center for Art and Technology) where they had a art exhibit going on.

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Also one of my own prints was in the exhibit, the one on the left, an HDR shot with my Olympus E-M5 ( Can be seen online here : Freight Tracks during Snowstorm )

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A quick shot of my film professor on the way back to campus.

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Another on the way back, passing the Grand Rapids Library on the right hand side.

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After that class, I went back to the office and printed off another print, this time one of my own at 42 inches by 46 inches on to some self-adhesive paper (you peel off the back and affix it to the wall), the geode one underneath being on Epson premium luster printed at 44 inches by 88 inches.

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When I finished, I went and took a quick cell phone selfie showing the two cameras worn, then locked down the classrooms and darkroom and headed out shortly before 10PM

The shirt has a Big Wheel on it, saying "That's how I roll."

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I'm still waiting for the PK and Adaptall adapter (since I have a few Pentax-K manual focus lens, and a Tamron SP Adaptall-II 90mm f/2.8 1:1 Lifesize macro), already got the Leica Thread Mount adapter, but haven't done any test shots yet with my LTM lens. Was hoping to find a real compact 'universal' tripod adapter that would hold the camera and support a lens in front just in case. Not that I expect much issues weight wise, just the Jupiter-11 135/4 sticks out a bit and might add some wobble if it's mounted only by the Q's mount.
 
Your film professor looks like he could be one of the students . . . or maybe age is just catching up with me. :eek-54: I have an original Q with the 01 lens. Also used to have the 06 and 08 lenses, but sold them. For a while, I used the Q with a variety of Minolta lenses, the 135mm/3.5 being the favorite. I haven't done that in quite a while. The Q basically sits on a shelf now, being brought out on a whim now and then.
 
Your film professor looks like he could be one of the students . . . or maybe age is just catching up with me. :eek-54: I have an original Q with the 01 lens. Also used to have the 06 and 08 lenses, but sold them. For a while, I used the Q with a variety of Minolta lenses, the 135mm/3.5 being the favorite. I haven't done that in quite a while. The Q basically sits on a shelf now, being brought out on a whim now and then.

I thought the same initially, apparently we're both the same age, though I swear he looks younger. Most of my classmates are in their early to mid 20s, I'm 36, and another one of my classmates is in his 50s. The professor there is relatively new I only seen him as of last semester and he teaches one of the PO101 classes as well as the combined film processing and 4x5 view class. The switch to sprint chemistry in the cubes was his idea since it's what they used over at GVSU where he graduated.

I just got the Pentax K (fotodiox, not the "good" original with built in shutter) adapter today so gonna lay with that later. I mainly got it because the price was good/low, Q10 only had about 490 shutter actuations ( though that seems to be dependant on the lens more so than the body that I figured out later on :p ) and it was compact enough to fit into my film shoulder bag so that I'd have something tiny-ish if I needed it, otherwise I use my Olympus E-M5 for more serious work, or my hacked Panasonic GH1 for video work.
 
Got my adaptall to Q adapter today to use with my Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro.

Course what kills it for me is that the Q10 will not trigger an external flash when using adapted lens (ie: no electronic contact to tell the camera there's a lens), can use the on-board flash but that's no good for 1:1 Macro work. Simply put there is no way to use the hot-shoe to trigger an external flash when using any lens other than the #01~08 Q lens, regardless of settings (because normally you would have to turn flash off, and disable flash-when-retracted, to use an external flash but that only works for the 01-08 lens).

So left with either continuous lighting or....

Using the on-board flash as an optical trigger (Which is still limited to 1/13th and below when using a non-shuttered lens like 01/02/06/08, but can make it work), basically means can get it going with a tripod set up where the ambient light will be well below -3EV when at 1/10th at whatever aperture/ISO is being used. Just not ast practical for handheld use when mixing ambient light and flash.

Though the onboard flash I noticed, when set to just "on" seems to have a sort of pre-flash (I guess to get a measure of exposure/focus before the actual flash), so initially my external flash was firing a bit too soon, so under "Servo" menu (it's a touch screen flash), I went up to the trigger, and selected learn, and took a picture and then it learned the new flash pattern to be triggered.

Some 'meh' test shots :

1:1 Lifesize (0.96 feet or 0.29 meters), though I have to remember once I hit f/5.6, diffraction really starts to take a toll on the IQ.
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1:2 Lifesize (about 1.15 feet or 0.355 meters)
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Since I know the flash sync for on-board and the lens is up to 1/2,000th I got to thinking, if the official Pentax Adapter can do up to 1/1,000 because it's a leaf shutter... are the shutters inside the 01/02/06/08 lens leaf shutters too ? (since Leaf shutters sync at all speeds). So I took two shots at 1/2,000 @ f/3.2 , ISO 100 with the 01 Standard Prime, one with the on-board flash on with -2 on the Flash Compensation (lowest I can set its output),

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and then one with the same settings, but this time with my Metz 64AF-1 flash bouncing off the ceiling being triggered by the onboard flash.

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Seems sure enough the shuttered lens do behave like a leaf shutter without having any black-outs from the higher shutter speed like focal plane shutters do.

Mainly just reiterates that Pentax needs to hurry up and release that 09 Macro.
 
Did a couple HDRs earlier tonight, initially was just going to have the E-M5 shooting but since the Q10 was already in my front coat pocket and I had a second quick release plate figured why not try. (The octogonal quick release plate for my manfrotto seems bigger than the Q10 lol). The E-M5 had a Pentax-M 28mm f/3.5 attached (56mm equiv), and the Q10 had a 01 Standard prime attached (47mm equiv).

An HDR merge from 6 DNG Raw frames (1 second to 30 second) at ISO 100 and f/2.8 aperture using the 01 Standard Prime.

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The camera's own HDR "mode" attempt, I noticed it goes fully automatic, as a result ISO 3200 was selected automatically.

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An in-camera edit off of one of the raw captured frames used in the first HDR (picked the 8 second one which was middle ground for exposure)

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In comparison, the HDR of the same scene (but from a little further down the bridge) off the E-M5 and Pentax-M 28/3.5

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Another HDR off the Q10 from 7 DNG Raw frames from 0.5 to 30 seconds Also f/2.8 and ISO 100.

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I noticed with the Q10 there's no dark-frame subtraction wait time after a longer exposure capture like I have had with other cameras (ie: if you shoot 4 seconds, you see the light blinking for 4 additional seconds doing a dark frame to subtract long exposure noise off the image, which can be a pain if you need it done in camera, since a 30 second exposure, takes 60 seconds before you can shoot another, this appears not to be the case with the Q10, and since I don't see the option in the menu, it probably doesn't do that).

At the same scene above I took a single frame shot off the E-M5 with the Pentax-M 28/3.5 lens tilted.

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Also earlier today I been busy all day shooting various artwork/sculptures/paintings/etc that were selected to go in Display Magazine (apparently I been their go-to for officially paid art photographer as of last year), so while I'm using the department's Canon 6D with either the Canon 24-70/4L or the 100/2.8L for the job, I decided I'd put the remote trigger onto the Q10 and see how it does with the strobes and the 01 standard prime :

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;P and a quick shot of my Q10 with the 6D and the Canon 100/2.8L

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I paid $127 for a new Q7 on Amazon. Of course, the 7 and the 10 aren't built nearly as well as the original Q.

That would be more like it. Amazon Germany still wants 400Euro for a new Q7 body. There's some cheaper offers for used, but still overall too much money for something I don't really need :)
These days I'm more interested in systems that offer some unique point, like being tiny and fun, rather than chasing the mysterious 'best image quality'... Ah well, maybe one day we'll move back to someplace where these things are cheap as chips again... :)
 
The 06 Telephoto Zoom arrived this week (~ 85mm to 250mm zoom equivalent on the Q/Q10, with a straight f/2.8 thru the range)

I have a feeling that if I were carrying only two lens it would be the 01 Standard Prime (47mm equiv f/1.9) and 06. The 02 (28~85 equiv f/2.8-4.5) might not get much use in my hands since I lean primes whenever it's around norm/wide.

Some quick 06 shots from today :

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And some of the 01 shots from the same day (mostly ISO 400, with the exception of the last one at ISO 3200)

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(Mine is the top left with the row of boys and the girl with a hula hoop)

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That would be more like it. Amazon Germany still wants 400Euro for a new Q7 body. There's some cheaper offers for used, but still overall too much money for something I don't really need :)
These days I'm more interested in systems that offer some unique point, like being tiny and fun, rather than chasing the mysterious 'best image quality'... Ah well, maybe one day we'll move back to someplace where these things are cheap as chips again... :)

For that price Amazon (US) here has several Double-Zoom Q7 kits (02 and 06) for the same price, some are imported from Japan.

I'm keeping my eye open for a Q7 body just for the slight sensor upgrade.
 
I paid $127 for a new Q7 on Amazon. Of course, the 7 and the 10 aren't built nearly as well as the original Q.
I just sold my original Q + 01 lens. At one time, I had the 01, 02, and 06. I used to attach my Q with the 01 to a model airplane, set the intervalometer, and get aerial photos. In good light, the images were pretty good. In low light . . . meh. Mine didn't see much use over the past few years, so away it went to a new home.
 
Figured my Olympus E-M5 was feeling neglected since I been carrying around the Pentax Q10 more so since it wasn't raining last night I took it out.
Which can be seen on this album here : 03/31/2017 Walk Most of them are stitchings or HDR, mostly with the 1951 Canon Serenar 35mm f/2.8 Leica Thread Mount lens, with a couple from the Jupiter-11 135mm f/4 LTM, and on the wider end the Olympus 12mm f/2.0, with the very last one being the Olympus 9mm f/8.

While I was out shooting with the E-M5 I kept the Pentax Q10 in my coat pocket with a manfrotto (RC0... it's bigger than the camera) quick release plate already attached, and the 06 Telephoto Zoom attached to it. Since I had both of the cameras QR mounted, I would swap after I did some shots with the Olympus.

@ 20.4mm (113mm equiv) and f/3.2
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@ 19.3mm (107mm equiv) and f/3.2
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I haven't been doing too much "serious" shooting with the Q10 over the last several months, mainly nice to have on hand for snaps that does way better job than my camera phone.

But at the first of the month, I wanted to leave most of my heavy gear locked up at school, and I took with me the Q10 + 06 and 01 lens, along with a tiny little tabletop tripod, as well as one of those Super clamps we use in the studio if I just wanted to mount the camera off a rail/etc, most of them around town were either too thick or positioned in a way that I couldn't compose, so it was mainly either handheld, or on the little targa tripod.

In chronological order from the start of the night at campus to the end at the blue bridge. The handheld shots usually at ISO 800 or less, whereas the tripoded ones I kept at ISO 100.

The first four are handheld, the last three are tripoded.

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The last one is a panoramic stitching too (roughly 30Mpixels)
 
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