Pentax Q Review: Think Small

Those folks have driven the development of a completely new class of digital cameras - the compact system camera - which combines P&S convenience, compact size, and ease of use with DSLR-like performance and lens interchangeability. A consortium of camera manufacturers developed the 4/3 and Micro 4/3 formats by eliminating the reflex mirror assemblies and optical viewfinders found on DSLRs and utilizing smaller sensors (about 30-40% smaller than the APS-C sized sensors used in most entry level DSLRs, but still about 8 or 9 times larger than the tiny sensors typically used in P&S digicams) to create a whole new class of smaller and lighter interchangeable lens cameras.

This new class of cameras is marketed primarily at P&S digicam users who want to move up to a camera that provides more user control, better image quality, and the ability to use interchangeable lenses without accepting any significant increase in size, weight, or operational complexity over the compact P&S digicams they've been using.

The new Pentax Q takes that concept in a completely different direction by building a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with no optical viewfinder around a tiny 1/2.3 inch CMOS image sensor (like those found on most P&S digicams) which allows for an even smaller footprint. The Pentax Q is the smallest interchangeable lens camera currently available - noticeably smaller than Micro 4/3 format digital cameras like the Panasonic GF3 and the Sony NEX5, about half the size of a Canon G12, and less than a fifth the size of the new Canon Digital Rebel T3. That diminutive profile was achieved by Pentax's decision to use the smaller P&S sized image sensor, but the "Q"s competition have all chosen to use substantially larger sensors in their CSC models. The "Q"s tiny sensor has only about 1/8th the light gathering area of the GF3's sensor. Every major camera manufacturer now offers CSC models except Canon and Casio.