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General Features
Playback and Editing Features
Connections
Battery Information
Supplied Software

General Features

Overview: The Pentax Q is a tiny interchangeable lens camera with many high-end photographic features. It comes with the Pentax 01 Standard Prime lens and the 02 Standard Zoom lens. It will accept other Pentax Q-mount lenses to give you a variety of shooting options. It has a lightweight, but sturdy, magnesium alloy body.

Compatible Lenses: The Q has a Pentax Q bayonet stainless steel mount. The Q-series lenses are compatible with the Pentax Q camera. The Q-series lenses include: 01 Standard Prime, 02 Standard Zoom, 03 Fish-eye, 04 Toy lens wide, and 05 Toy lens telephoto.

Supplied Lenses: This Pentax Q kit comes with two lenses:

• 01 Standard Prime: With its 8.5mm focal length (35mm equivalent: 47mm), the 01 is an outstanding single focus lens for everyday use. It has two high-grade aspherical lens elements to minimize aberrational effects, and a magnification similar to that of the human eye. Its maximum aperture of F1.9 gives you excellent light gathering and depth of field control. It can focus on subjects as close as 7.9" away.
• 02 Standard Zoom: The 02 has a focal length of 5-15mm, which is equivalent to 27.5-83mm in the 35mm format. It is ideal for wide to medium telephoto applications where zooming flexibility is required. Four extra-low dispersion (ED) aspherical lens elements keep chromatic aberrations to a minimum throughout the zoom range. The aperture range is F2.8-4.5 with a minimum aperture of F8.

3.0" LCD Monitor: The camera features a large, bright 3.0" LCD monitor for framing your shots and playing back recorded still images and movies. The monitor's 460,000-dot resolution gives you crystal clear images, and features approximately 100% field of view. The camera does not have a separate viewfinder, however, an optional external optical viewfinder (O-VF1) is available.

Image Sensor: The Q is equipped with a large, 12.75-megapixel 1/2.3" CMOS image sensor, which delivers high resolution image quality with accurate colors and low noise. It has 12.75 million total pixels and 12.4 million effective pixels. The sensor features the DR II Dust Removal function that shakes the sensor every time the camera is turned on and off.

Shake Reduction (SR): The Q is equipped with the Pentax Shake Reduction (SR) system, which uses a magnetic force to move the image sensor at high speeds, compensating for camera shake. The Shake Reduction function allows you to take pictures at approximately 4 steps slower shutter speed without risk of camera shake.

Recording Media: The camera can record still images and movies onto SD Memory Cards, SDHC Memory Cards, and SDXC Memory Cards.

Still Image Formats: The Q can shoot JPEG still images in 4 sizes in each of four aspect ratios: 3:2, 4:3, 16:9, and 1:1. You can set the image quality level (compression ratio) for each size and aspect ratio, to Best, Better, or Good. In addition, uncompressed RAW images can be recorded using the full output of the CMOS sensor. The RAW files are recorded in the DNG (Digital Negative) format. These RAW images must be "developed" and converted into JPEG files using the RAW Development function in the camera or using the provided software. When the camera is set to RAW+, images in both JPEG and RAW formats are captured. Image sizes include:

Movie Recording: High Definition movies can be recorded in the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format with monaural audio. You can choose from Full HD (1920 x 1080) at 30 frames per second, or 1280 x 720 at 30 fps. Standard def movies can also be recorded at 640 x 480 pixels (4:3) at 30 fps. The quality level can be set to Best, Better, or Good. You can record continuously up to 4 GB or 25 minutes, or until the memory card is full.

Focus Modes: You can set the focus mode to either AF (auto focus) or MF (manual focus). In Auto Focus mode, the camera automatically focuses on the subject when the shutter release button is pressed halfway. In Manual Focus mode, you can adjust the focus by turning the focus ring on the lens.

AF Assist Light: In Auto Focus mode, when the subject is in a dark location, the AF Assist Light automatically turns on when the shutter release button is pressed halfway. You can turn off the AF Assist light, if desired.

AF Methods: You can choose from the following five Auto Focus methods:

• Face Detection: Detects and tracks the faces of up to 12 people.
• Tracking: Tracks the subject in focus when shutter release button is pressed halfway.
• AF Select: Sets the focusing area to the desired area. You can set the focusing area size by using 1, 3, 5, 9, or all 25 focus areas.
• Select: Sets the focusing area by the number of pixels. (More detailed than AF Select)
• Spot: Sets the focusing area to a limited area at the center.

Drive Modes: The Q offers several options for shooting single and multiple images at once. You can choose from the following Drive Modes:

• Single Frame: Photos are taken one at a time with each press of the shutter release button.
• Continuous: Multiple photos are taken while the shutter release button is pressed fully. For 12M Best Quality images, up to approximately 5 frames can be taken continuously at a rate of 5 frames per second (high speed) or up to 100 frames at 1.5 fps (low speed).
• Self-Timer: A single photo is taken after approximately 12 seconds to allow the photographer to get into the picture. A 2-second self timer can be used to avoid camera shake when the shutter release button is pressed.
• Remote Control: Using the optional remote control, the shutter is released immediately after the shutter release button on the remote is pressed. A 3-second delay Remote Control setting is also available. When the camera is set to Continuous shooting, you can begin and end a series of shots by pressing the shutter release button on the remote. Pentax offers the optional F Remote Control or O-RC1 Waterproof Remote Control.
• Auto Bracketing: You can take three consecutive images at three different exposure levels when the shutter release button is pressed. Three images are saved with each released, one at standard exposure, one underexposed, and one overexposed. You can set the order of the exposures as desired. The bracket value can be set at +/- 3EV at 1/3 EV or 1/2 EV intervals. Auto Bracketing can be combined with Remote Control shooting if desired.

Metering: You can select the portion of the image sensor to use for measuring brightness and determining exposure:

• Multi-segment: The sensor meters the brightness in multiple zones (16).
• Center-weighted: Metering is weighted at the center of the sensor.
• Spot: The brightness is measured only within a limited area at the center of the sensor.

Shooting Modes: The top-mounted Mode Dial lets you set the desired Shooting Mode. You can select from the following:

• Auto Picture: The Auto Picture mode automatically selects the optimal mode for capturing the subject: Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Night Scene Portrait, Sunset, Blue Sky, and Forest.
• Scene Mode: The Scene Mode lets you choose from specific scenes: Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Moving Object, Night Scene Portrait, Sunset, Blue Sky, Night Scene, Night Scene HDR, Night Snap, Food, Quick Macro, Pet, Kids, Forest, Surf & Snow, HDR1, Backlight Silhouette, Candlelight, Stage Lighting, and Museum.
• Blur Control Mode: Takes pictures while emphasizing a blur effect.
• Exposure Mode: You can choose from the following modes to change the shutter speed and aperture value: Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual Exposure.
• Movie Mode: Records movies with sound.

Smart Effects: The Q offers several Smart Effects modes to achieve specific looks. The Smart Effects modes include: Brilliant Color, Unicolor Bold, Vintage Color, Cross Processing, Warm Fade, Tone Expansion, Bold Monochrome, Water Color, and Vibrant Color Enhance. You can also save some camera settings and retrieve them later from the Quick Dial as User 1, 2, or 3.

EV Compensation: You can deliberately overexpose or underexpose a picture using EV Compensation. The compensation value can be set between -3 and +3 EV. The step interval can be set at 1/3 EV or 1/2 EV.

White Balance: White Balance is a function for adjusting the color of an image so that white objects appear white. You can choose Automatic White Balance (AWB), or a preset White Balance depending upon the lighting source: Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Fluorescent Light, Tungsten, Flash, CTE (Color Temperature Enhancement), or Manual.

ISO Sensitivity: You can set the sensitivity to suit the brightness of the surroundings. The sensitivity can be set to ISO AUTO or manually between ISO 125 and 6400 in 1/3 EV increments. You can also limit the range of ISO Auto from 125 to a selectable upper ISO value of 160 to 3200.

Flash: The Q has a built-in pop-up flash for use in low-light situations. The flash is effective to 23 feet at ISO200, and covers a wide angle 28° field of view. There are several Flash Modes to choose from:

• Auto Flash: the flash automatically fires based on brightness of the scene
• Auto + Red-eye Reduction: the flash fires automatically with a pre-flash for red-eye reduction
• Manual Flash: the flash fires when manually popped up; does not charge when retracted
• Manual + Red-eye Reduction: the flash fires when popped up with a pre-flash for red-eye reduction
• Slow-speed Sync: the flash fires during a slow shutter speed; lights foreground subject while maintaining a distant lit background
• Slow-speed Sync + Red-eye Reduction: the flash fires during a slow shutter speed, with a pre-flash for red-eye reduction
• Trailing Curtain Sync: the flash fires immediately before closing the shutter to capture moving objects as they leave a trail behind.
• Flash Off: the flash does not fire regardless of subject brightness

Hot Shoe: The camera has a top-mounted hot shoe for attaching an optional external flash unit, such as the AF540FGZ, AF360FGZ, AF200FG, or AF160FC.

Playback and Editing Features

Magnifying Images: Single images can be magnified up to 16 times in playback mode. Using the E-dial, the image is enlarged 1.2x to 16x in 16 steps. While the image is magnified, you can use the 4-way controller to move around in the magnified area.

Slide Show: The Pentax Q allows you to play back still images one at a time in slide show fashion. You can adjust the interval (3 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec, or 30 sec) and the screen effects (fade, wipe, shrink, no effect).

Thumbnail: You can display multiple thumbnail images on the LCD monitor. You can choose the number of images to be displayed in the monitor: 4, 9, 20, 42, or 90. Images can also be displayed by folder or in a calendar filmstrip.

Image Editing: The Playback Mode Palette lets you perform playback and editing functions on recorded images and movies. Some of the functions include: Image rotation, Digital Filter, Red-eye Edit, Resize, Cropping, Index, Protect, Slideshow, Save Cross Processing, RAW development, Movie editing, Image Comparison, and DPOF.

Connections

HDMI: The Q has a micro-HDMI (Type D) output for connecting the camera to an HDTV. A Micro-HDMI-to-HDMI cable is required (sold separately). You can set the HDMI output resolution to 1080i, 720p, 480p (NTSC), 576p (PAL), or Auto, corresponding to the maximum resolution of the AV device.

PC/AV: The proprietary PC/AV terminal can be used to connect the camera to your computer via the supplied I-USB7 cable. The terminal is USB 2.0 High-Speed compatible. You can also connect the camera to a TV using an optional I-AVC7 AV cable. The cable has composite video and mono RCA audio plugs. The AV output can be set to NTSC or PAL.

Battery Information

Lithium-Ion Battery: The Pentax Q is powered by the D-LI68 Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery (3.6V / 1000mAh). The battery charges in approximately 115 minutes using the supplied D-BC68P battery charger. An optional AC adapter kit (K-AC115) is available from the manufacturer for connecting the camera to household current, if desired. The image storage capacity with a fully charged battery is as follows:

Supplied Software

SILKYPIX Developer Studio: The Q comes with SILKYPIX Developer Studio 3.0 software on CD-ROM. With the software, you can develop RAW files, adjust the color of the images and other settings, and save the new images in JPEG or TIFF format.

Compatible Operating Systems: The SILKYPIX Developer Studio 3.0 software is compatible with the following operating systems:

• Windows:
  • Windows 7 (32-bit, 64-bit)
  • Windows Vista (32-bit, 64-bit)
  • Windows XP (SP3 or later, 32-bit Home/Pro)
• Macintosh: Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6