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The world's smallest, lightest camera body, featuring newly developed Q mount system

The PENTAX Q features the newly developed Q mount, with a mount diameter shortened to approximately two-thirds of that of the conventional K mount. This was made possible by reducing the flange back (the distance from the lens mount surface to the image sensor surface) to nearly one-fifth of that of the K mount, as well as by optimizing the size of image circle of its lenses to be proportioned to the size of the compact image sensor. The Q mount system also eliminates an optical finder, mirror box, focusing plate and AF sensor, making the PENTAX Q's body the smallest and lightest in its class. The body has been made of magnesium-alloy, which gives an elegant, high-quality texture to the compact, lightweight camera body while improving its durability.

Exceptional image quality thanks to digital interchangeable lens system

The PENTAX Q comes equipped with back illuminated 1/2.3-inch CMOS image sensor, which delivers beautiful, high-resolution images with approximately 12.4 effective megapixels. This is made possible by its high efficient light gathering optical construction that assures excellent high sensitivity and low noise characteristics and a high speed readout of image data signals. The PENTAX Q also features a new generation imaging engine integrating the best of PENTAX's state-of-the-art digital imaging technologies, developed and accumulated over many years of digital SLR camera development. By coupling this imaging engine with exclusively designed, high performance Q mount lenses, the PENTAX Q delivers clear, high contrast images rich in gradation and texture, even at edges. With high sensitivity noise minimized, the photographer can use the entire sensitivity range — from ISO 125 to the highest ISO 6400 — without worrying about annoying digital noise. By taking advantage of the HDR (High Dynamic Range) function that produces one composite photo from multiple images, it's easy to create beautiful images with an extra wide dynamic range and free of white-washed and blacked-out areas.

Innovative creative tool to add personal touches to the images with great ease

The PENTAX Q offers a totally new style of photo shooting. By coupling the new Smart Effect function offering nine distinctive visual expressions via the easy access Quick-Dial positioned on the camera's front panel, the photographer can effortlessly add a desired finishing touch to an image, while previewing the effect on the LCD monitor. The Quick-Dial has four positions, to which four favourite Smart Effect modes can be assigned in advance. The ever-popular Custom Image and Digital Filter functions have been further enhanced to provide an even greater range of image processing tools. In order to customize the PENTAX Q to accommodate specific shooting styles and user preferences, the user can also assign other options such as a custom image setting, a digital filter or an aspect ratio setting to the Quick-Dial.

Smart Effect modes

• Brilliant Colour: Creates a lively atmosphere by raising the saturation level almost to the point of colour saturation.
• Unicolour Bold: Creates an extremely high contrast image that retains one particular colour in the image.
• Vintage Colour: Produces a toy-camera-like effect, with a choice of several different finishing touches.
• Cross Processing: Produces a unique image with unusual colours, as if treated with the cross processing** used in film photography.
• Warm Fade: Creates a low contrast image with the white balance slightly shifted to pink shades.
• Tone Expansion: Produces a dramatic image with an artistic finishing touch, close to an intensified HDR (High Dynamic Range) effect.
• Bold Monochrome: Produces a low-key, high contrast image with enhanced sharpness.
• Water Colour: Creates a watercolour-like finishing touch.
• Vibrant Colour Enhance: Creates a flowery atmosphere with slightly enhanced contrast.
• USER: Used to enter a user-selected combination of custom image mode and a digital filter.

** A film development technique that uses an unconventional film developer to create a distinctive finishing touch with dramatic colours.

High quality, Full HD movie recording

The PENTAX Q comes equipped with a Full HD movie recording function employing the H.264 recording format, allowing user to capture high quality, extended movie clips (1920 x 1080 pixels) at a frame rate of 30 frames per second. The user can also take advantage of interchangeable Q-mount lenses to produce distinctive perspectives, or make effective use of the Smart Effect modes*** and other in-body movie editing tools to produce creative, dramatic visual expressions with great ease, even during movie recording. The PENTAX Q also provides a micro-HDMI terminal (type D), which allows the user to simultaneously output both Full HD movie clips and sound to external devices via a single terminal.

*** The frame rate may vary when a selected Smart Effect mode requires nonstandard image processing.