14 DAY TRIAL // Pentax has recently unveiled the company's first compact interchangeable lens camera which goes by the name of the Pentax Q and, according to its maker, is the smallest such device available on the market.
In order to achieve this feat, Pentax has built the camera around a 12.4MP 1/2.3-inch image sensor which measures around 1/8th the size of the sensor used in Micro Four Thirds cameras and 1/13th the size of the APS-C format used for Sony's NEX series.
While this decision enabled Pentax to decrease the overall dimensions of the camera, it has the downside of producing images that have a much lower quality.
In fact, the picturs captured with the Pentax Q should resemble more those of a compact camera than those of a DSLR, which means that Pentax' creation will battle it out with camera models such as the Canon G12 or the Olympus XZ-1.
One major advantage that the Pentax Q has over these alternatives is that it comes with an interchangeable lens, which should make much more flexible to the usage pattern of its owners.
In addition to this, the Pentax Q also features an impressive built quality as it sports a magnesium alloy body with rubber front coating.
The rest of the features list also seems to remind us of a DSLR since the Pentax Q packs a 460,000 dot LCD on the rear, raw output in the DNG format, sensor-shift image stabilization and dust-removal, 1080p30 HD movie recording in H.264 format, 5 frame-per-second continuous shooting and an in-camera HDR option.
In the top right margin, users will also spot a built-in Flash that features a rather interesting mechanism designed to distance it from the lens to minimize the risk of shading.
The Pentax Q is shipped together with a 47mm equivalent prime lens and its retail price will be around $800. Initially, the camera will ship in Japan and is expected to arrive in the United States is early Fall 2011.