Pentax Q7 Announced

Pentax has just officially announced the Pentax Q7, an ultra-compact interchangeable lens camera which will soon be joining the Pentax Q10 and Pentax Q as part of the mirrorless Q-mount camera system. The Q system was originally launched in 2011, and to date it remains the smallest interchangeable-lens camera system on the market.

The Q7 is an incremental upgrade over the Q10, just like the Q10 was an incremental upgrade over the original Q.  The main difference between the Q7 and the Q10 is that the Q7 features a new 12-megapixel sensor measuring 1/1.7" diagonally.  This sensor is substantially larger than the 1/2.3" unit found in older Q models, and it is the same size that manufacturers typically use in premium point-and-shoot cameras.  The Pentax MX-1 and the Ricoh GRD IV feature similar sensors.  Like the Q and Q10, the Q7 supports JPEG as well as RAW image capture.

This single change is probably the biggest thing that has happened to the Pentax Q system since its launch, however. We hope that it will be a game-changer in the eyes of current Pentax fans and potential customers, as outside of Japan, the Pentax Q system has not seen much popularity compared to other compacts.

The Q7's sensor has about 50% more area than the old sensor, and this means that it will be able to deliver cleaner images with less noise and more dynamic range.  We expect the Q7's image quality to be very similar to that of the Pentax MX-1 (see our in-depth review here).

The fact that Pentax has increased the sensor size implies that all current Q-mount lenses support the larger 1/1.7" image circle.  Those using adapted DSLR lenses with the Q7 will notice that the crop factor is smaller, though given the higher quality of the sensor and reduced risk of diffraction, we do not anticipate that the effective "reach" will change.