Pentax Q 8.5mm f/1.9 Lens Review

Pentax Q 01 Prime 8.5mm f/1.9 Handling and Features

This is tiny! This fast standard prime weighs in at a miniscule 36g, managing to enclose an 8 element in 5 group construction that includes aspheric elements, SMC coating and the SP (Super Protect) grease resistant coating on the front element. Focusing is down to 0.2m, which is not macro but nonetheless usefully close.

The 40.5mm filter thread can be used with the oddly designed reverse-shaped lens hood, which has a small screw in lens cap in its centre. This makes the lens in use very compact and is an efficient design.

For this mini-review the lens was coupled with the Pentax Q-S1 body, which uses the back illuminated 1/1.7” CMOS sensor, similar if not identical to that found in the Pentax MX-1 and some other compact cameras.

Handling is very much like any mirrorless camera, but smaller. Some users may find this too fiddly to use, but where it really scores is for those situations where it would be nice to have a versatile kit but where it is inappropriate or difficult to carry full sized cameras and lenses. The obvious example may be concert photography where DSLRs are frowned upon but compact cameras and smartphones are tolerated.

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