Early Birthday Present to Myself: Pentax Q10

Look at this teeny, tiny, l'il one!

It's a Pentax Q-series camera from the early 2010s...so cute! And purple! #PurpleGadgetsFTW

I've been pouring a fair amount of my hobby budget into fountain pens, mainly because I use a selection of them every day (they're the only pens I write with these days, unless I need to fill out some official form or something that needs standard pen ink), and buying stuff like ink or more basic models of fountain pens is relatively inexpensive.

But my first love is photography, and I missed the feeling of buying new gear and experimenting with it. Sadly, a lot of the new camera gear I'd like to buy is expensive enough to be out of my hobby budget range (budget's not what it used to be 😒). But then I remembered that older, used digital cameras, besides coming back into vogue, can be pretty reasonable on used gear sites. I happen to have some birthday money set aside, so I researched some older digital cameras that I remember being drawn to when they first launched, but for whatever reason, I never bought them.

Among the more affordable and eclectic options were the Pentax Q series of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras, and the Ricoh GXR, which has an interesting system of interchangeable lenses and sensors paired together in standalone modules, instead of the typical sensor built into the camera body. When I mentioned I was trying to decide between these two cameras, someone suggested the Pentax Q, since it's such a cute and special offering. Body colors were also customizable, so lots of intriguing colorways were available!

As luck would have it, I found a purple Q10 (second model in the lineup) with brown accents. Considering how much I like brown and purple fountain pen inks, this unusual combo totally appealed to me! The eBay listing only listed the camera body, the standard 5 - 15mm zoom lens, and a battery; no charger, box, other accessories, or anything. The fact that it was purple and in really great condition overrode everything else in the buying decision. 😆 As soon as I confirmed I could get replacement batteries and a charger elsewhere at a reasonable price, I purchased the camera from eBay and eagerly awaited its arrival...which was today! Very fast shipping from Japan, I was impressed. (And thankfully no tariffs.)

For a digital camera that's ~13 years old, it's pretty clean and unmarred. I love the blurple body color! 🤩 Usually when gadgets are "purple", they're more like a pink-leaning violet or magenta color, to which I always angrily exclaim, "that's not purple!"

I was pleasantly surprised by how large the rear monitor is, especially since that's the only way to frame pictures. The zoom lens is a bit strange to me, because its default position is at the tele end of the zoom range. You have to adjust the focal length to go wider, at which point the lens extends a little from the body. Weird.

At the same time of buying the 3rd-party charger and batteries, I found and purchased an adapter to connect Nikon F-mount lenses with the camera's "Q-mount". It'll be ridiculous to pair regular SLR-sized lenses with this "nano-camera", but it opens up my available lenses greatly, while I wait to purchase other Pentax Q lenses later. I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself, ordering other Q-mount lenses on eBay, in case there was something wrong with the Q10 I bought, but now I'm chomping at the bit to have other lenses to use, as the standard zoom lens is kind of meh.

Note that since the sensors on these Q-series cameras are so small, the crop factor is a lot larger, at 5.53×. The standard zoom is from 5 - 15mm, making it 27.65 - 82.95 mm in 35mm terms. From what I've read, people took advantage of the reach that the crop gets them, and used a lot of adapted macro and telephoto lenses with great success.

Although I took a few test shots, I won't post any at the moment, because they were indoor, high-ISO shots, so they're not really showing the camera's best side. 😛 Also, although I was able to figure out most settings just by playing around with the camera, there are some specific features that I'll have to read more about. For example, there's a Quick Dial on the front of the camera that has special features like Smart Effects, which I know nothing about; Custom Images, which is like their version of film simulations or color adjustments; Digital Filters; and aspect ratio settings. For the first time in a long while, I'll actually read the manual for a camera. 😆 Since I'm waiting on the charger and batteries to arrive, I'm not playing around with the Q10 that much, so as not to drain the battery I do have.

Well, that's all for now! Maybe tomorrow I'll take the Q10 out for a spin in better daylight conditions. If I do, I'll, of course, post an update.

P.S. Spoiler alert: I ended up purchasing a Ricoh GXR set on eBay as well, but I won't be getting it before my birthday, so you'll have to wait to hear about that one. 😜