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Back at CES, Pentax announced their new advanced compact camera. It has a 1/1.7-inch sensor and a 4x optical zoom lens. But, the real draw is its stylish brass body. We took it out on the streets of New York City to see how it handles.
Shooting with it is an enjoyable experience. The controls are well-placed and the articulating screen is extremely useful when it comes to street photography. First impressions of image quality, however, are less than stellar. While noise isn’t bad, color accuracy seems a bit hit or miss. Again, it’s not out of the ordinary when it comes to compacts, but we may just be getting a little spoiled by all the large-sensor compacts available these days.
Check out the gallery and click through to the full-resolution images if you want to see what you’ll get from the camera. Everything was shot in fine JPEG mode and uploaded directly.
_The streets of New York City seemed like the perfect backdrop to field test Pentax’s new retro-styled MX-1 compact. It’s ergonomic design, articulating screen and large exposure compensation dial made it a pleasure to shoot street photography with. However it’s bulky body definitely seemed a bit excessive considering its slightly larger than compact-sized 1/1.7-inch sensor. Ultimately, we’ll have to see how it handles in the lab, before we find out if this big compact holds up to competition._ All photos were shot as Full-res Fine jpgs and were taken straight from the camera. A high-contrast scene shot in aperture priority. Exposure Info: ISO 3200, 1/50 sec at f/1.8.
Focal Length: 28mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaThis was shot at ISO 3200 using standard noise reduction in the camera. Exposure Info: ISO 3200, 1/125 sec at f/1.8.
Focal Length: 28mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaAt lower ISOs, noise isn’t a problem. Exposure Info: ISO 200, 1/50 sec at f/2.1.
Focal Length: 50mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaThe articulating screen makes shooting from the hip simpler, which street photographers should appreciate. Exposure Info: ISO 800, 1/640 sec at f/2.2 with Exposure Compensation of -.3.
Focal Length: 60mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaExposure Info: ISO 800, 1/45 sec at f/1.8 with Exposure Compensation of -1.
Focal Length: 28mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaExposure Info: ISO 3200, 1/80 sec at f/1.8 with Exposure Compensation of -1.
Focal Length: 28mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaThe MX-1 offers a zoom range of of 28-112mm equivalent. This was taken at the telephoto end. We’re used to a little more reach out of a compact camera these days. Exposure Info: ISO 200, 1/200 sec at f/2.8.
Focal Length:112mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaThe 28mm equivalent proved great for street photography. Exposure Info: ISO 1600, 1/800 sec at f/1.8 with Exposure Compensation of +.7.
Focal Length: 28mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaExposure Info: ISO 1600, 1/320 sec at f/2.5 with Exposure Compensation of +.7.
Focal Length: 112mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaExposure Info: ISO 800, 1/1000 sec at f/1.8.
Focal Length: 28mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaPredictably, at the highest ISO setting, there’s quite a bit of noise. Exposure Info: ISO 12800, 1/500 sec at f/5.6 with Exposure Compensation of +.7.
Focal Length: 112mm Click for Full-res Dan BracagliaNoisy shadows at ISO 12800. Exposure Info: ISO 12800, 1/1000 sec at f/5.6 with Exposure Compensation of +.7.
Focal Length: 112mm Click for Full-res Dan Bracaglia
