PENTAX Q 03 FISH EYE

Handy fisheye lens for Pentax Q

A review and photo examples of the Pentax Q 03 FISH EYE lens.

Gallery

The example photos were taken with a Pentax Q10.

Review

The 03 fisheye lens for the Pentax Q has a focal length of 3.2mm, and when converted to a 35mm equivalent focal length, the Q and Q10 have a 18mm fisheye lens, while the Q7 and Q-S1 have a 17mm fisheye lens.

The Q7 and Q-S1 have different 35mm equivalent values calculated from the sensor size, but this lens was released during the Q era and the image circle cannot cover the 1/1.7 sensor, so the camera crops it to a usable range. The raw images generated by the Q10 have a resolution of 4000×3000 and 12 megapixels, but the raw images generated by the Q7 have a resolution of 3629×2722, which is about 10% smaller. However, the JPG images of the Q7 are saved at a resolution of 4000×3000, so it can be confirmed that the resolution is supplemented by image processing within the camera.

The unique lens was released to make up for the poor lens lineup, and is designed to be cheap. This lens is no exception, with a simple construction, plastic mount, fixed F5.6 aperture, and no mechanical shutter, but the lens configuration of 5 groups and 6 elements seems well designed.

The problem with this lens is that, like the other three unique lenses, it has near and far focus positions, with the far position being over-inflated rather than infinity.

If you think that far is fine for landscape photography, shooting at the far position will result in a blurred photo.

The aperture is not narrowed down to F5.6, which is called pan focus, so you need to focus on the intended subject. This lens has a slightly contradictory concept, but requires precise focusing.

When the focus is properly adjusted, it produces a reasonably sharp image.

This lens also does not process the image inside the camera when shooting JPG, and both Raw and JPG images are recorded without correction.

The Pentax Q series does not have a mechanical shutter on the camera side, so the unique lens series, including this lens, uses the sensor shutter to shoot.

Specification

Items	03	04	05	07
Focal length(mm)	3.2	6.3	18	11.5
Q10 35mm equivalent focal length	18	35	99	63
Q7 35mm equivalent focal length	16.5(15) *2	33(29) *2	94(83) *2	53(53)
Max aperture	5.6	7.1	8	9
Leaf blade	–	–	–	–
Lens Construction	6elements in 5 groups	4elements in 3 groups	3elements in 3 groups	1elements in 1 groups
Min distance(m)	0.09	0.07	0.27	0.3
Lens length(mm)	30.5	25	19.5	6.9
Max diameter(mm)	40.6	40.6	40.6	40.8
Filter Size(mm)	–	–	–	–
Weight(g)	29	21	18	8
Release date	August 31, 2011	←	←	July 2013
Price(Yen)	6,560-	4,620-	4,490-	2,220-