Fun fact: the sensor and lens on this camera are a joint package that Pentax and several other makers licensed from some random oem. There's also a casio, and the Olympus XZ2. Really different cameras considering they use the same sensor and lens.
Bought one in reasonably good condition for $200 on Amazon japan about a month ago. It's waaaay more photogenic than it looks (and handles) in real life. Much more of a clunky brick than I expected, and I thought long and hard (2 years and more) before buying. But that's by-the-by, at least in regard to the aesthetics. Love my Q though I do, the screen blindness issues in daylight and the fact that the Q has a fixed screen were the primary reasons I added an MX-1 to my collection.
I think they still offer a lot of practical and IQ advantages over smartphone photography, but I do understand why the rise of smartphones killed off the compact camera market. Good to know there's new development in the area though.
I still have my MX-1, which is currently being used (on loan) by my son. It's a great little camera, though dynamic range isn't its strong point. I also have a Q7, which I love, though it doesn't get much use nowadays. You should try that camera, if you haven't already. It's amazing how many features are packed into such a tiny body.
I've owned a Q and Q10 and loved them both. I wouldn't be surprised if I bought back into the Q system one day. I thought the IQ and lens quality was incredible.
Nice camera, I totally forgot Pentax had these. I just got an Pentax Q and I'm very happy with it and its many tiny cute lenses. Do you think the MX-1 could other the same fun and creativity with only one lens?
The Q is an amazing piece of kit, I regret selling mine. It's a fun camera that helped me to love photography again. It's brilliant for street photography.
@@xmeda I've looked at the XZ-2 and I have considered it, but I can't see the need. I've the RX100 and the LX100, both are better than the Olympus. If one comes up at a good enough price I'll get one. I have a long list of cameras still to buy.
I think the Q system is so much fun. The lens on the MX-1 is pretty versatile. Good range and bright apertures. I think you can get pretty creative with it, but it's of course a compromise in size of kit for not having the flexibility of interchangeable lenses.
Bought an MX-1, everything you said is true. It is one of those cameras that is a joy to have and to use. Small leather bag, a few batteries and I am ready to go! No fuss and beautiful images!
The GR is my go-to, and I don't feel held back by the fixed wide angle at all. But I know some would want more flexibility. Plus the retro looks. Though the extra compact size of the GR is much more practical for me than nice looks :)
Totally Mattias style. Opens with slow music and a few images. Then the poetic voice. I would emulate him too. One of the best. Mattias could sell me anything. 🤣
Best internal Mic I have ever had strangely.. The video from this camera is quite nice and yet have yet to clip audio . Even at hardcore and punk shows. Go figure
Oooh. Put in a decent sized sensor in this and replace the popup flash with popup evf and I wouldn’t be able to contain the drooling. I really wanted to want it when it was released but as a man of culture that hates backgrounds that are not obliterated - sensor was just too small. Pentax - just put at least an aps-c sensor in this. Yeah aps-c is still a peasant sized sensor but still...Ricoh GR 3 would have no chance but to throw itself into landfills.
Hahaha! That's been my dream for a while. That pentax would revisit this idea, but with a compact apsc. Or a larger body that accepted k mount glass would be fine too. Really just entering another camera with the SLR look and feel.
Thanks Jeff. I didn't actually know, it just came with the camera when I bought it used. It is the best wrist strap I've ever used though. Very sturdy and comfy.
I've been after 1 of these for a while now but the price keeps on going up. Although I love your videos, it's RU-vid reviews that knock the price up more and more. When Matius Burling did a review on it a couple of years back the price almost doubled in a month! The average price now for one of these 2nd hand is about £250, I can't get an GR for £300! That would make the MX-1 more expensive than my LX100, my RX100, my Sigma DP1 and even what I paid for my Pentax KS-2! I'd really like one but until the price is right there's no chance I'm buying one. I'm currently saving for the Samsung NX1 and the Sigma DP2 Quattro so all spare money is going there.
It took me two years of looking to finally find one decently priced, so I know what you mean. They are tough to come by. Interesting enough, some of those Sigmas have been on my back burner list for a while. One day I want to try them out. Seem like something refreshingly different. :)
Sadly, the R&D costs in the current economic environment would probably destroy the company. Pentax can't afford to try to burst into a market which is already thoroughly saturated.
I had a MX-1 for a while, which I thought would be a good companion to my Q7, but I never fell in love. The design seemed sort of clunky, materials and finish sort of cheap. I found it slow and unresponsive. Image quality never wowed me, which I blamed on the lens. And without a viewfinder, it didn't solve the Q7's main shortcoming either. Finally I've got my hands on a Fujifilm X20, which I think actually was introduced about the same time as the MX-1. I wish I'd noticed it then, because it seems to have everything I wished for! The X20's design and fit-and-finish are lovely. I like the manual, mechanical zoom action. I really like the optical viewfinder, so I can clearly see what I'm doing on bright days. The sensor is 2/3" XTrans. The 28-112mm (equiv.) F2-2.8 lens is good. And the surprising bonus is that it uses the same battery as my Pentax Q7, which the MX-1 did not.
Thanks to your review and several others here on RU-vid I took the plunge and purchased a like new MX-1 off Ebay. I've had it for about 3 months now, and I love it! I have one question that I am hoping someone can help with. Has anyone found/purchased a tempered glass screen protector that actually fits? The screen already had a few minor abrasions on it when I purchased it. So I bought the" plasticy" one from Expert Shield. It does the job for now, but it too scratches very easily. Any help would be appreciated!
Great relaxed review style, as usual. Thought your comment on needing a lens hood/shade when showing shots taken with the sun in the frame was a little misleading as I can't imaging a lens hood would make any difference in such compositional situations. I have an Olympus SH-21 and I get the same lines of red spheres showing up when shooting the sun through dark hedging foreground. Have always wondered what the cause of this is, as it does not seem to be a lens internal reflection type artifact. If someone knows the science I would love to be enlightened. 😉📷
This camera is based on Olympus XZ-2 with same lens and 1/1.7" CMOS sensor. There also is Casio EX-10 with same lens and sensor. Unfortunately Pentax version lacks external flash hot-shoe which XZ-2 has. The lens alone was first used in Olympus XZ-1 coupled with 10Mpix CCD sensor.. and yes it has the same flare :D
I bought one of these last year not working hoping it was just the lens (common failure point and easy to replace). Sadly it was not. I’ll keep putting feelers out there! Some solid prices on eBay right now though
Ricoh won't do it, but I really wish they would use their Pentax purchase to make a MX-1.II or whatever you want to call it with the same fixed 40mm equiv lens and hardware out of the GR iiix crammed into the same shell with maybe some more analogue control dials as a limited edition to make tons of money off the people that want the retro feels of the x100 cameras but can't buy a new one because they've been out of stock most places for msrp since they were released, much less since the pandemic. I'm not a fan of telescopic/extending zoom lenses, and 40mm is a solid point that's not really wide but also not really tele either, it was enough for me along with a lot of other people that weren't a fan of the wide lens prior to get a gr iiix. Or another even bigger pipe dream for Pentax/Ricoh to join Panasonic, OM, and the rest in the MFT group to create a collaboration Pentax MX-1.II using one of the newer relatively speaking ~20mp MFT sensors modifying the LX100ii's design to fit a MX-1 design with full manual dials and a fixed 17.5, 20, or 25mm Pentax lens with aperture ring to get a 35, 40, or 50mm FF equivalent all using Pentax/Ricoh image processing/software. A small zoom to do something like the 28-105 some of my compacts do would work great to give the "bag of primes" feeling, I just really hate lenses that protrude out with an odd shape like the LX100(ii)'s does. At this point Pentax/Ricoh joining the MFT group is the only way we'll see new Pentax mirrorless options. As a long-time Pentax fan and a MFT shooter I'd dump money into that experiment.
I've also been looking at the mx1 how has it been. Most seem to come out of japan. I have to wait until I move to make sure it's delivered to the right address. Pentax needs a mx-1 mark ii to attract new people to the brand👍
That would be a sweet camera :) it works really well and looks fantastic. A sensor upgrade would be nice though. These small older sensors have a hard time with low light and dynamic range!
I thought it was quite nice, but it didn't wow me the same way my Ricoh GR did. Whether that be the lens or the sensor or whatever. So, I could see how one could get feel that way.
This camera has few brothers. Mainly Olympus XZ-2 which is the base camera. And one Casio too. They all share same sensor, circuitry and lens. Unfortunately Pentax lacks the hot-shoe which Oly XZ-2 has... That lens was first introduced in Olympus XZ-1 :)
I just bought one of these with like 65 shutter activations. It's so much fun to use, and really has a wonderful lens. Great shots. I have several other compact cameras (S90, S100, RX100, LX5), and this is my current fave. Thanks for the great overview.
A few digital cameras come along that capture the public's imagination. The Contax TVS Digital, the Nikon P700, the Canon SX700HS and this camera are a few. Top quality construction, a sensible MP count and a great lens. None are cheap and all last for years. Love the brass top. Shame it's buried under black paint. The only camera ever that you want the finish to wear down..
