gdgt

The Pentax MX-1 is a beautifully designed camera, but some issues with image quality and performance prevent it from living up to its potential.

The MX-1 may not quite have it all, but this burly camera delivers equally hardy performance and build quality and we've come to love it despite its shortcomings. One not to be overlooked.

The MX-1 has a sleek retro design from the front and in the menus, but it doesn't embrace the "old-school" concept fully. Picture quality is excellent up to 800 ISO but drops quickly beyond that.

If you're a fan of Pentax, this might be right up your street, but the majority of consumers may find more to suit their needs elsewhere.

While there were some quirks with some of the features, such as HDR, which we would have preferred to have worked better, the camera offers a lot of customisation and editing features within the camera, without the need to process images on your PC.

Though the camera wasn't fully ready for testing or evaluation, shooting with the Pentax MX-1 was still fun. The lens seemed to be of high quality and autofocus and exposure were good. We can't comment on speed, menus, or other features like HDR and onscreen levels, as they simply weren't ready.

What's the justification for picking up the new MX-1? If it's just the design Pentax is selling us—we're not buying.

The company's new MX-1 compact camera is another sign that Pentax is serious about increasing its market share by doing what it does best—manufacturing a well-built photographic tool.

It's the control that really appeals here. The 28-112mm (in 35mm terms) lens offers an impressive aperture range that offers f/1.8 at the widest angle and only f/2.5 at the far end, so if you're after impressive bokeh shots, the MX-1 should have you well covered.

Given its pre-production status, we can't yet evaluate the MX-1's user interface or photographic capabilities. The physical design seems promising, though, with a very solid build, comfortable handling, and plenty of worthwhile features.

For those of you that didn’t see this camera back when it was announced in September of 2012, it’s a real live interchangeable lens system-toting camera with a 12.4-megapixel sensor all in the size of “a pack of cards.” It’s small and it’s powerful, those two things are certainly true.

An admirable, if late, effort at joining the advanced compact brigade.

With our brief hands on look at the camera, we found the camera responded quickly with quick focus and shutter response ... The build quality and handling of the camera, with rubberised grip that covers the front of the camera, was very good, with a premium camera feeling.

I walked away from the Pentax MX-1 a bit disappointed. When I saw the camera, I had hoped for more because of all the hype already surrounding it. But something about it just didn’t add up for me.