If you aren't paid or have special access at live music gigs then you are really limited as to taking snaps of your concert memories. And, no, I don't mean holding up a mobile phone for extended periods of a gig.
The Pentax Q fulfils this role for me as an ancillary to my ever present mobile phone. But why the Pentax Q?
The first reason is that it is tiny and not likely to worry any over zealous bouncer or security personnel. Weighing only 200g with an sd card and battery this is a feather weight camera. It's tiny in both weight and volume.
The Pentax Q at the previously mentioned 200g including sd card and battery is truly light weight compared to the Canon R6 at 680g (including sd card and battery). This is without factoring in any attached lens. Not only that, even mirrorless cameras such as the Canon R6 or say Fujifilm X-T30 are significant in size such that you maybe forced to have them stored away in the cloakroom.
While access is one thing it's only worth taking in the Pentax Q if you believe it has advantages over your ever present mobile phone. In my use case I believe it does.
I only ever try and bring in two lenses with my Pentax Q. The Pentax 01 Standard Prime 8.5mm f/1.9 that is 47mm equivalent in 35mm format and the 06 15-45mm F2.8 lens that is 85mm to 250mm in 35mm equivalent format.
The Pentax Q has a small 1/2.3-inch sensor. This is roughly the size of low end mobile phone cameras (in 2025) and probably slightly smaller than top end mobile phone sensors. In other words, high iso performance is out the window.
You would think that makes the Pentax Q a right off for low light gig photo's. However, all things are relative plus most people never print their photo's anyway.
I believe a mitigating factor in low light conditions plus the heavy use of artificial lights at music gigs is that there is no fine texture to see in peoples faces anyway. This is doubly true if you are further back from the stage. Really you are not going to see fine detail under lots of strobing and artificial lights.
In the low light conditions you will encounter I find the minimum usable shutter speed to get usable shots is around 1/60 second. Any slower just isn't feasible to get any sharp shots. Depending on the musician 1/60 second will get you quite a few good images.
The two previously mentioned lenses have fast enough apertures that achieving 1/60 second exposures is possible. The Pentax Q doesn't have an evf so you kinda have to run and gun with continuous shooting and just hope you get a few goodies and then cull the rest.
With such a small sensor you typically have to restrict iso to 800 or thereabouts. Yeah, higher iso would be handy but this is an old camera with a small sensor. There are tradeoffs but that is what photography often comes down to.
So it really comes down to the results. Anyway, you can view this selection and for me they are good enough. The zoom of the 06 lens can also come in really handy if you are not close to the stage.
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