We report on a Q-switched fiber laser producing pulse durations well below 10 ns by using a short-length ytterbium-doped rod-type photonic crystal fiber as gain medium. At repetition rates up to 100 kHz pulse energies up to 0.5 mJ and average powers in excess of 30 W have been obtained in single-transverse mode beam quality. The compact short pulse laser system possesses further power and energy scaling potential.