Pentax K-01

I would venture to suggest that whether the K01 is a sucess or not is unlikely to be down to the rational discussions of a set of Pentax enthusiasts, the vast majority of which are probably not in the market to buy one anyway.

Sales are generated for a wide variety of reasons ranging (not exclusively) from "who cares what it looks like, it's technically the absolute best on the market" to "I like the colour and the price"

Then when you throw into the mix major outlets (Jessops; Amazon to name but two) who might decide to flood the market for no other reason than they can, who knows what will be the outcome.

There have been some "dogs" of cars which have been outstandingly popular and musical artist kept off the #1 spot by a "novelty" tune.

regards
Bernard

The target market for this is obviously younger people than the majority on here. Most of us are middle aged or older. If Pentax were to design cameras with only us in mind it would die completely as a manufacturer in a couple of decades at most.

A lot of younger people don't use viewfinders, even some who have DSLRs. I'm sure you've seen them with their DSLR's at arms length. They have always used the lcd screen whether that be on a camera or a smart phone.

So, while its not for me I hope it does well, and I think its got a very decent chance of doing so.

from expertreviews.co.uk link

That's a very positive comment.

John

nice link to size comparision with K7/K5-
http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/2012/02/size-and-weight-comparison-for-k-01.html

I don't know why everyone's obsessed with size all of a sudden. I've used Pentax cameras for over 40 years and never once looked up the size of any of them

So the Sony NEX 5N has an 18mm reg. distance and the body is 38mm wide which means there is 20mm from the sensor to the rear of the camera. The K-01 has 13mm from the sensor to the rear of the camera, but it has SR built into that The Sony needs SR in the lens (expensive).

Assuming someone like Sigma do the same lens for both cameras.... say it's a 50mm FL + say 30mm at the front for lens thread etc. = 80mm
The overall length of the Sony will be 80+20 = 100mm and the
K-01 will be 80+13 = 93mm

So the K-01 with the same lens as the Sony is 7% (approx) smaller than the Sony and has SR...... I can't see that being a disadvantage

I think that reviewer along with most other reviewers needs sacking

Then again if your going to use the camera without a lens .......

Of course nobody makes reference; that to have a similar setup to the K-01 with the Sony NEX-5N you need a great big ugly adapter (Sony LA-EA2 NEX-to-SLT adapter) on the front of the camera... see link

Only costs £260-£350 link and you can now use Sony DSLR lenses just like you can use Pentax DSLR lenses on K-01 without any adapter.

We won't mention that because the Pentax might sound better

We also won't mention that you don't need to buy any extra lenses

A lens mount will be stressed most when there are larger masses on both sides of the mount, like with a DSLR. With a lighter CSC camera this concern is minimal.

Where have you been.

Every time a new Pentax camera comes out people write endlessly about its size: too big, too small, just right. One of the main advantages of the K-5 is the compact size related to its excellent image quality, something other brands can't deliver.

The only significant reason to buy a CSC is for the "C". Compact.

Now Pentax have not only missed that boat, but they've forsaken their own legacy and competitive advantage. Any true fans of the brand should be up in arms, but instead we see people willing to rationalise anything that says "Pentax" on the tin.

But the general market won't. Even the BJP could scarcely hide their disdain in the mini-article they published.

I've been waiting for the "real" Pentax mirrorless offering after the toy Q. Now it's plain the best option is more MFT gear.

But we like buying more lenses!

By the way, each adapter for my Olympus PEN cost me 20 bucks. I am now using MFT, PEN F, Leica, and Pentax lenses on the same (small) camera. Sure they're manual focus -- I prefer it that way. Besides, I get a better LCD and useful focus assist. Easy.

The exposure is spot on (better than any Pentax) and the mount is not crippled (no green button; instead, instant metering). On a newer model I'd also get much better AF on native lenses, a tilt screen, etc. etc. Image quality is indistinguishable in real world shots, though I can pixel peep and see a small difference in favour of my Pentax body.

Pentax had various strategies to pursue.

A small CSC with an optional K-mount adapter would have worked.

Buying into the Micro Four Thirds consortium and issuing compact Pentax lenses for the new mount would have worked.

A depth-oriented body design with integrated K-mount might have worked (though it gives up much).

The yellow brick might work too.

[Over and Out.]

I might get it right this time, see below.
http://www.photo-i.co.uk/2012/02/pentax-k-01/
Hopfully
Regards
Dave
PS Thanks for the PM John

Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road!
How come the call the scarecrow brainless, when it took dorothy 2 frickin hours to realize all she had to do was click her heels to get home?
oh well...
The more I see it the less ugly it looks... maybe Pentaxes road to success in the mirrorless category will be paved with yellow bricks!
btw they really scored big time with movie makers here even adding manual audio gain to the mix!

I think the K-01 looks great. Sure it looks different, It is different! I could use all my lenses on it, that's good. It seems to be well specified, that's good. Size is ok. You do have to be able to hold and control it after all and it is still smaller than the k5(A nice small camera I find).

But....
I wouldn't buy the K-01 cos it doesn't have any viewfinder. That is the real nub for me. The mirrors in DSLR's are holding camera designs back at the moment and it must be one of the next steps forward to offer SLR quality viewing without the mirror. I have had cameras with electronic viewfinders, to be honest I prefer optical (I prefer pentaprism), but they really were not that bad. I would consider either if they were on this but no viewfinder is not an option for me.

Perhaps the K-02 will have the viewfinder? The reality is that I will not be changing the K5 for a while yet anyway so I'm not in the market for a new camera but I will probably be looking in a year or so and hopefully the K-02/3/4 will add the viewfinder and a lot more by then. In the meantime, I think this will sell and also sell to a lot of people who don't have a pentax DSLR, ...yet!

I keep looking at that 40mm lens and thinking how frickin easy it would be to build a "Follow focus" device to manually focus it for video shooting!

follow focus

I mean ridiculously easy!

I assumed that the Pentax mirrorless would be like the Panasonic G series. But we don't even have the option of a clip on EVF. Odd when the Ricoh GX and GRD series had that option. Indeed the GX series EVF was the first ever. This is an opportunity lost.

Dave

that has really been addressed to death already..
there are loups that go over the lcd... and there is an hdmi port for attaching ANY type of monitor including evf's to it..
the problem right now is nobody is really flooding the market with consumer grade/priced hdmi evf's... that could change.. a lot of d-slrs have this port.