Pentax K-01 Battery Grip

Just ordered myself a ridiculously cheap K-01, and given the fact that even the K-5 is too small for me, I have a feeling it's going to feel miniscule when I'm using it.

With that in mind, I decided to see if anyone had made a battery grip for the K-01, and they haven't. Soooo, out came SketchUp.




The idea is to make it out of some form of plastic sheeting (most likely Acrylic or PVC, as ABS is ridiculously expensive), glued and screwed together then painted/vinyl dyed matte black.

I plan on having it accept two D-LI90s which slide in from the side, and re-locate the K-01s battery door to the grip itself, as that seems to be the most sensible way of sealing it, which still offering quick changeout.

I'm just waiting for the K-01 to arrive so I can finalize the dimensions, then I'll start posting up some WIP photos

Interesting idea. Care to share where you found the K-01 "ridiculously cheap"?

eBay, brand new, £200

It's $319 in the states now, body-only, so the price was about right.

I've got a K5 which I use for pretty much everything these days, but as I'm mostly shooting in tungsten (well, sodium actually) lighting, the AF is abysmal using phase-detect. The K-01 looks like it focusses a bit faster using CDAF than the K5, with focus peaking to boot, so I figured at that price I had to give it a go.

I think SRS are doing the body for about £239.

If they had made the RAW files identical to the
K-5 ones, it would have sold a lot better. I can't
see any use in having a camera without a finder
that can't match the K-5 on quality.

-

http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/7336/Pentax-K-01-Black-Yellow-Camera-Body.html

Still £399 at SRS, the UK pricing for the K-01 is insane. Even the black one is £349.

Apparently there's not much difference between the 12 and 14 bit RAW files; I suppose time will tell though, as I'll be using it in the same role I've been using the K-5 for the past 8 months

Algi, that's a very strange statement. Both cameras give identical image quality, being substantially the same in that regards. The DNG files will also be identical quality, surely?

I expect, looking at mdc's comment, that Algi is referring to 12-bit and 14-bit files. I'm not sure that will be a major buying point for most of us, but maybe for some.

Basically the 12 vs 14 bit RAW will primarily affect dynamic range, and you're more likely to be limited by your glass/environment in that regards than the encoding.

EDIT: DxOMark

For a third of the price, it seems like a pretty good option for those looking for a backup body

There doesn't actually seem to be much practical difference!

£239 on ebay

They had a yellow one for the same price this morning
must have sold it.

Edit:: It was still in my History ebay

-

Ahhhh nice, didn't realise they sold stuff on eBay as well as their official site

Bit depth does matter - kinda

The higher the bit depth the less likely you are to burn out a sky, the more accurate the colours, the less likely you are to get banding in continuous tones.

Bit depth is what the Jpg vs Raw debate is about.

http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/post-processing-articles/bit-depth-explained-...

The only time in the real world when the difference between 12bit and 14bit shows is if you need to edit by a large amount especially when going for a high contrast B&W conversion, you are less likely to get posterization in a 14bit image than you are in a 12bit image. No nevermind for most I would think.

If you ever come across the 'comb effect' (gaps in the Histogram) in Photoshop you have exceeded the bit depth of the file.