Mine arrived about an hour ago. (Battery grip to follow, ETA next Tuesday).

More about my order from SRS:

The K-1 and 15-30mm and 28-105mm lenses are now tracked as being with UPS, (the pick-up scan was 3:49 this afternoon), and expected delivery is by the end of Friday, April 29th.

SRS has now taken the payment for the battery grip, (I was very early with my pre-order), and they should get it in the post Friday 29th. Expected delivery is next Tuesday, 3rd May, presumably because of Bank Holiday Monday.

(What do you think: should I wait for the battery grip to arrive before I try the K-1 and lenses? Decisions, decisions!)

They emailed a shipping statement with a UPS tracking number. That shows (at the time of this posting) that a UPS shipping label has been created, but it hasn't yet arrived at their facility.

Needless to say, I keep checking! This is silly - checking it won't make it get here any faster.

Doug at SRS just rang.

(My credit card has been updated since I pre-ordered, so I had asked them to get in touch, when they were ready to take the payment, to get the new details).

He has completed my payment, sent a confirming email, and expects to get the stuff (possibly without the grip) in the post today. I hope to get it tomorrow, Friday.

I'm not sure if that refers to me. In case it does, I'll clarify:

My strategy is to use FF as my default system. But I will retain a useful APS-C system for when there are reasons not to use the full-frame system, such as burst-rate, weight, size, etc. In the next year or two, I expect that to be quite often. And even when I am using the K-1, I still expect to use it sometimes in Crop mode.

In 2015 I used the 150-450mm lens for both airshows and motor sports. This year I've used the 70-200mm for motor sports. Experience has suggested to me that I need an extra bit of flexibility. Here is my current idea. (For information, for this sort of photography I typically use TAv mode).

I will try the K-1 with the Function dial set to "Crop". Then I can rapidly switch between FF mode (for a wider angle and better image quality, but lower burst rate and larger raw file sizes), and Crop mode (for faster burst rate and smaller raw file sizes, but a narrower angle). So I might use the 150-450mm lens to photograph an airplane doing high altitude maneuvers in Crop mode, then switch to FF mode when it is closer to me and 150mm in Crop mode won't get it all in. And the same applies to motor sports with the 70-200mm lens. Sometimes a motor bike or car gets so close that 70mm isn't really wide enough in Crop mode.

I don't know if this will work! I've never even seen a K-1. And obviously I may find the burst rate of the K-1 not good enough in either mode. But I have taken 1000s of photos with those two lenses on a K-3II, so I have a feel for how those (very nice) lenses match this subject matter.

Another factor I'll consider is that I have the Pentax HD 1.4x Converter, and I'll see how it performs on the K-1 with all my lenses. It may, for example, make some of the APS-C lenses work well with the K-1 in FF mode. Or it may not, depending on the lens! (Ricoh claims it isn't an FF Converter, but I suspect that just means "... in all cases"). Once I add the Converter to the mix of APS-C lenses and FF lenses and a K-1 that works in both modes, I simply don't know what I'll end up doing on the day! Initially I'll be making it up as I go along.

I don't really want to (say) have both the K-3II and the K-1 on the go, each with one of those lenses. That is a lot of kit (6 kilograms) to be carrying around! I hope I will often be able to manage with half that amount. But ... we'll see!

I've just received an email from SRS inviting me to an "Understanding Your Nikon DSLR Camera" Workshop.

Are they trying to tell me something about the fate of my K-1?

For me, the K-1 is just one of the components that I am expecting to help me get better photos.

I have already used the new 150-450mm and 70-200mm lenses on a K-3II for action photography. I used the 150-450mm lens for several airshows last year, and found it better than my alternatives. More recently I have used the 70-200mm lens for motor sports, with a similar improvement compared with my alternatives. That was my main reason for pre-ordering those lenses back in February 2015.

I originally wanted the K-1 primarily to improve image quality for studio work, plus anything else it turned out to be good at, for example landscapes. I doubted whether it would be any good for the sort of action photography I've just mentioned, but I thought the 15-30mm and 24-70mm lenses would be good for landscapes and studio work.

Gradually, over more than a year, I've evolved all of these individual tactical thoughts into a personal strategy to make Pentax full-frame my default system, using Pentax APS-C where there are reasons not to use the full-frame system, such as burst-rate, weight, size, etc. I expect over the coming years that Pentax full-frame cameras (after the K-1) will gradually reduce my need to use an APS-C system.

(And for the record, I'm buying the whole lot from SRS! I pre-ordered early, so I expect to get mine within days).

I used Pentax film SLRs from 1967 to 2004. But I no longer have any pre-digital lenses. In fact, all my lenses are currently in production.

So I am mostly having to re-build my FF system from scratch. (Except for pre-2015 FF lenses, such as the 100mm WR Macro and the DA* 300mm).

I already have the 150-450mm (since last May), and the 24-70mm and 70-200mm (this year). I pre-ordered the 15-30mm and 28-105mm when I pre-ordered the K-1.

In the next day or two, I hope to go from zero FF capability to comprehensive FF capability! If I can't take decent photographs with that, I'll give up photography and retire to a care home.

I assume it will be in DNGPrivateData for DNGs, and Exif Makernote in PEFs. (In effect, DNGPrivateData is the same as Makernote but wrapped up with a DNG tag).

I note that DNGPrivateData is bigger and has more tags in the K-3 than the K-5IIs, but I haven't a clue at the moment how to interpret the differences.

I have previously made prints from DNGs downloaded from Imaging Resource, and come to the conclusion that the K-3 has much worse noise at very high ISOs. I had got a second opinion, and agreement that my prints showed what I stated above.

I've now done my own side-by-side tests, and the results are different. My K-3's high ISO noise is hardly different from my K-5IIs's high ISO noise. I don't know why the results from the Imaging Resource DNGs are so different from the results from my own DNGs!

My tests were carried out at nearly the same time for both cameras. The Imaging Resource tests were done at different times for the two cameras, and some key factors may have changed.