I see lots of comments about 36MP being too many, which I understand, but is this really so much of an issue? Every Pentax dslr I have had has had the option of shooting at a lower resolution (and I'm not talking about cropping down to the apsc image size). Presumably the k1 will allow full frame coverage at resolutions that are less demanding on our hard drives.....

It seems not everyone is impressed - just don't take this too seriously. It is Rockwell after all!


19 February 2016, Friday

NEW: Pentax K-1. Pentax' first try at a full-frame DSLR.

It's got 36MP at a sluggish 4.4 FPS with sensor stabilization and two SD slots for $1,800.

I'd pass; a 6D or D750 are superior cameras and parts of superior systems, unless you're counting pixels — but if you're counting pixels, I seriously doubt your photos ever amount to anything. Everything below 50 MP falls into the same bin in my book, and ergonomics and system thoroughness mean far more than pixel count per dollar.

Not that I have anything against Pentax; they've played fourth fiddle behind Canon, LEICA and Nikon ever since the 1970s. I love my Pentax Spot Meters (and Ansel Adams also swore by his), but I can do without Pentax' primitive DSLRs unless I was some Aspergers case hoping to use my ancient manual-focus Pentax lenses. Pentax' manual focus lenses are also inferior to Nikon's AI and AI-s and Canon's FD lenses. God bless Pentax for trying and not giving up as Minolta and Contax did, but I fail to see who would buy it other than some feeble Aspergian hope to recycle old lenses from my K1000. (For those of you who don't have to care for as many on-the-spectrum people as I do on a daily basis, those with Asperger's have great difficulty handling change. Many outsiders may miss my point: those with this disorder find it an insurmountable obstacle to dump their old lenses and get new ones instead.)

It's crazy to hold onto your 1970s manual focus lenses and attempt to build a modern digital system around what you already have. Crummy modern plastic autofocus lenses are worlds better optically than the solid metal classics of the 1970s and 1980s.

The Pentax is a paper tiger. It looks great on paper to those with less experience as to what really matters in a camera, but I have yet to see a Pentax DSLR that handles as well as a Nikon or Canon. I doubt they will magically have a brand new user interface that suddenly just works great. I've been shooting long and hard for over 40 years, and some things never change. The Pentax have been loaded with foolish parlour tricks, like pixel-shift resolution, and short on reality like a noisy in-camera AF motor, lack of VR and IS lenses (sensor shift is a lousy way to stabilize images), and a ugly menu fonts and layout.

Then again, I do have a Pentax SMC 15mm f/3.5 full-frame ultra-ultra wide manual focus lens, so bring it on. Time to dust it off! Hopefully the K-1 will be a huge step forward, but I doubt it.

What would have been much better is if Pentax made a Holy Grail: a Leica-M mount full-frame mirrorless body with the superior tonal and color rendition of a Nikon or Canon camera, the ergonomic brilliance of an iPhone, an excellent built-in flash and a fantastic EVF. The Sony A7 series has the industry's worst user interface, no flash and only so-so color rendition, and is not a native Leica mount. It's the closest thing, but still nowhere near what we need. The Grail would also have a rangefinder feeler to pop up focus aids as we focus our lenses manually, and would introduce a new series of integrated AF lenses sharing the Leica M mount. Now that would be cool! Even better if they retained the 43.27 mm sensor diagonal, but corrected the aspect ratio to the proper 4:3 or 4:5 ratio instead of the idiotic Barnack 3:2 ratio.

Hopefully you can see why I'm not excited by Pentax simply trying to get on the full frame bandwagon 14 years too late. Canon's been making full-frame DSLRs since 2002; I'd be much happier if Pentax actually did something original instead that would change photography for the better.

I couldn't find anywhere in London with mint 67 stuff. You could try mr cad and Nicholas cameras but their stuff is often very very used. I'd recommend eBay or ffordes. Got my 67 stuff from them and mifsuds but they are all outside London

I think I heard that There was mention in the AP video of real time exposure info superimposed in the viewfinder. If it is implemented as well as in the Fuji X100 that will be a very very nice feature to have in an SLR.....

Can't wait to see it


Also very impressed by the price. Very competitive.

DA 16-45?

http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Pentax-DA-16-45mm-F4-Lens.html

I Have bought repeatedly from ffordes and mifsuds. In my experience the items have always been as described but when i buy I also factor in the potential cost of returning any item if needed. I have only returned things very occasionally but never had any issues with this. Sometimes before I buy I ring up and ask them to describe the condition over the phone.

Micro globe I have used only for new gear and they have always been good.

I have no hesitation recommending all of the above.

Is there any news on whether it has quick shift focus?

Still looking...

After my Arctic Butterfly failed to move the dust, mine cleaned up fine with visible dust 33mm Vswabs, corner swabs and VDust Plus fluid.

its actually very easy to do.

I wonder if anyone has one of these lying around. They seem to be
as rare as rocking horse p** and i have been trying to get an original Pentax one for ages.....

Help appreciated!