I brought them both up on my laptop side to side and then full page swapping between the two and the short answer is no.

Is there much difference in file size?

Edit : I tried one the other day using the K-1 and 50-135mm and was blown away by the quality, rendering and sharpness. Then I did it again normally and decided it was just that Pentax files are that good anyway as there was no difference to my eyes. However my eyes are not what they used to be

To be honest it's impossible to see if they are sharp because of the size.

Pixel shift is something I have always meant to try but never got round to as my preferred software (DXO Photolab) doesn't process it.

Why have a dragonfly moving away when you can have one flying towards you though

K-3II and Sigma 50-500mm OS


Southern Hawker Dragonfly - Blashford Lakes by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

K-1 and 150-450mm


Dragonflys by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

Seriously though, I sound very anti Pentax sometimes but at the end of the day I much prefer the files from my Pentax gear and it's what I take out with me 90% of the time ... just wish it was 100%

A few with my K-3II when I had it ... but as Chris said with Pentax a lot of it is technique (along with a bit of luck). I have to say though, when shooting anything panning left to right Pentax isn't too bad at all, the letdown is anything coming towards you which you can pretty much give up on after the first shot.

I recently purchased a 7D MKII for just this purpose though, it is a lot easier.

150-450mm


Tern with Fish 2 by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

Sigma 50-500mm OS


White Egret by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

And just to show the K-1 can do it ... (both with 150-450mm)


Red Kite - Llanddeusant Llangadog by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr


Ukrainian Air Force Su-27P1M Flanker 58 by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

That's just going to cause a lot more tiers

I sold my K-5IIs (always said I would keep it no matter what as the IQ was outstanding IMO) a few months after buying the K-1 because in crop mode it basically IS a 15mp K-5IIs with a few more toys (Astrotracer, pixel shift, slightly better autofocus etc) plus you get the added bonus of full frame (superb IQ) at the turn of a knob..

Unfortunately full frame is where the K-1 falls down if you do birds in flight, airshows and certain wildlife because although the autofocus and tracking are marginally better than previous models the buffer and fps are truly terrible so I normally end up putting it into crop mode where they both improve somewhat ... but then if what you do 99% of the time is fast moving subjects you may as well keep the K-5IIs (or move over to another make).

Given what you are shooting personally I would wait for the K-3III or if that turns out to be too much money a used K-3II.

The thing that puts me off the FA* lenses is the silver finish. I had the 250-600mm and 200mm and while they were very nice lenses I always have to buy the best condition I can find and I was always concerned they would get scratched and end up looking tatty.

Daft I know but there you go .....

I have to say while I agree with you I don't think the brand would survive having to make a couple of decent morrorless cameras and the required lenses either. It's too late for them to get into that market, Sony took their chance and look to be dominating it (although Canon seem to be catching up fast). Nikon has been left to play catchup and nobody is going to swap over to Pentax from any of those now.

Using an adapter for the lenses is a good stopgap but the speed Pentax move at it would be many many years before there was a full mirrorless lineup.

Ricoh are definately playing to the enthusiast/older generation with this new camera, larger viewfinder, ability to input aperture for manual lenses, nothing at all has really been said about autofocus tracking speed which is what it will come down to for me. If it doesn't increase the tracking ability dramatically with the 150-450mm then I won't be bothering.

None whatsoever unless you have 2 pairs of hands.

If you need an overhead shot on the K-1 you tilt the screen down and hold the camera up, if you need a low shot you lower the K-1 and tilt the screen up ... using both hands. Try doing that with a mobile phone while holding the K-1 in the other hand (unless of course you are going to use some sort of holder attached to the hotshoe in which case the subject will be long gone by the time you get round to setting that up)

Also you can already do that on the K-1 and KP, the connection is flaky at best.

I got decent results out of the last version of the 50-500mm (OS DG HSM) at the long end and it really did come into it's own when requiring close focus. The FA* 250-600mm I had was very nice but a pain to carry so almost never went anywhere whereas the 150-450mm is literally on my K-1 95% of the time and is very sharp at 450mm.

I do wish Ricoh would bring out a full frame AF 1.4x teleconverter though, just can't understand why they haven't considering we have the DA* 200mm, DA* 300mm, D-FA 70-200mm, D-FA 70-210mm and D-FA 150-400mm (and even some of the old FA* lenses) that would all benefit from it.