If you want APS size sensor, both Samsung and Sony can provide you with that.
As for the K-01... take a K-5, remove the two big advantages it has (viewfinder and phase detect autofocus), retain most of the size, and make it look gaudy. Yay.
You can read the thread, but to summarize my feelings as well as those of many others: Fail. I find it not exciting at all because it completely misses the entire point of mirrorless. There is no flange distance reduction since it uses K lenses, which means that no rangefinder lenses can be used. It also means that you are using DSLR lenses as the lens system, so there is no reduction in size for the lenses (though you can certainly build a small Pentax system due to some of their very small lens offerings). Basically, you save a small amount of size on the body and that's it. I don't understand why anyone would buy it over a Pentax DSLR...you gain none of the advantages of a mirrorless camera, yet lose a viewfinder.
The K-01 seems to be aimed squarely at one and only one type of buyer:
Existing Pentax K mount lens (and/or camera) owners who want to buy a "mirrorless camera" because it is all the rage. If there is a sub-type of this buyer it may be that a great many won't really know why they want to buy a mirrorless camera over say a K-5.
The K mount registration distance being maintained kills my interest in the camera as I can't adapt any of my lenses to use on this body. But if that were not enough, from the official specification sheet, the following entry makes me walk away instantly:
If it doesn't include a viewfinder or you can't buy an optional EVF it immediately loses my interest, lens compatibility issues aside.
Put another way... I am not wholly against making small mirrorless cameras that use DSLR / SLR mounts... but I want a proper viewfinder as part of the package. That is only half the battle - it would take a pretty special new camera to cause me to want to buy into some other maker's lens line up. The K-01 to me doesn't appear that special at all.
michaelwatkins wrote:
The K-01 seems to be aimed squarely at one and only one type of buyer:
Existing Pentax K mount lens (and/or camera) owners who want to buy a "mirrorless camera" because it is all the rage.
....
Or maybe we can say it this way? :
Existing Pentax K mount lens (and/or camera) owners who would welcome a body which is smaller than exiting pentax DSLR and can still accept all of their current lenses.
If I was a k-5 owner and had a number of pentax lenses, I would gladly add this body IF the CDAF works well my k-mount AF lenses. There is of course this big IF but if the answer to this is yes then the body makes sense to me.
...
- it would take a pretty special new camera to cause me to want to buy into some other maker's lens line up. The K-01 to me doesn't appear that special at all.
But of course it is never aimed to be a new camera system. It is a camera for pentax k-mount users which is entirely reasonable.
I think, for many of us, mirrorless is about balancing small size vs. loosing some of the feature sets of DSLRs, as well as the ability to use alternative lenses (especially in this forum.) To me, the K-01 isn't small enough to make it worth loosing the superior AF and OVF of the K-5, and it also is pretty limited in accepting various alternative lenses. I'd probably rather just have a Kx or K-5, since the K-01 isn't THAT much smaller.
Pentax is staying true to their mount and should be applauded!
They're the only manufacturer I can think of who has stuck by their mount after going to a bayonet.
All Pentax lenses can be mounted on this camera! Pentax lenses are some of the finest lenses there are AND they keep them priced reasonably across almost all models! Something that can't really be said for every lens maker! So while the tards at Panasonic for example want $500+ for a very unimpressive 100-300 piece of plastic junk Pentax offers a well built 55-300mm with superb IQ that can be had for about $150. Or you could pay $500 for it and get a camera AND another 18-55 zoom with it! Anyway that's just one example. I've always been told that people buy cameras primarily for the lens line-up. If that's true then WTF cares that it's not a shallow flange? The lens line-up is pretty fantastic! They even still sell their screw-mount adapters so all those awesome Takumar lenses can be put to use.
I say the camera is a winner for the rationally minded photographer who has also taken to (or been taken by) this small-bady fashion craze we've seen take place of the past 3 years or so. And some people speculate that there will be a follow-up model with more features and such - I dunno. If that's true then I think this is a pretty good thing!
I have a K-5 and there is nothing about the K01 that makes me want to buy it in addition to or as a replacement for my K-5.
Instead, I just got an K mount adapter for my NEX and look forward to using my Pentax limited lenses with a camera that has a best in class EVF.
As far as the flange distance, they could have easily made a new smaller camera with a shorter flange distance and an adapter for legacy K mount lenses. I'm still waiting to see what the K mount module for the Ricoh GXR will look like and if Pentax/Ricoh comes out with a new GXR body with an improved (and/or integrated) EVF.
I should have put my comment a little more gently - I'm simply having a hard time picturing why I would want this camera even if I already owned some K mount lenses. Size? Maybe... it is somewhat smaller but not radically smaller than a K-5.
With that in mind, I wonder what about this camera will draw existing Pentax DSLR owners.
douglasf13 wrote:
Bifurcator, please list the reasons to buy a K-01 over a K-5 (or any other upcoming, potential small Pentax DSLR.)
Well Doug, I kinda already did. You like to challenge other people's opinions a lot I noticed. That's cool when there's something to learn from it but for this it's already pretty obvious. No need for a debate here I think.
Bifurcator wrote:
Well Doug, I kinda already did. You like to challenge other people's opinions a lot I noticed. That's cool when there's something to learn from it but for this it's already pretty obvious. No need for a debate here I think.
I'm genuinely curious what your reasons are, so I'd like to see a list, because I can't figure out your reasons from the above post. If you provide a list, I may challenge it, but that's all in the fun of these forums. If anything, I'm interested in challenging Pentax's design.
I just can't find a reason to buy the K-01 over the K-5, outside of a bit smaller size. Since I know you're not interested in smaller size, I'm confused about what your reasons are for buying the K-01.
I hope my posting never seems aggressive, as I basically never get into arguments with anyone in my day to day living. I often post on my cell phone, though, so maybe I'm unintentionally being too short with people. I'll watch out for that in the future. I apologize.
Also Pentax themselves answered this for us already. It's in the other thread.
BTW, I didn't mean aggressive... I meant you like to challenge opinions. Me too. I just don't see a reason for it on this one. It's a fashion statement camera with the traditional K-AF Mount. That's it. That's all there is to it.
Hi. Those aren't reasons to choose the K-01 over the K-5. All highlighted text could also be applied to K-5, thus my confusion. What am I missing?
edit* I missed your fashion statement comment. If the K-01 is giving up an OVF, PDAF and other features to the K-5 for fashion, then I guess I understand my confusion.
Based on the size comparisons that I have seen, k-01 is clearly smaller than pentax k-r and k-r itself is one of the smallerst APS-C DSLRs around. There is no way I would replace a k-5 with a k-01. But as a companion of a k-5, I will definitely consider k-01 instead of the k-r. It is actually somewhat smaller than even a GH2. Sure GH2 is not the smallest mirror-less by any chance. But the point is that it is a pretty small k-mount camera. And combined with the set of compact lenses that pentax has, it can be a pretty attractive option for those who don't intend to buy a second mirror-less system and its own set of lenses in addition to their DSLR system.
douglasf13 wrote:
Hi. Those aren't reasons to choose the K-01 over the K-5. All highlighted text could also be applied to K-5, thus my confusion. What am I missing?
edit* I missed your fashion statement comment. If the K-01 is giving up an OVF, PDAF and other features to the K-5 for fashion, then I guess I understand my confusion.
Yup, That's what Pentax says it's mainly about. Fashion. I understand their reasoning! There's a whole buttload of cameras which have been released over the past 60 or 70 years which were just that too. The 1960's seemed to see an especially large number of those. Whether or not the K0-1 will catch on in this regard is really anyone's guess for now. I like it in some of the pics. And it does already use a great set of lenses. I guess it takes great pics too - I dunno.
Bifurcator wrote:
Yup, That's what Pentax says it's mainly about. Fashion. I understand their reasoning! There's a whole buttload of cameras which have been released over the past 60 or 70 years which were just that too. The 1960's seemed to see an especially large number of those. Whether or not the K0-1 will catch on in this regard is really anyone's guess for now. I like it in some of the pics. And it does already use a great set of lenses. I guess it takes great pics too - I dunno.
Thanks, Bifurcator. I didn't realize fashion was the thrust of the new system. That makes a little more sense to me.
Anyway that's just one example. I've always been told that people buy cameras 