deadwolfbones wrote:
My point is that the thinnest/lightest possible camera isn\'t always the best fit for all users.
I\'m very ready to agree that the K-01 is not *MY* ideal mirrorless camera. However, I don\'t understand why a camera that\'s this compact (and it really is still quite small) should be shat upon for not being as anorexic as the NEX-5N, for example. Some people (myself included) think that the NEX takes it too far for comfort.
I do wish the K-01 could somehow both support the K-mount (which I\'m heavily invested in) AND support adaptability for other mounts (who doesn\'t love that?), but it was never in the cards. Pentax/Ricoh aren\'t big enough and don\'t have enough market share to support an entirely new line of lenses. Retaining compatibility (particularly AF compatibility, though we\'ll have to see how well it works) with their current lens lineup was the best move they could make. Sure, maybe they could have jumped in with the m4/3 standard, I suppose, but what\'s the point of that? Go toe to toe with two established players? Nah.
I think they did a good job working within the realities of their situation. This will be a fantastic video camera and a damn good stills camera, and with the DA Limited lenses it\'ll be a very compact little travel kit.
It shouldn\'t. If it were just that the body were this size, it wouldn\'t be a big deal. The thing is, it uses the exact SAME lenses as Pentax DSLRs, so there is no size advantage to the mirrorless solution at all. It loses a viewfinder altogether, without providing any real advantage to doing so, and it will use an autofocus method for lenses not designed to work that way, which will mean slow autofocus.
The fact is that the camera gives you essentially none of the benefits of a mirrorless camera, so why would someone choose this over a Pentax DSLR?
The Panasonic GH2 is a big body for a mirrorless camera too, but it works because:
1) The lenses are small....the overall system is still more compact than a DSLR system with a similar size body because of the small lenses
2) Excellent EVF, which is bigger than most OVFs and provides for easy manual focus capability
3) Short registration distance, so you can adapt small rangefinder lenses and all manual SLR lenses
4) Extremely fast CDAF, since the lenses are designed to work with CDAF from the beginning.
The K-01 has exactly ZERO of the advantages of the GH2, but with the same body size drawback. It\'s forgivable if the size gives you something the smaller mirrorless bodies do note (built in viewfinder, better handling), but isn\'t when it doesn\'t give any advantages.
Feb 02, 2012 at 02:38 PM
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