Pentax K 01 anyone?

Thrash

Thrash

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Hey guys,

I was just looking at DxO and was comparing the sensors on some cameras, I was initially comparing the X100 and RX100 and then a few others and then suddenly I remember the Pentax K 01, when I compared it to the others it seemed significantly better than both, at least on paper. The overall score was 6 higher than the X100 and 13 higher than the RX100.

Now I know not everything is done on paper but it seems like this was a great camera yet after a brief look around on here, no ones really mentioned it and I havent seen anyone own one. I know theyre discontinued now but was it a bad camera? You can get a brand new one incredibly cheap now and with it priced so cheaply, why did it fail so bad?

Does anyone have any experience with one?
 
No experience with one, but maybe the reason it failed is down to the marmite design. It's not exactly small either....but if you can live with that for the price it's a steal. K mount greatness too, and that 40mm pancake is awesome :)

Produces excellent quality images, you've just got to weigh up if you can live with the size...I believe it's roughly the same as a K7/K5 (i've a K7 though and Pentax dslrs are on the small side compared to Canikons)
 
antihero said:
No experience with one, but maybe the reason it failed is down to the marmite design. It's not exactly small either....but if you can live with that for the price it's a steal. K mount greatness too, and that 40mm pancake is awesome :)

Produces excellent quality images, you've just got to weigh up if you can live with the size...I believe it's roughly the same as a K7/K5 (i've a K7 though and Pentax dslrs are on the small side compared to Canikons)
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I think youre right in terms of the design, I personally think it looks good! Maybe not in the yellow but the black is fine, not a big fan of the buttons on the top though but hey if it takes good pictures it wouldnt bother me. The one thing I do like is the K mount and the amount of really cheap lenses you can get for it, im not looking at buying one (yet) but trying to figure out why it failed so badly, it only has 14 reviews on Amazon!

Its also not too different in size to the X100: http://camerasize.com/compare/#285,133

pingu666 said:
maybe lack of promotion?
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I think this may be the case but then again Pentax dont seem to promote much compared to other brands yet they still sell fairly well?
 
Thrash said:
I think youre right in terms of the design, I personally think it looks good! Maybe not in the yellow but the black is fine, not a big fan of the buttons on the top though but hey if it takes good pictures it wouldnt bother me. The one thing I do like is the K mount and the amount of really cheap lenses you can get for it, im not looking at buying one (yet) but trying to figure out why it failed so badly, it only has 14 reviews on Amazon!

Its also not too different in size to the X100: http://camerasize.com/compare/#285,133



I think this may be the case but then again Pentax dont seem to promote much compared to other brands yet they still sell fairly well?
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there's no doubting the X100 is an awesome camera, but it doesn't have a changeable lens :) Honestly not wanting to come across as a fanboy (i'd have an X100 tomorrow if I could afford one)...but the Pentax allows you to use different lenses, whereas the Fuji doesn't.
 
daugirdas said:
more like the lack of viewfinder (!!!) and many other useful features :lol:

how about a car on three wheels?
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What useful features does it lack, just out of interest?

antihero said:
there's no doubting the X100 is an awesome camera, but it doesn't have a changeable lens :) Honestly not wanting to come across as a fanboy (i'd have an X100 tomorrow if I could afford one)...but the Pentax allows you to use different lenses, whereas the Fuji doesn't.
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Of course, I have an X100 and love it, the pictures from it are better than most DSLRs ive used and see, so long as you get on with the 35mm lens, which is all I used to use on my Nikon anyway.
But this thread isnt about the X100, its just about the K-01 and if its really so good, why did it flop? :)
 
daugirdas said:
more like the lack of viewfinder
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That is why I wouldn't buy one. I don't mind the design at all but it is pointless with no viewfinder as if I don't want a viewfinder I would use a smaller camera.

Reasons it didn't sell;

- It is a Pentax and they are just not as popular as Canon or Nikon
- It is a slightly off the wall design combined with being a Pentax
- DSLR type users want a viewfinder
 
Well I must have just had a stupid moment because I just ordered one from the rain forest company. £299 with the 40mm pancake whereas it is a lot more elsewhere and I still have some k mount glass from my Pentax K100d in a box somewhere.

No doubt sometime this week I will be happy or feel a hanging coming on.
 
Barso said:
Well I must have just had a stupid moment because I just ordered one from the rain forest company. £299 with the 40mm pancake whereas it is a lot more elsewhere and I still have some k mount glass from my Pentax K100d in a box somewhere.

No doubt sometime this week I will be happy or feel a hanging coming on.
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This is where I saw it for so cheap, with other lenses/colours its £400 more expensive which is crazy. Let me know what you think when you get it, I could be tempted!
 
Thrash said:
Let me know what you think when you get it, I could be tempted!
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No probs, delivery is down for the end of the week as I took the free delivery option plus it gives me a little time to gen up on the brick (I mean K-01)
 
Ok stupid moment over......
I ordered a K-01 on Sunday night with an expected delivery date of 22-24 May, I checked yesterday and still not despatched, early this morning nothing despatched then checked at 10am to see expected delivery date now Jun 15-25! Really rain forest company?
End result = Order cancelled by me
 
maybe another reason why not many people buy them, you can't actually buy them!
 
Barso said:
Ok stupid moment over......
I ordered a K-01 on Sunday night with an expected delivery date of 22-24 May, I checked yesterday and still not despatched, early this morning nothing despatched then checked at 10am to see expected delivery date now Jun 15-25! Really rain forest company?
End result = Order cancelled by me
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that was a lucky escape :lol:
 
OOPS! Parcel Farce just delivered my K-01 which I re-ordered using prime this time, funny how my other delivery was the middle of June but this one was ordered yesterday and arrived today. Battery on charge and reading the manual for now.
 
Barso said:
OOPS! Parcel Farce just delivered my K-01 which I re-ordered using prime this time, funny how my other delivery was the middle of June but this one was ordered yesterday and arrived today. Battery on charge and reading the manual for now.
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Just wondering how youre finding the K-01? Theres so little about it still! What are your thoughts on it?
 
In a nutshell.....I'm glad I bought it. It took a while to get used to using the lcd screen having looked through a viewfinder for the last seven years or so and made me feel as though I'd dropped down the ranks to the point & shoot brigade. On it's first few uses I wasn't too impressed until I upgraded to firmware 1.03 then it really got better in the focus department. The images are top notch with the pancake although it isn't as sharp as the nifty fifty I own, but saying that it does produce really good jpegs straight out the camera once you get it set up to your liking. Video is good if you turn stabilization off to avoid the jello effect and being able to zoom in a video is a plus, but you do hear the zoom noise on playback.

If I use the K-01 for say a week I get used to it's quirks and how to work around them and get used to it's image quality but if I am out with both the K-01 and my 600D at the same time things get a bit confusing when looking at the images on my monitor, Pentax looks better at this then I think Canon looks better at that.

Overall if you like the images from Pentax and can put up with using the lcd and CDAF which can still be a bit hit and miss in auto go for one or just use manual and turn focus peeking on, either way it gets there in the end.

These are just a few thoughts..........but it is one hell of a camera.
 
I got mine in the fire sale and haven't looked back. It really is a very high quality sensor, with excellent image quality. And ironically (and I'm not sure why really), it seems to work better with both my Metz flashes compared to my K-30!

I don't find composing on the LCD a problem at all.

The only issue I find is buffer performance; its a bit worse than the K-30. But still fine in JPEG mode.
 
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