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TheReef

macrumors 68000
Sep 30, 2007
1,888
167
NSW, Australia.
Pentax seem to be about to release another Mirrorless camera/system that is completely incompatibly with the one they released last year!

I'm glad!! The Q system is a terrible idea! This is what Pentax should have released in the first place!

On the up side it's K-mount so if you are an existing Pentax user this might be for you
http://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/hot-first-real-pictures-of-the-pentac-k-01-mirrorless-camera/

Or any user for that matter, if it's developed from the foundations of the excellent K-5 and k-r is bound to be a winner.

This is what the Q should have been, I'm not sure about the styling though... the Q does look quite nice.

We'll see for certain in 14 or so hours from now.

This is exactly what I've been waiting for :D
 
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El Cabong

macrumors 6502a
Dec 1, 2008
620
339
K01_ST120.jpg


Maybe it's the angle, or just me, but that's an incredibly ugly camera. Also, it looks pretty thick. I don't see the point of having a razor-thin pancake on such a bulbous body.

The branding on the strap is also out of control. Is the camera not ugly enough?
 

TheReef

macrumors 68000
Sep 30, 2007
1,888
167
NSW, Australia.
K01_ST120.jpg


Maybe it's the angle, or just me, but that's an incredibly ugly camera. Also, it looks pretty thick. I don't see the point of having a razor-thin pancake on such a bulbous body.

The branding on the strap is also out of control. Is the camera not ugly enough?

The key to this camera is that it accepts K mount lenses - going all the way back.
To do this they need to maintain the flange distance, hence the larger body.

Pentax have an excellent line of DA and FA ltd primes that would be perfect for this camera:

DA - 15mm f/4.0 - 21mm f/3.2 - 35mm f/2.8 Macro - 40mm f/2.8 - 70mm f/2.4
FA - 31mm f/1.8 - 43mm f/1.9 - 77mm f/1.8

It's pretty much the ultimate light-weight travel system, providing extremely high IQ - I'm excited :D
 
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firestarter

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2002
5,506
227
Green and pleasant land
This whole concept seems completely pointless.

If you're keeping the flange difference the same, you may as well throw in a mirror and have done with it. There's no appreciable size reduction, no compatibility with any third party rangefinder lenses... it's just an economy version of their DSLRs with no viewfinder and worse focussing speed.

Disappointing.
 

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
Do you think the selling point is simply that it works with the other K mount lenses and it's mirrorless?
 

firestarter

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2002
5,506
227
Green and pleasant land
Do you think the selling point is simply that it works with the other K mount lenses and it's mirrorless?

It's great that it works with K mount, but they could have designed an adapter to give that capability.

The whole point of mirrorless is to do away with the mirror box and bring lenses closer to the sensor. This makes the camera smaller and makes it easier to build wide angle lenses.

So Pentax isn't getting any of the advantages of mirrorless. Pointless doing it.
 

robbieduncan

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Jul 24, 2002
25,611
893
Harrogate
So Pentax isn't getting any of the advantages of mirrorless. Pointless doing it.

Over at dpreview they seem similarly disappointed. The point out that existing K-5 DSLRs don't like focussing some older K-mount lenses via contrast detect AF (it works eventually but it's not good) and even with the more recent K mount lenses it's way worse than phase detection. I think this new camera will struggle to match the AF speed of the newer m43 bodies.

The comparative size images vs a K-5 are particularly damning I think

side-by-side4.jpg


side-by-sideRr.jpg


You lose the viewfinder and phase-detect AF for very little reduction in size.
 

AlexH

macrumors 68020
Mar 7, 2006
2,035
3,151
The K-01 design is growing on me. I want to see a full review, of course, but it could be a winner.
 

electronique

macrumors 6502
Aug 27, 2008
379
1
Got the K-01 a few days ago now.. And it's absolutely beautiful.

Took me a second to get used to the size... Fits in my hands really well.

The design is special. So much more solid in real life. I must admit, I thought it was a toy when I saw it first online.
 
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