YAMC (Yet Another Mirrorless Camera): Pentax K-01

[robbieduncan]

Pentax seem to be about to release another Mirrorless camera/system that is completely incompatibly with the one they released last year! 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-...orless-camera/

[TheReef]

Originally Posted by robbieduncan

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!

Originally Posted by robbieduncan

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-...orless-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

[El Cabong]

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]

Originally Posted by El Cabong

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

[robbieduncan]

It's a boxy little beast! Loads of pictures including some older K mount lenses mounted here.

[TheReef]

Originally Posted by robbieduncan

It's a boxy little beast! Loads of pictures including some older K mount lenses mounted here.

After looking at high res pics, the white version is really growing on me.

I don't know what they were thinking with yellow though...

[admwright]

Originally Posted by TheReef

I don't know what they were thinking with yellow though...

Thats what you get when you have a designer who has a particular taste in colours ;-)

[firestarter]

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.

[jessica.]

Do you think the selling point is simply that it works with the other K mount lenses and it's mirrorless?

[firestarter]

Originally Posted by jessica.

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]

Originally Posted by firestarter

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





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

[firestarter]

Oh well...

And there was also the bad news today that the Fuji X1 Pro is going to be even more expensive than first thought.

Next news up is going to be Oly's new mirrorless...

[robbieduncan]

Originally Posted by firestarter

Oh well...

And there was also the bad news today that the Fuji X1 Pro is going to be even more expensive than first thought.

Next news up is going to be Oly's new mirrorless...

Which will disappoint as it's going to be pretty pricey and still have the same sensor that's in the GX1.

[AlexH]

The K-01 design is growing on me. I want to see a full review, of course, but it could be a winner.

[electronique]

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.