K-01 is it that bad?

[Dragster3]

Is this mirrorless body that bad?

Love the way it looks.

Killer sensor in it.

Uses K mounts.

I don't get it? Some one enlighten me...

 

[john.margetts]

Is it THAT bad? Is it what bad? What is it you do not get?

 

[Dragster3]

It got discontinued pretty quick.
Not popular at all.
Was wondering, some one here must have one.

 

[petrochemist]

Is this mirrorless body that bad?

Love the way it looks.

Killer sensor in it.

Uses K mounts.

I don't get it? Some one enlighten me...

Very few people appear to share your opinion on the looks. I think they were deliberately outlandish and that gamble failed to catch on.

From what I've heard the camera itself is not unreasonable adding focus peaking to the capabilities of the (excellent for it's time) K5. I believe the RAW files dropped to 12bit rather than the 14 bit seen in the DSLR range - a needless downgrade IMO.

K mount is useful, but prevented the camera sharing the benefits of specially designed mirrorless systems. A new short register mount and coming with a fully automatic adapter to K mount lenses would have been the better way forward.

 

[fmw]

I had one for a while. But I bought it to resell it so it went back out after a week or so. I liked it. I used it to shoot tabletop product images very successfully. Besides the K-mount it featured an APS-C sensor. I'm not sure why it failed. It was a good idea for its time.

 

[jcdeboever]

I checked one out but it felt awkward in my rather large paws. I wasn't sure about the looks of it, something about it was off. I don't know, just didn't seem all that impressive, very fiddly. I could have got it very cheap too, just didn't think I would have been happy with it and the 40mm lens. I am so glad I switched to Fujifilm because they work similar to my manual film cameras.

 

[pez]

Even though I love most all things K-mount in general, I never cottoned up to the K-01... until the price fell into Earth's mantel, that is. Then I ended up buying two, lol.

It's like any camera in that you learn to compensate for the negative stuff while exploiting its positive traits. They became my go to macro and occasional video platforms until Pentax finally came out with an articulating display. Despite the slightly awkward ergos and thick body, they are still quite small with a limited lens mounted, and I got plenty of use from them and lots of brilliant images. I found that especially with the bumblebee yellow box, absolutely no one takes it seriously and I can get great candids with it. I grew to love the things, really. Other than that wonky hatch, the only problem I have had is the adhesive fail on the mode wheel. Luckily, I haven't lost the wheels! The second glue I used (after gorilla glue) actually seems to have done the trick- a Dupont silicone-like product. The battery life is awesome and the shutter is super quiet. Overall, they have been fun, reliable, and very useful cameras that I'll likely never part with. I still haul one out from time to time, and it's always lots of fun to use.
Well, they're only worth a few bucks at this point

 

[Dragster3]

I love the look...happy that some likes it...I never understood why Pentax discontinued k-01, and the Q series? They don't offer a morrorless anymore.

Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app

 

[jcdeboever]

I think it would be neat to have one converted over to monochrome.

 

[pez]

Or IR.

 

[The Barbarian]

I really like mine. Not camera for sports or action shots. But a very competent camera otherwise. I usually use my KP now, but every now and then...

 

[The Barbarian]

I love the look...happy that some likes it...I never understood why Pentax discontinued k-01, and the Q series? They don't offer a morrorless anymore.

Sent from my RS988 using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app

When I first got my Q, I didn't use anything else for months, just because I loved the results I got from it. For such a tiny sensor, the IQ is amazing.

 

[DamienW]

Ooh...can I play?

I love my K-01. Dunno why...I can understand all of the arguments against it (was expensive, big for what it was, lacked some features that could be had around the same price etc etc)...but a mirrorless K-mount camera!!! C'mon!!

I really like the looks...this seems to go against general opinion though.

I don't have any other camera with focus peaking, and I really like this. I have a K5ii...and now wish I had the K3 just for focus peaking.

All that said, I don't really use it a whole lot. I added a battery grip to my K5ii though, so now the K-01 appears to be more compact than it was , but really, vs my K5ii sans grip, it's not that much smaller. I take it with me on bike rides though, and it tends to be the camera I pick up for pictures around the home. I leave the DA 40mm LTD on it most of the time, and have it stowed in a small camera bag together with a DA 21mm LTD. I think it's a nice little setup.

I had read about the program dial cap falling off. After I got mine I gave the dial a gentle tug, and off it came. I glued it back on and it feels very solid now (oops...maybe it will be permanently attached now)!

It has taken some nice portraits, but doesn't seem up with my K5ii in general photo quality. I wonder if the extra bits in the K5ii files make it a little more forgiving - I can still get detail out of underexposed shots in Aperture.

Anyway, bought my K-01 used, and it was in excellent condition with few shots taken. Bizarrely, it came with a 55-300mm zoom attached to it - feels like a very odd lens to whack onto this camera and misses the point I think. Then again, you may say that the K-01 misses the point entirely. I still love it.

K-01

 

[The Barbarian]

I like mine a lot. But why did they have to make it so ugly? And why couldn't there have been an accessory digital viewer?

It is a bad choice for action shots, and I can't imagine using a 300mm lens on it. But for what it's good for, it does very well, indeed.