Pentax K-01 Review: Stylish, Flawed Discussion

[Jim Keenan]

The Pentax K-01 is the company's second entry into the mirrorless, interchangeable lens class of digital cameras, following by less than a year their initial offering, the Pentax "Q." But while the Q uses a 1/2.3 inch compact point-and-shoot size sensor that helped Pentax make it the smallest platform in the field, the company has taken the opposite tack with the K-01. This is a large, boxy mirrorless interchangeable lens model; its 4.8 x 3.1 x 2.3 inch body-only dimensions and 16.9 ounce basic weight are not far off the 5.1 x 3.8 x 2.8 inch and 20.8 ounce specifications of the recently announced K-30 DSLR.

Part of the size is no doubt attributable to the fact that the K-01 is packing a newly designed APS-C sensor with a 16 megapixel resolution, but an additional culprit is the Pentax KAF2 bayonet lens mount. This lens mount is compatible with KAF3, KAF2, KAF, and KA lenses; an adapter is required to utilize older K mount, screw mount and medium format lenses. At last count, Pentax had produced over 25 million lenses that are K-01 compatible and it seems likely the potential market with legacy glass owners was a significant factor in the camera's design.

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[Andy Stanton]

Like the K-01, I've found the Pentax point and shoot cameras I've tested to have excellent image quality, including good low light image quality, compared to similarly priced point and shoots by other manufacturers. But I've also noticed performance problems that end up making the Pentax cameras less desirable. Maybe there's something in the construction of the processors Pentax uses that is slowing performance.

[jeffp3456]

Jim,
I thought your K01 review was pretty much spot on. I had a good LOL with your comment :"..along with a relatively modest 16 megapixel resolution on an APS-C sized sensor", this from someone who pulls out his 10mp V1 to compare!
I do have to say that coming from the V1 (which will soon be on eBay and sadly has not held its value well but Pentax lenses are very expensive), the image quality from the K01 is more than I had hoped for. I am very happy with the camera with pretty much the same niggles as you mentioned. The Pentax hand strap (if you can figure out how to assemble it) makes the camera quite useable with the 18-135mm but i personally would not go beyond that. I really dont find the autofocus any worse than my E-PL1 and I was fine with that but lacking the viewfinder you aren't going to use this camera for action anyway.
One point is that while I would love an EVF, had they included one the price would surely have been much higher, a less expensive perk would have been to allow the lcd to auto-adjust to ambient brightness or even put the brightness adjustment on the quick menu which i am not sure why you never mention (but it is always that one more thing that primes the next purchase).
Jeff

[Jim Keenan]

Hi Jeff:

Glad you're happy with your K-01 - I love the imagery out of this camera but wonder how many Pentax will move with a higher performance K-30 DSLR due next month. The slight weight and size advantage of the K-01 wouldn't sway me from waiting on the K-30 if I had legacy glassor or was looking for my first Pentax.

Your point on the K-01 costing more if it had an EVF is well taken, but can you imagine what the K-30 would do to K-01 sales if it came in under the K-01. I think Pentax is going to have to chop the K-01 MSRP to move decent numbers of them......

The V1 came into play because our studio timings on shutter lag of the K-01 seemed "slower" than the camera felt in the field, so I trotted out the V1 to shoot side by side as it has pretty decent shutter performance. Don't forget that "only" 10 MP is crammed onto a sensor much smaller than an APS-C; but that 2.7X crop factor gives my 400 and 600mm Nikkors some serious reach.

jk

[jeffp3456]

Hi Jim,
the 2.7x crop does make the V1 attractive to existing nikonians. I have a very love/hate relationship with my v1. I love the size, the evf and the weight and i know that good pics are possible but the v1 really makes you work for them. I have a hard time remembering the list of gottcha's for each of the various modes.
my 10mp gripe is that there is very little room for cropping and admittedly i am a cropper! I am amazed how much more flexibility i get from my modest 16mp's ;-)
both are great for what they are.

Jeff

[Jim Keenan]

Hi Jeff:

The "modest" remark on the K-01 resolution also had to do with the fact that there are 4 Canons with APS-C sensors at 18MP; 3 Sonys at 24.3 MP (one of them a mirrorless) and a Nikon at 24.2 MP. Considering where those three have gone with APS-C resolution Pentax was conservative with the K-01.