Originally posted by stub If your happy with the K5 why change...? The K1 is a fantastic camera. Brilliant dynamic range. But there are also drawbacks compared to a K5.. Expensive, Heavy and a limited number of lenses which are also expensive and heavy..!!
With the K1 you still only buy half a camera as with the K5.. Does not auto focus fast enough. Flash system is way behind the competition. No backing from 3rd party manufacturers and none from Pentax...
Lot of ill-informed talk here, Stuart … not sure what that's all about. Perhaps Szs doesn't have a shooting style that can take advantage of full frame, that's a legitimate reason not to upgrade, but you go way beyond that!
"Expensive"? Compared to a second hand K-5, maybe, but it's one of the cheapest FF cameras you can buy.
"Heavy? You get twice the picture size but it's only 30 percent heavier than a K-3.
"Limited number of … Expensive and heavy lenses?" The K-mount goes all the way back to 1975, it's a vast array. There are plenty of them with 49mm and 52mm threads, cheap on eBay or here from the Market Place. The FA Limiteds are wonderful performers and are small and well-built. You can even use all your existing DA lenses, many without cropping.
"Does not auto focus fast enough" Comes as news to me and others who shoot not just flowers but cars, motorbikes, dancers, people, runners, aircraft, football, wildlife, baseball, cyclists… have I left anything out?
"Flash system is way behind the competition" The Pentax flash system works in the same way as the TTL, HSS, and manual systems of Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc. Same hotshoe even. I've shot in studios with their own strobes and triggers, and had to do *nothing* different to what the owners of other brands did on the day.
"filters dont fit the DFA15-30 lens" If you shoot other brands you will know that the pro quality UWAs have bulbous front elements and don't support screw in fliters, you also buy into something like the Lee system. Have a look at the very popular Samyang 14mm f2.8 while you're at it, same deal, landscapers understand this.
"No backing from 3rd party manufacturers" Just in the last month we've seen the Godox Pro release and the Irix 150mm f2.8 Macro.
"none [backing] from Pentax." ? Real 'Sony' Northrup comment that, but even he awarded the K-1 his camera of the year!
As of this year, the K-1 now comes with the KP's noise reduction chip and handheld pixel shift.