Originally posted by Geoff H I REALLY want to love this camera but I just don't see who is going to buy it. Am I just being a killjoy?
You are not being a killjoy. This is perhaps the ugliest camera I have seen in recent years, even worse than what Ricoh released under their own brand. I think most of us here could have done a better job. Heck, make it a mini K-5 and you've already done a better job! My Olympus PEN gets nods of appreciation and lots of interest even before people see the great pictures I take with it. Looks
do matter for anyone operating in the real world with clients to impress.
The K-01 does away with weather-sealing, a distinctive Pentax advantage. Personally, I don't think it matters much, but what this does for brand differentiation in the market is all bad.
It is far, far too large and for no reason. Sure the flange distance had to be maintained, but this looks like it was designed by someone with no ability to solve problems. (How about a camera with longest dimension being depth, like a videocam?) Size will kill this in the market, since that's what low-end buyers look for first.
I understand why Pentax would make this K-mount compatible. But it's going to effect less than 5% of the market -- everyone else is already using a different mount. Those who do want K-mount lenses have already been using them on MFT, Sony and other platforms, for the price of a $20 adapter. Yes, you lose AF, so indeed native compatibility has certain advantages. But the intersection set of beginners and K-mount enthusiasts has to be minuscule.
No articulated screen. No EVF. No soft buttons. No touch screen. The list of what this camera lacks compared to the competition is quite long.
What it has is a good sensor, a good sized sensor and SR. So it might well produce better images than Sony and the MFT alliance. But not so much better that the target market will care, I am guessing.
Back to bad design: they arbitrarily changed the controls on the rosette so this camera is different from all previous Pentax offerings. That is stupid. They removed TAv plus one other (misidentified in the write-up) mode. Inexplicable. Who knows what other limitations lurk within?
At current prices the K-01 costs 100 Euro less than a K-5 and is a lesser camera in many ways, most significantly the lack of a viewfinder. In a body this size that is inexcusable. I admit that the price is better than a lot of the over-inflated competition. But a brick like this took no special technology to develop, no real investment. Let's say the price falls to 400 Euros. It might be worth it then. But my PEN cost half that and I can still sell pictures taken with it.
Pentax has lost its way.