[drugal]

I will be using my LCDVF with my K-01 so I could still use it with my longer lenses handheld

Sorry this is so off topic, but I think you have Duct Tape on the end of your lens hood. Does this cut down glare or something?

[jogiba]

Sorry this is so off topic, but I think you have Duct Tape on the end of your lens hood. Does this cut down glare or something?

I have not used my LCDVF yet that I ordered for my K-7 last year, that photo is of a LCDVF from a google search. I very seldom use the EVF in my Panasonic GH2, GH1, TM700, Canon SX30 IS and 99% of videos are shot using the LCD. I have used my K-7 since July 2009 mostly in video mode and guess what I used.

[JinDesu]

I would guess, that maybe the tape is less reflective than the hood, and is covering the edges of the hood where the inside rubber baffles do not reach.

[falconeye]

If this hood is from some source on the internet, then I think somebody reduced the FoV of the hood to match a smaller sensor than the lens was intended for.

[drugal]

Thanks for the responses, I was really curious about why someone would do that.

[stemked]

I have a 600mm Pentax 5.6 A. I don't think it would be a good match, but the issue is balance. I use a K7 with a battery pack and is barely enough weight to counter balance the front element. I suspect better balanced lens might be fine with the K01, just not this lens.

[rvannatta]

I have a 600mm Pentax 5.6 A. I don't think it would be a good match, but the issue is balance. I use a K7 with a battery pack and is barely enough weight to counter balance the front element. I suspect better balanced lens might be fine with the K01, just not this lens.

I too own one of those lenses, but the out of balance issue is not the fault of the camera body. It would take about a 5 lb camera to to balance
that thing. Tripod mount folks make off set plates to balance things up. Indeed with those big lenses if the lens itself will balance
without a camera you aren't too far off on balance.

[stemked]

I do use a rather long plate, but even with that I have found on the 600mm f5.6 A a heavy body is preferable, it makes it much easier to control the lens. I do not have the issue with say my Sigma 150-500, which is better balanced.

It will be very interesting to see what the mystery 550mm lens is like actually to see how far along they have thought about the lens.

[Rupert]

Maybe that device Falc posted would be helpful......but without something of that nature, using a pancake or a Bigma in the very bright Texas sun will make no difference, you still won't see a damn thing.
I regularly shoot hand held with my Bigma...with my K5 viewfinder right on my eye, where it should be. A camera without a viewfinder is like a woman without boobs......and putting a set of "falsies" on her won't change the fact that boobs are better....they just are. How can anyone make a camera without a viewfinder and still call it a camera? Beats the hell out of me!

Just my thoughts.....I'm always right but not always agreed with!

K5+Bigma+Great K5 viewfinder just this morning....Now you Squirrel haters can not only bash me....you have a Squirrel you can bash too!
[IMG] [/IMG]

Best Regards!

[monochrome]

I use the handhold attached (photo by Ron Reznick).

Just for grins, last night I got out my MESuper and left the body cap mounted. Using the classic two-handed grip shown in the old manuals (left palm under the base, fingers on the lens focus ring, right hand gripping the the side, finger on the release) I raised the camera to eye level.

Keeping my elbows close to my body and the rear of the camera (imagine it is an LCD) about six inches from my face, I held this position for seven minutes before my arms really started to ache.

It wasn't an uncomfortable position, but my muscles aren't yet accustomed to that combination of contractions and extensions.

This works because there is enough surface area on the base and side of the camera body to support it. There will be more surface area with the K-01 grip taken into account. I don't think it would work for one of the skinny P&S form mirrorless bodies everyone is so hepped about.

I can do this for video and stills. I could also use a monopod (I can't believe no one has mentioned that yet) but I'd bet the target user doesn't know what a monopod is.

I personally wouldn't use this camera with a long, heavy lens - I'd use something else more suited to the purpose - but I could use a monopod there, too.

Try this - it really works!! Pentax got this body right - but only we old film guys have figured it out .

[JinDesu]

Someone should reconfigure one of those balance stocks/grip they use for video cameras/recording and put it on this sucka.

[Charles Hueter]

How can anyone make a camera without a viewfinder and still call it a camera? Beats the hell out of me!

Leica X1
Sigma DP1 & DP2
Ricoh GRD & GXR
Samsung TL500
Panasonic LX5
Olympus ZX-1
Thousands upon thousands of endlessly iterated point & shoots

What would you call them?

I successfully shot LCD-only compacts for several years. Though I'd prefer some kind of integrated eye-isolating viewfinder, I can get by without one.

monochrome's test covers my biggest concern with the K-01: whether the camera of that weight can be held comfortably for several minutes at a time while shooting. I'm skeptical but open to being surprised.

Especially if it means getting a cutting-edge sensor inside a K-mount for less than $1,000!

[TomE]

I still want to know how the LCD functions when tracking a fast moving object such as a flying bird, does it freeze each time you focus as all P&S cameras with LCD's do, and what kind of shutter lag is there?

[ihasa]

Darghh, not another one of these threads! Why do people who shoot wildlife with long lenses handheld assume the K-01 is designed with them in mind? It's obviously not, so why bother announcing the fact that you aren't going to get one? It's not compulsory to like / buy every model a manufacturer comes out with, you know.

[m8o]

To this, I can't agree.

With a camera the cost of the K-01, and with the sensor and other specs of the caliber of the K-01, I expect it to be a "good at anything" camera. I was illustrating what I identified as a major limitation in its capability due to its "packaging" given what I look for in a camera at the cost and seeming capability of the K-01.

I say this because I WANT to buy this camera. With the new processing engine it's touted to be able have better 'quality' than the K-5. I WANT to have something that's killer and fits into my pocket. And I WANT it to serve my every purpose. I'm seeing a place it can't. I imagine I'm not taking a hike with it and my long lenses when I do so sans monopod (I never hike w/a tripod).