DPR review gives the K-01 69%

eddie1960 · 05-31-2012, 08:12 AM

Originally posted by hcc

The DPreview.com review is a great disappointment IMHO because of the lack of originality. It is in fact a reworded review made by DCResource.com. I do not have an issue with the review by DCResource, but DPreview simply shows a lack of creativity, originality and integrity.

My 5 cents...

it's like a complete cut and paste job. Are they related sites?? or possibly the DPR reviewer was the same guy

Mister Horrible · 05-31-2012, 08:23 AM

Originally posted by eddie1960

it's like a complete cut and paste job. Are they related sites?? or possibly the DPR reviewer was the same guy

From the intro:

"In the third of our collaborative reviews with the Digital Camera Resource Page's Jeff Keller, we look at Pentax's first large-sensor mirrorless camera, the 16MP APS-C K-01."

cali92rs · 05-31-2012, 10:51 AM

I think the K-01 is a camera totally designed for current Pentaxians...not that there is anything wrong with that. Pentaxians tend to have a large stable of legacy manual focus lenses. And thats where this camera shines. If you raaarely shoot moving subjects and prefer MF, then this can be a real winner.
And that is where the K-5 is a let down in my opinion, manual focusing. So both of these cameras can complement each other well.

**monochrome** · 05-31-2012, 11:09 AM

Originally posted by cali92rs

I think the K-01 is a camera totally designed for current Pentaxians...not that there is anything wrong with that. Pentaxians tend to have a large stable of legacy manual focus lenses. And thats where this camera shines. If you raaarely shoot moving subjects and prefer MF, then this can be a real winner.
And that is where the K-5 is a let down in my opinion, manual focusing. So both of these cameras can complement each other well.

As an owner, the K-01 is an outstanding MF camera, especially for users who wear eyeglasses. It is also quite handy for casual photography where you want something better than PnS snapshots, but don't need a full dSLR.

I believe Pentax implied the latter in thier initial Fashion Industry marketing efforts - which appears to be the reason the hired Mark Newson to design the body. I wish they had expressly marketed the camera's feature set to the MF sub-set of legacy users.

jogiba · 05-31-2012, 03:35 PM

Some Nex-5N fan on DPR Pentax SLR Talk was mad that I posted photos of it with large lenses like the 35mm F1.4 compared to my K-01 with 85mm F1.4 so I posted photos of both with 18-55mm kit lens and the 5N lens had smaller 49mm filter size compared to 52mm on the Pentax.

jimntonik · 05-31-2012, 03:44 PM

Glad to see they called Pentax out on the AF issues - I've reported similar bugs to Pentax directly, but no word yet on a fix (they just have a sample photo).

The size/lens + SR tradeoff isn't very well discussed in any of these reviews, but I give them points for at least indicating the upsides - most reviews just look at the negatives.

sunny16 · 05-31-2012, 07:25 PM

I don't know if I just got really lucky with my K-01, but I honestly do not feel that I have AF issues at the level they seem to be made out to be by some. Now admittedly, I haven't done a lot of testing with my 18-55mm and 50-200 because I don't use them a whole lot (though the one or two times I did I felt happy with the 18-55 and the 50-200 was a little slow.) For instance, I just pointed the camera under my computer desk into the darkest corner (no other lights on, just some post-sunset glow from the windows) and with the DA55 lens on it, it locked focus on the power strip and took the shot fine and in focus (ISO 3200.) The only time I have ever really noticed it struggle is if the subject has no contrast, like a white wall. But then that's not really a practical concern as I don't really take pictures of white walls except when I'm screwing around indoors when I should be outside taking photos

In my opinion, I get more shots properly focused with the K-01 than I do with my K-5 (perhaps that says more about my k-5?) Yeah, depending on the lens it can be a bit slower, but I'd rather have a focused shot than "quick focus" with blurry results.

Also I'm surprised by the reviewers issues with the lenses. I know that QC can be an issue but in ten years or so of buying over two dozen Pentax lenses, I've only received one that was bad and had to be returned (It was sold "new" by a major online retailer but when I received it, it had someone else's online receipt in the box... apparently someone else ordered it, tried it, and returned it and they sold it to me. Tests quickly showed de-centering issues and it went back with a note asking them not to resell it.) Anyway, it just seems that the odds of the reviewer having so many issues would be pretty small and certainly doesn't match my experiences.

Sometimes I think I find the most "issues" when I'm sitting around "testing" cameras and lenses in ways I'd never actually use them.

Just my thoughts. Sorry for the long post.

Last edited by sunny16; 05-31-2012 at 07:34 PM.

Alizarine · 05-31-2012, 08:50 PM

I was expecting the K-01 to get a 71% at least because of the incredible IQ. Seems they preferred highlighting the bad points instead of the good ones. Well, people are people, not really much to complain about.

**Aristophanes** · 06-06-2012, 10:19 AM

If the K-01 had:

1) Better AF
2) Port for an external EVF
3) Articulating LCD
4) More traditional styling/ergonomics

It would have scored much, much higher based on its IQ for value.

Ding it for its size but you'd lose k-mount compatibility, which is what the K-01 is supposed to be all about.

The review is fair IMO and the K-01 actually escapes with a decent score. Personally I think the K-01 is a fail, although not an epic fail like the Q. The K01 is salvageable with the mods I note above, and the Q needs a much larger sensor and lower price.

eddie1960 · 06-06-2012, 10:40 AM

Originally posted by Aristophanes

If the K-01 had:

1) Better AF
2) Port for an external EVF
3) Articulating LCD
4) More traditional styling/ergonomics

It would have scored much, much higher based on its IQ for value.

Ding it for its size but you'd lose k-mount compatibility, which is what the K-01 is supposed to be all about.

The review is fair IMO and the K-01 actually escapes with a decent score. Personally I think the K-01 is a fail, although not an epic fail like the Q. The K01 is salvageable with the mods I note above, and the Q needs a much larger sensor and lower price.

Agreed on the K-01, Disagree on the Q - have you actually tried one? I did and was very impressed with it (and annoyed that i took my time and Jezza323 from the forum beat me to the CL deal i was watching - that is the one i tried after he bought it). now that the base price is 499 or so it is a very good value camera. It was not however designed for our market but the Asian one where it has done quite well. I would not call that an epic fail. In fact it has sold better than the K-01 AFAIK so in fact the k-01 must also be an epic fail by your reasoning

gazonk · 06-06-2012, 10:51 AM

Originally posted by eddie1960

In fact it has sold better than the K-01 AFAIK so in fact the k-01 must also be an epic fail by your reasoning

The Q always shows up on the bcnranking.jp rankings. Not very high up, but the white double kit is #45 on May's ranking (????????????????BCN?????????), the black double kit at #62, the limited silver at #78. Not a big seller, but certainly not an epic fail. The K01 is far below the visible top 80 models...

eddie1960 · 06-06-2012, 11:36 AM

Originally posted by gazonk

The Q always shows up on the bcnranking.jp rankings. Not very high up, but the white double kit is #45 on May's ranking (????????????????BCN?????????), the black double kit at #62, the limited silver at #78. Not a big seller, but certainly not an epic fail. The K01 is far below the visible top 80 models...

I like the K-01 myself, but I'm not sure of what the market is. On the Q I saw the market rationalization right away and the BCN number bear out that idea (and BCN is just Japan, i understand it has done well in most of Asia)

cali92rs · 06-06-2012, 11:47 AM

Originally posted by eddie1960

I like the K-01 myself, but I'm not sure of what the market is.

The K-01's market is current K-mount users and primarily manual focus shooters...
Which is a real small community as it turns out.

**monochrome** · 06-06-2012, 11:48 AM

Originally posted by cali92rs

The K-01's market is current K-mount users and primarily manual focus shooters...
Which is a real small community as it turns out.

Small market - yep - but some of us in that market really like the camera

cali92rs · 06-06-2012, 11:51 AM

Originally posted by monochrome

Small market - yep - but some of us in that market really like the camera

Oh, I don't disagree with that, in fact if I had the money I would probably get one. It's just that outside of the MF lens hoarding pentaxians, I don't see this appealing to a lot of outsiders.

05-31-2012, 07:25 PM	#22
sunny16 Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Maryland, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 309	Luck of the Draw? I don't know if I just got really lucky with my K-01, but I honestly do not feel that I have AF issues at the level they seem to be made out to be by some. Now admittedly, I haven't done a lot of testing with my 18-55mm and 50-200 because I don't use them a whole lot (though the one or two times I did I felt happy with the 18-55 and the 50-200 was a little slow.) For instance, I just pointed the camera under my computer desk into the darkest corner (no other lights on, just some post-sunset glow from the windows) and with the DA55 lens on it, it locked focus on the power strip and took the shot fine and in focus (ISO 3200.) The only time I have ever really noticed it struggle is if the subject has no contrast, like a white wall. But then that's not really a practical concern as I don't really take pictures of white walls except when I'm screwing around indoors when I should be outside taking photos In my opinion, I get more shots properly focused with the K-01 than I do with my K-5 (perhaps that says more about my k-5?) Yeah, depending on the lens it can be a bit slower, but I'd rather have a focused shot than "quick focus" with blurry results. Also I'm surprised by the reviewers issues with the lenses. I know that QC can be an issue but in ten years or so of buying over two dozen Pentax lenses, I've only received one that was bad and had to be returned (It was sold "new" by a major online retailer but when I received it, it had someone else's online receipt in the box... apparently someone else ordered it, tried it, and returned it and they sold it to me. Tests quickly showed de-centering issues and it went back with a note asking them not to resell it.) Anyway, it just seems that the odds of the reviewer having so many issues would be pretty small and certainly doesn't match my experiences. Sometimes I think I find the most "issues" when I'm sitting around "testing" cameras and lenses in ways I'd never actually use them. Just my thoughts. Sorry for the long post. Last edited by sunny16; 05-31-2012 at 07:34 PM.

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05-31-2012, 08:12 AM	#16
eddie1960 Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,666	Originally posted by hcc The DPreview.com review is a great disappointment IMHO because of the lack of originality. It is in fact a reworded review made by DCResource.com. I do not have an issue with the review by DCResource, but DPreview simply shows a lack of creativity, originality and integrity. My 5 cents... it's like a complete cut and paste job. Are they related sites?? or possibly the DPR reviewer was the same guy

05-31-2012, 08:23 AM	#17
Mister Horrible Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 100	Originally posted by eddie1960 it's like a complete cut and paste job. Are they related sites?? or possibly the DPR reviewer was the same guy From the intro: "In the third of our collaborative reviews with the Digital Camera Resource Page's Jeff Keller, we look at Pentax's first large-sensor mirrorless camera, the 16MP APS-C K-01."

05-31-2012, 10:51 AM	#18
cali92rs Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 3,354	I think the K-01 is a camera totally designed for current Pentaxians...not that there is anything wrong with that. Pentaxians tend to have a large stable of legacy manual focus lenses. And thats where this camera shines. If you raaarely shoot moving subjects and prefer MF, then this can be a real winner. And that is where the K-5 is a let down in my opinion, manual focusing. So both of these cameras can complement each other well.

05-31-2012, 11:09 AM	#19
monochrome Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Working From Home Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 26,276	Originally posted by cali92rs I think the K-01 is a camera totally designed for current Pentaxians...not that there is anything wrong with that. Pentaxians tend to have a large stable of legacy manual focus lenses. And thats where this camera shines. If you raaarely shoot moving subjects and prefer MF, then this can be a real winner. And that is where the K-5 is a let down in my opinion, manual focusing. So both of these cameras can complement each other well. As an owner, the K-01 is an outstanding MF camera, especially for users who wear eyeglasses. It is also quite handy for casual photography where you want something better than PnS snapshots, but don't need a full dSLR. I believe Pentax implied the latter in thier initial Fashion Industry marketing efforts - which appears to be the reason the hired Mark Newson to design the body. I wish they had expressly marketed the camera's feature set to the MF sub-set of legacy users.

05-31-2012, 03:35 PM	#20
jogiba Banned Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Millstone,NJ Posts: 6,491 Original Poster	Some Nex-5N fan on DPR Pentax SLR Talk was mad that I posted photos of it with large lenses like the 35mm F1.4 compared to my K-01 with 85mm F1.4 so I posted photos of both with 18-55mm kit lens and the 5N lens had smaller 49mm filter size compared to 52mm on the Pentax.

05-31-2012, 03:44 PM	#21
jimntonik New Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Toronto, ON Posts: 15	Glad to see they called Pentax out on the AF issues - I've reported similar bugs to Pentax directly, but no word yet on a fix (they just have a sample photo). The size/lens + SR tradeoff isn't very well discussed in any of these reviews, but I give them points for at least indicating the upsides - most reviews just look at the negatives.

05-31-2012, 08:50 PM	#23
Alizarine Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Manila Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,185	I was expecting the K-01 to get a 71% at least because of the incredible IQ. Seems they preferred highlighting the bad points instead of the good ones. Well, people are people, not really much to complain about.

06-06-2012, 10:19 AM	#24
Aristophanes Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Rankin Inlet, Nunavut Photos: Albums Posts: 3,948	If the K-01 had: 1) Better AF 2) Port for an external EVF 3) Articulating LCD 4) More traditional styling/ergonomics It would have scored much, much higher based on its IQ for value. Ding it for its size but you'd lose k-mount compatibility, which is what the K-01 is supposed to be all about. The review is fair IMO and the K-01 actually escapes with a decent score. Personally I think the K-01 is a fail, although not an epic fail like the Q. The K01 is salvageable with the mods I note above, and the Q needs a much larger sensor and lower price.

06-06-2012, 10:40 AM	#25
eddie1960 Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,666	Originally posted by Aristophanes If the K-01 had: 1) Better AF 2) Port for an external EVF 3) Articulating LCD 4) More traditional styling/ergonomics It would have scored much, much higher based on its IQ for value. Ding it for its size but you'd lose k-mount compatibility, which is what the K-01 is supposed to be all about. The review is fair IMO and the K-01 actually escapes with a decent score. Personally I think the K-01 is a fail, although not an epic fail like the Q. The K01 is salvageable with the mods I note above, and the Q needs a much larger sensor and lower price. Agreed on the K-01, Disagree on the Q - have you actually tried one? I did and was very impressed with it (and annoyed that i took my time and Jezza323 from the forum beat me to the CL deal i was watching - that is the one i tried after he bought it). now that the base price is 499 or so it is a very good value camera. It was not however designed for our market but the Asian one where it has done quite well. I would not call that an epic fail. In fact it has sold better than the K-01 AFAIK so in fact the k-01 must also be an epic fail by your reasoning

06-06-2012, 10:51 AM	#26
gazonk Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Oslo area, Norway Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,746	Originally posted by eddie1960 In fact it has sold better than the K-01 AFAIK so in fact the k-01 must also be an epic fail by your reasoning The Q always shows up on the bcnranking.jp rankings. Not very high up, but the white double kit is #45 on May's ranking (????????????????BCN?????????), the black double kit at #62, the limited silver at #78. Not a big seller, but certainly not an epic fail. The K01 is far below the visible top 80 models...

06-06-2012, 11:36 AM	#27
eddie1960 Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,666	Originally posted by gazonk The Q always shows up on the bcnranking.jp rankings. Not very high up, but the white double kit is #45 on May's ranking (????????????????BCN?????????), the black double kit at #62, the limited silver at #78. Not a big seller, but certainly not an epic fail. The K01 is far below the visible top 80 models... I like the K-01 myself, but I'm not sure of what the market is. On the Q I saw the market rationalization right away and the BCN number bear out that idea (and BCN is just Japan, i understand it has done well in most of Asia)

06-06-2012, 11:47 AM	#28
cali92rs Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 3,354	Originally posted by eddie1960 I like the K-01 myself, but I'm not sure of what the market is. The K-01's market is current K-mount users and primarily manual focus shooters... Which is a real small community as it turns out.

06-06-2012, 11:48 AM	#29
monochrome Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Working From Home Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 26,276	Originally posted by cali92rs The K-01's market is current K-mount users and primarily manual focus shooters... Which is a real small community as it turns out. Small market - yep - but some of us in that market really like the camera

06-06-2012, 11:51 AM	#30
cali92rs Veteran Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Long Beach, CA Posts: 3,354	Originally posted by monochrome Small market - yep - but some of us in that market really like the camera Oh, I don't disagree with that, in fact if I had the money I would probably get one. It's just that outside of the MF lens hoarding pentaxians, I don't see this appealing to a lot of outsiders.