Originally posted by monochrome A marketing study states the product goals. We have no idea what Pentax's product goals were/are. We have no idea what the cost of development was (other than a rumor that Newson got $1Million). We have no idea how Pentax defined success.
We only have our prejudices, many of which are justified for posters on internet Fora and the larger camera reviewers.
I don't care any more whether I am considered wrong or a goof or an amateur or un-serious or just a bad judge of value. I Iike mine exactly as it is. I carry it in my briefcase and use it nearly every day.
At a conference last week I took photos for a few minutes every two or three hours. Not a single person commented one way or the other - they just accepted that I was using a different camera than I've used in prior years. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad - but it certainly isn't what many posters here would have expected.
FWIW, I bought through the Forum B&H link. Adam PM'ed me, "So, you're going with the K-01. Are you sure you want to do that?"
I bought a K-01 recently. Well built, comfortable in the hand with a wrist-strap, made for the limiteds, great for street candids, focus peaking means nice macro-type shots which are really sharp, colours and raw parameters pretty much the same as the K5 (allowing for the 12 vs 14 stuff) which means very good results, a go anywhere do most things kind of camera and for the quality, not at all expensive at least where I live. I can't see what folks get so upset about. It's not perfect and it puts out some heat, or mine does. But for a fairly simple, primes-only camera it works very well, imho. I could easily see myself travelling with this and a light kit of 15 or 21, 40 and 70. I could have paid double for a more sophisticated camera like the new Olympus OMD-5. But I already have the K5 for when I want long lenses, big zooms and fast RAW shooting. Worth bearing in the mind that the number of options, scene modes, focusing choices et al plus such a top sensor would have not been dreamed off in a camera even a few years ago. Even simple cameras these days are very capable. As for whether the K-01 has been judged a success by Pentax, I haven't a clue. I'd have thought their sales in Japan, China and points East were key anyway.
The reviewer in TOP was bang on the money, imho. Forget what the K-01 is like on paper or the net, what's it like to use over hundreds of shots in the hand and and on the street - that was his point, I thought. And, clearly, he thought it was pretty good, good enough to give a write-up to.