[GoneToTheDogs]

You're right... a cult within a cult. Kind of like a mystery wrapped inside an enigma. Shouldn't we have a secret handshake or something?

How about a K-mount handshake?

[robtcorl]

How about a K-mount handshake?

I like it!
Maybe a fist bump first, throw the hand into a K, then do the Hokey Pokey.

[Designosophy]

I just got my K-01 (also a stormtrooper) a couple days ago. For $316, it was a no-brainer. I love the look of it, and the ergonomics took no time at all to get used to. With almost every lens, the focus is more accurate than with my K-5. The exception for me is the Sigma 50 f/1.4. It likes to front focus with this lens, and sometimes won't focus at all. If it's not focusing, I turn off the camera and then turn it back on and it's okay again. But, for example with the Pentax 77, it's much more accurate than my K-5. Noise is similar to the K-5. Focusing on the K-01 is fast after the firmware upgrade. It's still not fast enough to get subjects moving toward me, but that's tough.

Focus peaking is nice, but it isn't quite as useful as I thought it would be. With my K 135 f/2.5, it tends to make it seem like things are in focus when they're pretty far out of focus. With shorter lenses, it's a bit more accurate.

With the K-01, highlights blow out a lot more easily than with the K-5. I can recover a lot more from highlights with the K-5.

Overall, it's a great camera. A friend of mine who shoots a Canon 7D was amazed by the K-01 for $316. He plans to get one for shooting video interviews.

A couple shots from a wedding I attended yesterday:

With the K 135






With the FA 77

[gylfimag]

Got my K-01 last week. Finally upgraded my aging *ist DL. I was going to get a K-30 but the price reduction on the K-01 made me change my mind.

Some early observations. More or less in line with what others have found, I reckon.

The image quality is excellent. High iso performance much better than the first generation of Pentax DSLRs. Probably at least a 3 stop difference, with iso 6400 being similar to iso 800 on the DL. Dynamic range also much improved. 16 megapixels is however far more than is needed for most practical purposes, 6 megapixels are plenty.

Video is surprisingly good. It will take some practice to get focusing under control though (no continuous AF). Audio quality is not terrible, the built-in microphone being fairly reasonable. I only had a problem when videoing a scene in a quiet room, then you could clearly hear that the camera produces a fair amount of white noise on the audio track. Annoying but can be filtered out in software. This is apparently not a fault of the built-in microphone as I got the same result with a good external microphone.

The camera handles very well and feels quite solid. The buttons are easily accessed (I don't see the problem some have with the green button) and the menu system fairly logical. The right hand side door or flap is not an example of brilliant engineering but once you figure out that to close it you have to slide it in it works well enough. Has not caused any problems for me.

The rubber texture of the camera helps provide a good grip. It is actually a better solution, being less slippery, than the hard plastic that is usually used for DSLRs.

Pentax apparently rushed the camera to market as the initial firmware was simply not good enough when it came to controlling focusing. With 1.01 focusing is however fairly fast and trouble free. Certainly much faster than my old DL. Don't understand why they still ship cameras with the initial firmware.

The 40mm kit lens is an interesting one but mainly due to its small size. Optically it is fine but that's about it. The focal length is a bit too long for a normal lens, the 2.8 aperture not very impressive for a normal prime and it makes a very loud noise when focusing. I see myself using my FA 35 far more than this one (brighter, wider, less noisy, similar IQ and not terribly large).

The camera is fairly fast and responsive. Taking raw photos I never have to wait for the buffer to clear to take the next photo. Burst mode may be rather limited when taking raw photos but when taking jpegs it is fine. The jpeg engine also seems fairly good although I'll probably not use it much.

The camera is somewhat large for a MILC but I don't see that as a problem. Compared to most DSLRs it is quite compact.

Finally - the viewfinder. Having used various Pentax viewfinders for the last 30+ years I don't miss having one that much on the K-01. The LCD is good and usable even from a steep angle. Haven't tried using the camera in bright sunlight or snow though.