Rip k-01

Medium FormatPro · 02-28-2013, 06:55 AM

Originally posted by rparmar

limited to the K-mount

As a creative photographer... I've considered the "limited to" the full size lens' of the PK ount as the Pentax K-01's greatest asset. No other mirrorless out there can match the optics and aperature ranges.

GeneV · 02-28-2013, 07:37 AM

Originally posted by Medium FormatPro

As a creative photographer... I've considered the "limited to" the full size lens' of the PK ount as the Pentax K-01's greatest asset. No other mirrorless out there can match the optics and aperature ranges.

That part had me scratching my head as well. Beside the 40 years of this mount, it is probably the mount with more adapters available than any other, not to mention the folks who will put the mounts on other mfr lenses.

**monochrome** · 02-28-2013, 08:12 AM

Well I guess the cool kids didn't like Pentax stepping on their turf so they bullied the poor little thing.

So is this Revenge Of The mirrorless Nerds? I don't mind if they think so - I am a nerd and always have been.

(Fun Fact: When word got out that I and mine were engaged 32 years ago, I overheard a Cool Kid whisper, "Oh, isn't that just great? Two Nerds with one Stone." I never knew that particular Cool Kid was smart enough to come up with such acerbic banter - kudos were assigned at the time, to great pinkness of cheeks. Heh.)

Laurentiu Cristofor · 02-28-2013, 10:38 PM

Originally posted by GeneV

That part had me scratching my head as well. Beside the 40 years of this mount, it is probably the mount with more adapters available than any other, not to mention the folks who will put the mounts on other mfr lenses.

The point that you seem to have missed is that you can adapt all K mount lenses (and many more SLR and non SLR lenses) to a "properly designed MILC".

By sticking with the K mount for the K-01, Pentax dropped one important advantage that MILCs have over SLRs - the ability to use lenses from pretty much any system designed during the film era. And SLR lenses can even gain tilting capability when adapted to these new mounts.

Instead, the K-01 offered the ability to use K lenses when the interest in that was already limited to a dwindling Pentax customer base. So the K-01 catered to a niche of what was already a niche market. That was a successful recipe for failure.

The main contribution of K-01 to photographic history is that it created a category of its own - the "improperly designed MILC". Now, if one wants to make a generic statement about the capability of MILCs, they have to add "except for the K-01".

Also, the K-01 showed that no matter how many PF users saw it as a good idea, in the end they did not amount to a viable market worth catering to.

Good riddance! Let this be the last bad new product carrying the Pentax brand.

SteveM · 02-28-2013, 11:06 PM

Maybe I'm just getting older and have a camera plastered to my face for too long, but when I look through a viewfinder, I basically see just a minor crop of my normal vision. I'm taken right into the detail of the photo and can see focus on a miniscule section of the frame while adjusting the rest of the frame for composition. For me, trying to replicate this in a 3 inch lcd screen is hopeless. I understand the benifits, but for me, it just doesn't compare. Perhaps others see this too.

RonHendriks1966 · 03-01-2013, 04:05 AM

Originally posted by SteveM

Maybe I'm just getting older and have a camera plastered to my face for too long, but when I look through a viewfinder, I basically see just a minor crop of my normal vision. I'm taken right into the detail of the photo and can see focus on a miniscule section of the frame while adjusting the rest of the frame for composition. For me, trying to replicate this in a 3 inch lcd screen is hopeless. I understand the benifits, but for me, it just doesn't compare. Perhaps others see this too.

For me this is just the other way around and I find it very pleasing using the 3" screen. But then again, I'm not from a large group of customers to make the K-01 a finacial succes.

robtcorl · 03-01-2013, 05:05 AM - **2 Likes**

I do get it that the K-01 is not for everyone.
I do get it that some cannot live without a viewfinder.
I do get it that some think the K-01 was a bad idea.

What I don't get is that it seems some want to throw dirt on what they feel is the grave of the K-01.
Sorry if I'm reading too much into some of the statements.

Last edited by robtcorl; 03-01-2013 at 05:25 AM. Reason: edit typos

Steve.Ledger · 03-01-2013, 05:39 AM

@robtcorl +1

**monochrome** · 03-01-2013, 05:56 AM

Just between you, me and a tree, I read this stuff then I look in the mirror and wonder what in the world is wrong with me that I can't see all the problems with this camera that all these other more experienced and better informed photographers see. Oh well. I've never been one of the cool kiddies so I shouldn't really expect to get it.

And even after they've killed the little thing they still come back to remind me how stupid I am and Pentax is.

I guess nothing changes. Just like High School.

GeneV · 03-01-2013, 07:10 AM

Originally posted by Laurentiu Cristofor

The point that you seem to have missed is that you can adapt all K mount lenses (and many more SLR and non SLR lenses) to a "properly designed MILC"..

I didn't miss that point at all. You can adapt just about anything to anything, but you won't have all the features working and you will have an adapter or two to deal with. Most K mount lenses out there do just about everything they ever did.

You seem to hate this camera, and I am no big fan (mirrorless isn't the best for my presbyopia). I was up for it only at a cheap price. However, the one thing it does offer is easy, fully functional, access to a mount that has been around a long time and is widespread.

GeneV · 03-01-2013, 07:17 AM

Originally posted by robtcorl

I do get it that the K-01 is not for everyone.
I do get it that some cannot live without a viewfinder.
I do get it that some think the K-01 was a bad idea.

What I don't get is that it seems some want to throw dirt on what they feel is the grave of the K-01.
Sorry if I'm reading too much into some of the statements.

I probably fit those three descriptions to some partial degree, but I agree wholeheartedly with the last statement. It is not a worthless device and its passing is not a cause for celebration.

JPT · 03-01-2013, 07:17 AM

The more I think about it, the more this seems like a non-story. The camera was produced for a certain length of time, then production stopped, the price dropped and stocks ran down. Finally, the manufacturer designated it as discontinued, just like every other camera. I'm not quite sure why this is being taken as vindication of people's scepticism about the camera or why it produced a story on DPR with almost 300 comments. It shows how people view things through the "lens" of their own preconceptions.

Pentax: Axed K-01 camera 'planned' for one year only | Amateur Photographer

I suspect something else is rolling off that production line as we speak. Can't wait to see what it is!

asahi · 03-01-2013, 08:14 AM

Originally posted by wolffy

It now resides in the Discontinued Model Line on the Pentax website.

long live the K-01

I know there are other threads about this but the Mighty K-01 deserves one more

I wholeheartedly agree. My Bumblebee version saved the day in Tanzania, when my venerable K20D couldn't manage the dim morning light. And I had never tried video before, but when I cranked the Bumblebee up at a Maasai boma, it made me look like a pro...And it finally convinced me to get a K30 to replace my K20D. A blue one.

And I bought mine at full price, and consider every penny well spent.

**THoog** · 03-01-2013, 08:51 AM

Originally posted by monochrome

Just between you, me and a tree, I read this stuff then I look in the mirror and wonder what in the world is wrong with me that I can't see all the problems with this camera that all these other more experienced and better informed photographers see. Oh well. I've never been one of the cool kiddies so I shouldn't really expect to get it.

And even after they've killed the little thing they still come back to remind me how stupid I am and Pentax is.

I guess nothing changes. Just like High School.

Psst! K-01 Klub meeting in the library during lunch! Tell the others!

Time and again, I am baffled by the hostility I see towards various camera designs. If I look at something that's not for me, I go "huh, not for me", or maybe "interesting idea, but not for me". It just doesn't occur to me that I need to tell the world how stupid it is, unless the design fails to work reliably or actually injures the user.

robtcorl · 03-01-2013, 09:11 AM

Originally posted by THoog

Psst! K-01 Klub meeting in the library during lunch! Tell the others!

Be there or be square, but wear a mask!

Went to the DPR site, and hostility is putting it mildly. (by non-users of course)
Now I feel like such an idiot for ever liking this stupid, ugly, boxy piece of crap.

I'm gonna get a mask of the guy below for when I take this creature out in public, which will still be very often.

03-01-2013, 05:05 AM - 2 Likes	#52
robtcorl Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: St Louis, MO Photos: Gallery Posts: 11,606	Different strokes for different folks I do get it that the K-01 is not for everyone. I do get it that some cannot live without a viewfinder. I do get it that some think the K-01 was a bad idea. What I don't get is that it seems some want to throw dirt on what they feel is the grave of the K-01. Sorry if I'm reading too much into some of the statements. Last edited by robtcorl; 03-01-2013 at 05:25 AM. Reason: edit typos

03-01-2013, 08:14 AM	#58
asahi Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Holliston, MA Photos: Gallery Posts: 69	Following the yellow brick road Originally posted by wolffy It now resides in the Discontinued Model Line on the Pentax website. long live the K-01 I know there are other threads about this but the Mighty K-01 deserves one more I wholeheartedly agree. My Bumblebee version saved the day in Tanzania, when my venerable K20D couldn't manage the dim morning light. And I had never tried video before, but when I cranked the Bumblebee up at a Maasai boma, it made me look like a pro...And it finally convinced me to get a K30 to replace my K20D. A blue one. And I bought mine at full price, and consider every penny well spent.

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02-28-2013, 06:55 AM	#46
Medium FormatPro Banned Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Charleston & Pittsburgh Photos: Albums Posts: 1,668	Originally posted by rparmar limited to the K-mount As a creative photographer... I've considered the "limited to" the full size lens' of the PK ount as the Pentax K-01's greatest asset. No other mirrorless out there can match the optics and aperature ranges.

02-28-2013, 07:37 AM	#47
GeneV Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Albuquerque NM Photos: Albums Posts: 9,830	Originally posted by Medium FormatPro As a creative photographer... I've considered the "limited to" the full size lens' of the PK ount as the Pentax K-01's greatest asset. No other mirrorless out there can match the optics and aperature ranges. That part had me scratching my head as well. Beside the 40 years of this mount, it is probably the mount with more adapters available than any other, not to mention the folks who will put the mounts on other mfr lenses.

02-28-2013, 08:12 AM	#48
monochrome Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Working From Home Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 26,276	Well I guess the cool kids didn't like Pentax stepping on their turf so they bullied the poor little thing. So is this Revenge Of The mirrorless Nerds? I don't mind if they think so - I am a nerd and always have been. (Fun Fact: When word got out that I and mine were engaged 32 years ago, I overheard a Cool Kid whisper, "Oh, isn't that just great? Two Nerds with one Stone." I never knew that particular Cool Kid was smart enough to come up with such acerbic banter - kudos were assigned at the time, to great pinkness of cheeks. Heh.)

02-28-2013, 10:38 PM	#49
Laurentiu Cristofor Banned Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: WA Photos: Albums Posts: 3,055	Originally posted by GeneV That part had me scratching my head as well. Beside the 40 years of this mount, it is probably the mount with more adapters available than any other, not to mention the folks who will put the mounts on other mfr lenses. The point that you seem to have missed is that you can adapt all K mount lenses (and many more SLR and non SLR lenses) to a "properly designed MILC". By sticking with the K mount for the K-01, Pentax dropped one important advantage that MILCs have over SLRs - the ability to use lenses from pretty much any system designed during the film era. And SLR lenses can even gain tilting capability when adapted to these new mounts. Instead, the K-01 offered the ability to use K lenses when the interest in that was already limited to a dwindling Pentax customer base. So the K-01 catered to a niche of what was already a niche market. That was a successful recipe for failure. The main contribution of K-01 to photographic history is that it created a category of its own - the "improperly designed MILC". Now, if one wants to make a generic statement about the capability of MILCs, they have to add "except for the K-01". Also, the K-01 showed that no matter how many PF users saw it as a good idea, in the end they did not amount to a viable market worth catering to. Good riddance! Let this be the last bad new product carrying the Pentax brand.

02-28-2013, 11:06 PM	#50
SteveM Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Vancouver Island, BC, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,294	Maybe I'm just getting older and have a camera plastered to my face for too long, but when I look through a viewfinder, I basically see just a minor crop of my normal vision. I'm taken right into the detail of the photo and can see focus on a miniscule section of the frame while adjusting the rest of the frame for composition. For me, trying to replicate this in a 3 inch lcd screen is hopeless. I understand the benifits, but for me, it just doesn't compare. Perhaps others see this too.

03-01-2013, 04:05 AM	#51
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	Originally posted by SteveM Maybe I'm just getting older and have a camera plastered to my face for too long, but when I look through a viewfinder, I basically see just a minor crop of my normal vision. I'm taken right into the detail of the photo and can see focus on a miniscule section of the frame while adjusting the rest of the frame for composition. For me, trying to replicate this in a 3 inch lcd screen is hopeless. I understand the benifits, but for me, it just doesn't compare. Perhaps others see this too. For me this is just the other way around and I find it very pleasing using the 3" screen. But then again, I'm not from a large group of customers to make the K-01 a finacial succes.

03-01-2013, 05:39 AM	#53
Steve.Ledger Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Far North Qld Posts: 3,301	@robtcorl +1

03-01-2013, 05:56 AM	#54
monochrome Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Working From Home Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 26,276	Just between you, me and a tree, I read this stuff then I look in the mirror and wonder what in the world is wrong with me that I can't see all the problems with this camera that all these other more experienced and better informed photographers see. Oh well. I've never been one of the cool kiddies so I shouldn't really expect to get it. And even after they've killed the little thing they still come back to remind me how stupid I am and Pentax is. I guess nothing changes. Just like High School.

03-01-2013, 07:10 AM	#55
GeneV Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Albuquerque NM Photos: Albums Posts: 9,830	Originally posted by Laurentiu Cristofor The point that you seem to have missed is that you can adapt all K mount lenses (and many more SLR and non SLR lenses) to a "properly designed MILC".. I didn't miss that point at all. You can adapt just about anything to anything, but you won't have all the features working and you will have an adapter or two to deal with. Most K mount lenses out there do just about everything they ever did. You seem to hate this camera, and I am no big fan (mirrorless isn't the best for my presbyopia). I was up for it only at a cheap price. However, the one thing it does offer is easy, fully functional, access to a mount that has been around a long time and is widespread.

03-01-2013, 07:17 AM	#56
GeneV Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Albuquerque NM Photos: Albums Posts: 9,830	Originally posted by robtcorl I do get it that the K-01 is not for everyone. I do get it that some cannot live without a viewfinder. I do get it that some think the K-01 was a bad idea. What I don't get is that it seems some want to throw dirt on what they feel is the grave of the K-01. Sorry if I'm reading too much into some of the statements. I probably fit those three descriptions to some partial degree, but I agree wholeheartedly with the last statement. It is not a worthless device and its passing is not a cause for celebration.

03-01-2013, 07:17 AM	#57
JPT Pentaxian Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Tokyo Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,821	The more I think about it, the more this seems like a non-story. The camera was produced for a certain length of time, then production stopped, the price dropped and stocks ran down. Finally, the manufacturer designated it as discontinued, just like every other camera. I'm not quite sure why this is being taken as vindication of people's scepticism about the camera or why it produced a story on DPR with almost 300 comments. It shows how people view things through the "lens" of their own preconceptions. Pentax: Axed K-01 camera 'planned' for one year only \| Amateur Photographer I suspect something else is rolling off that production line as we speak. Can't wait to see what it is!

03-01-2013, 08:51 AM	#59
THoog Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: North Carolina Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,685	Originally posted by monochrome Just between you, me and a tree, I read this stuff then I look in the mirror and wonder what in the world is wrong with me that I can't see all the problems with this camera that all these other more experienced and better informed photographers see. Oh well. I've never been one of the cool kiddies so I shouldn't really expect to get it. And even after they've killed the little thing they still come back to remind me how stupid I am and Pentax is. I guess nothing changes. Just like High School. Psst! K-01 Klub meeting in the library during lunch! Tell the others! Time and again, I am baffled by the hostility I see towards various camera designs. If I look at something that's not for me, I go "huh, not for me", or maybe "interesting idea, but not for me". It just doesn't occur to me that I need to tell the world how stupid it is, unless the design fails to work reliably or actually injures the user.

03-01-2013, 09:11 AM	#60
robtcorl Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: St Louis, MO Photos: Gallery Posts: 11,606	Originally posted by THoog Psst! K-01 Klub meeting in the library during lunch! Tell the others! Be there or be square, but wear a mask! Went to the DPR site, and hostility is putting it mildly. (by non-users of course) Now I feel like such an idiot for ever liking this stupid, ugly, boxy piece of crap. I'm gonna get a mask of the guy below for when I take this creature out in public, which will still be very often.