why the K01 is the best timelapse camera around +video
Here's a montage of some timelapse stuff I've done recently with the k01.
I bough the k01 on a whim, mostly because it was cheap and came with the 40xs. I was thinking about buying the 40 Limited, but why not get the lens and a camera for just a few bucks more. And after the early reviews I didn't expect to be too impressed.
But this camera is awesome, and very likely the best ilc for timelapse currently on the market. Here's why:
1. Better metering than any other camera I've used. Unlike my dslr's the k01 uses the entire sensor to provide accurate consistent metering. This means I can get perfect unflickered exposures in Av mode. To do this with my k5,k7 or even the d600 that I bought and quickly returned, I would need an external trigger with programmable bulb ramping. Which would still require manually calculating exposure beforehand, not to mention added cost, complexity, weight, weather corncern, etc.
2.low investment, my most used timelapse setup is the k01 with Samyang 14mm lens, total cost less than $500. If this setup gets damged by rockfall, stepped on by mountain goats, stolen, rained on, or otherwise broken, I won't be too heartbroken. I won't be out a thousand dollar camera or a thousand dollar lens. This makes me feel way better about leaving the camera unattended for days at a time.
3.Great battery life, timelapse work is not very automated, manual exposure, manual focus, the only automation is the interval timer. Consequently I regularly get 800+ raw images from a single battery. I'm not sure any other mirrorless can match this, of course my dslrs can, but they cost far more and take up way more backpack space, not to mention looking very stealable.
4.looks like a cheap toy, and I don't think anyone would steal it.
5.very good internal intervalometer. I wish it had proper bulb ramping, but currently no camera has this internally, so I can't complain. Compare it to an NEX, which has no intervalometer, and no remote port.
6.build quality, for the money I paid for mine the build is stellar, despite its fisher price looks, its a brick. I wish it was sealed, but not having seals is not that big a deal, its held up to some pretty heavy abuse to this point and I'm not worried about it the way I would about an NEX or Rebel. When I'm timelapseing I typically cover the camera with a small plastic rain cover, this i has held up through severe mountain thunderstorms and -20 degree temperatures with no trouble.
7.IQ, the images this camera produces are phenomenal, better than my k5 in most cases. In this instance even the 12bit files are an advantage. The 14bit k5 dngs are slightly more workable in post, but when I'm working with a 1000 new raw files a day, that small storage savings is notable. Maximum IQ per megabyte.
Does anyone else use their k01 in a similar manner? How has your experience been?
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