Originally posted by monochrome This is just like 2012, only without the rancor. I was immediately drawn to the K-01 and pre-ordered one. I got it in the mail literally the day it was 'released' in USA. I use it, I like it, it does everything I wanted it for and I use a dSLR for the things it cannot (and was not designed to) do.
By the fall of 2012 the criticism was deafening. I felt so personally insulted here that I responded angrily, got a Timeout from a Mod - and went away for six months. See, all these 'rational' assessments are meaningless. I like the camera. I got 12 more months of use from it than the people who bought it on the deals. It was just a first attempt, which was improved with Firmware updates - it wasn't broken. The card door works just fine. The buttons are just fine. It didn't have a noisy sensor. It didn't send Pentax down a Contax hole.
Well, now we have a couple of years to look back things. I'm not contemplating the K-01 as something I "like". I'm looking at how the concept was implemented and marketed and what was accomplished during its short production run.
I think the critical error by Pentax at release day was the very poor AF. "Professional" reviewers were already in a bit of a quandary over the styling, the thick body that somehow had neither an EVF nor a tilty LCD, and had only a vestigial grip. It was available in bright yellow. How could one reasonably expect photographers - a notoriously conservative group - to be welcoming on such a contraption? Yet, with all that said, if the camera had stellar output and performed, the K-01 might ring a few doorbells.
And that's where Pentax
really screwed the pooch, IMO. AF with firmware 1.00 was worse-than-cellphone bad. And any fence-stradlers who tried to photograph the cat on a Sunday evening with the TV and one lamp for illumination said, man this sucks.
Imagine if FW 1.03 were on the K-01 at release...
"All in all, this odd brick of a camera is surprisingly capable, a decent performer with class-leading image quality and compatibility with the entire line of current and legacy Pentax K-mount glass. Because of this, we give it our Silver Award and a 76/100 rating. Please help support our site by purchasing the Pentax K-01 through one of our affiliates." - Generic Camera Review Quote: Yet there remains this group-think 'Garbage' opinion supported by people who (mostly - I can't speak for everyone) have never even thought of trying one or sullying their precious camera bags with one (OMG, Newson cooties might rub off) that is just corrosive, unnecessary and not helpful to Pentax.
Does NO ONE associate the pathologically negative K-01 reception with Ricoh's reluctance to invest in mirrorless or video?
I honestly don't think the K-01 means much of anything to Ricoh. I have no idea where along the timeline of K-01 development Ricoh took over.
---------- Post added 08-17-14 at 11:56 PM ----------
Originally posted by ElJamoquio ...Mister Newson's vision of the 60's camera of the future.