[pixelvandal]

So much so, that when I upgraded to my K1, I decided to sell 90% of my crop lenses, and my immaculate K3, and pick one of these bad boys up to pair with the 21mm limited permanently and keep it in my work bag all the time!
Who else still has theirs? Of course it has limitations, but as a cheap and cheerful carry everywhere, high quality, not have to worry about it, ton of fun type camera.... I don't think anything out there can match it

[kiwi_jono]

I have a K-1 but when travelling light its the K-01 thats in my (small) bag and I'm constantly surprised with the results.
The LCD may be a bit of a pain in bright light but it does a great job with AF accuracy and exposure. Also a little sharper than my K-5 was (due to weaker anti-aliasing filter). As you say its great paired with small limiteds. I have a DA40xs, DA15 and DA70 - makes for a capable but compact kit!

Not about to get wrid of my K-01!

[Wasp]

There is one one sale here in Africa. The price is quite good but I am holding out for a K-3. It has been advertised for quite a while now. I am keeping an eye on it. If there is a price drop I might be interested.

[reh321]

So much so, that when I upgraded to my K1, I decided to sell 90% of my crop lenses, and my immaculate K3, and pick one of these bad boys up to pair with the 21mm limited permanently and keep it in my work bag all the time!
Who else still has theirs? Of course it has limitations, but as a cheap and cheerful carry everywhere, high quality, not have to worry about it, ton of fun type camera.... I don't think anything out there can match it

If you are willing to limit yourself to one fixed focal length lens - that is great for you!

[Mr Bassie]

Yes it is the only digital Pentax I own right now. Image quality holds up in 2018 IMO. Autofocus isn’t great but that doesn’t matter if you use manual focus lenses.

[gylfimag]

The K-01 is still a great camera after all these years. I use it as a backup for my K-1 or when I want a lighter setup, e.g. when traveling. It only weighs a little over half as much as the K-1 (565 g vs. 1010 g). The image quality is excellent - and always was of course. Most people will probably very rarely need more resolution than 16 megapixels. That said the K-01 has a few weaknesses. Not great for sports due to the relatively slow autofocus (although it is good enough in most circumstances, not with slow telephoto lenses or in low light though). No EVF or OVF, no WR.

Other comparable options from Pentax would be an APS-c dslr from a few years back, e.g. from the K-5 series or K-S2. They are a bit bulkier than the K-01 but with an OVF, WR and faster phase-detect autofocus.

I do wish Pentax would come out with a K-02, an updated version of the K-01. With a more modern sensor (full frame or APS-c) and focusing system and somehow squeeze an EVF in but otherwise keep the body as little changed as possible. Maybe add WR. That would be a great camera and the easiest way for Pentax to re-enter the mirrorless market. It would need a new kit lens though. The 40 mm XS lens never made much sense on an APS-c camera. Certainly small and light with decent IQ but the focal length should have been considerably shorter. A cheap version of the DA21 would have made more sense - or a better designed version of the collapsible 18-50 that they introduced a few years later.

[boriscleto]

You're assuming the K-01 was worth buying in 2011.

[zippythezip]

Love my K-01's, use my Bumblebee mostly. I carry the XS40,15, 35 LTDs, and the 18-135 all in a small bag. I also have a blue and two black "Bricks".
Battery life is really good for having to use the rear LCD all the time, get twice the amount of shots compared to my Oly EM10's and even my K70.

[roberrl]

I've had three and still keep my bumblebee. Went to a KS-2 for the flippy screen which is very useful for some of the work I do.

I plan to take the K-01 and DA15 as my only camera on holiday next month, as others have said, small, light and doesn't look as threatening as a DSLR.

[lytrytyr]

You're assuming the K-01 was worth buying in 2011.

It's not an assumption, it's an axiom.

I still use mine a lot.


Better battery life than my K-30, great with manual focus lenses, great in cold weather, great on a tripod and for copy work, great image quality.

While I wouldn't take it to the beach on a sunny day, I've never had any problem seeing the screen under typical usage.
I did re-glue the mode dial.

[Bob 256]

Great little "brick" of a camera. Not long after I got my K-1, I purchased a K-01 and had it converted to full spectrum. I can still use it conventionally with a lens mounted UV/IR stop filter, but I mostly use it for IR and it provides great pics. The nice thing is that it accepts K mount so all my lenses fit. Since it's crop format, I'm using wide angle lenses for most applications. The pixel structure is identical to the K-1; just cropped to APS-c format so a shot with the same lens on either camera will fit pixel for pixel on top of each other (within the crop area). Good features and nicely compact.

[Cthulhugan]

I had a K-01. Then, last year, my wife took a photography course. I loaned her the K-01 and a kit lens. After the course I was informed that I would NOT be getting them back, and where did I keep my 70 Limited ... :-)

[lytrytyr]

While I wouldn't take it to the beach on a sunny day, I've never had any problem seeing the screen under typical usage.

The way I look at it,
if the lighting's too harsh to see the screen,
it's probably too harsh for a worthwhile photograph.

[ZombieArmy]

The K-01 is my only camera so I don't have any other experiences to base it on besides my old sony h20. The thing that gets me the most is the contrast detection autofocus, especially indoors in low contrast situations. There's so many times the K-01 just can't get focus at all.

I've been wanting to upgrade to a better camera for a while now, keeping the K-01 as a side camera. I do appreciate the size of it, and I do like the styling how it just doesn't grab attention from normal people. But I can't help but think the people who still give this camera extreme praise don't use it enough. It's incredibly dated unless all you do is use manual lenses. This camera will struggle with long lenses, can't focus on dark subjects, slow to focus with most lenses, misses focus with a lot of lenses with no way to fix it, no GPS/astrotracer support despite being a k-5 based camera, etc...

I will say though, the screen in bright light is one issue that I've never really experienced. I take it out in the bright sun of Florida all the time and never have problems seeing the screen.

Is it a bad camera? Honestly no, but I bet it's not much better than any other mirrorless from the early 10s. The superior sensor is a boon, and being able to share batteries with bigger bodies is probably the main reason you'd want this as a side camera.