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11-11-2018, 09:20 AM - 1 Like   #166
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QuoteOriginally posted by punkrachmaninov Quote
pardon my french taste—but the k-01 flopped STRICTLY because of the experimental nature of the industrial design.
At the time, a great many people complained at length about more than just the design - the lack of an EVF (even as an option), the lack of a tilt screen, the substandard video, the slow AF performance (or complete failure to AF with some long lenses), the high launch price. The styling was just one problem of many - and quite a few people seemed to be able to tolerate, even like, the design - at a (much) lower price point.

Sony had a smaller mirrorless (NEX-5 series) at a lower price (launch price about the same as the K-01 after the six-month price reduction). It was superior in all of these areas, AND it could use a much wider range of vintage lenses - changing the styling of the K-01 still would have produced a product that compared poorly to the competition. A bigger battery and compatibility with (some) K-mount AF lenses would not have made up the difference.

11-11-2018, 10:03 AM   #167
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QuoteOriginally posted by THoog Quote
Sony had a smaller mirrorless (NEX-5 series) at a lower price. It was superior in all of these areas
But decidedly inferior in build quality for long-term longevity (mode button excepted),
battery power to keep the LCD screen lit up,
and heat sink capacity to stop high sensor temperatures degrading the IQ.
11-11-2018, 12:18 PM   #168
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QuoteOriginally posted by lytrytyr Quote
But decidedly inferior in build quality for long-term longevity (mode button excepted),
Don't forget the "cheap", "flimsy", not-gonna-last-a-month rubber flappy door (none of which have torn off my K-01s after six years, but I digress) - I would say that at the time, in perceived build quality, it was about even.

(I argued the same points in 2012 that you bring up now, but it was no use - the K-01 was "garbage", according to the pundits.)
11-11-2018, 02:21 PM   #169
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QuoteOriginally posted by THoog Quote
Don't forget the "cheap", "flimsy", not-gonna-last-a-month rubber flappy door (none of which have torn off my K-01s after six years, but I digress)
To this day, I enjoy standing the K-01 on end
and opening up that flap to let the pictures get out!

11-11-2018, 03:02 PM   #170
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Now if they could have only made a NEX-5 with Pentax menus!
01-01-2019, 09:50 PM   #171
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I doubt if Pentax will be pressured to jump on the mirror-less band wagon after the FF K1 debacle !
01-01-2019, 10:09 PM - 1 Like   #172
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QuoteOriginally posted by hjoseph7 Quote
I doubt if Pentax will be pressured to jump on the mirror-less band wagon after the FF K1 debacle !
And what wrong with the K1????

01-01-2019, 10:25 PM   #173
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QuoteOriginally posted by bobmaxja Quote
And what wrong with the K1????
I was going to ask the same thing...
01-02-2019, 11:19 AM   #174
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QuoteOriginally posted by THoog Quote
At the time, a great many people complained at length about more than just the design - the lack of an EVF (even as an option), the lack of a tilt screen, the substandard video, the slow AF performance (or complete failure to AF with some long lenses), the high launch price. The styling was just one problem of many - and quite a few people seemed to be able to tolerate, even like, the design - at a (much) lower price point.

Sony had a smaller mirrorless (NEX-5 series) at a lower price (launch price about the same as the K-01 after the six-month price reduction). It was superior in all of these areas, AND it could use a much wider range of vintage lenses - changing the styling of the K-01 still would have produced a product that compared poorly to the competition. A bigger battery and compatibility with (some) K-mount AF lenses would not have made up the difference.
I agree that the styling was not the main issue with the K-01. Though I bought one, the primary issue for me was the lack of any kind of eye-level finder. Everything else was no big deal. The problem for Pentax may have been that it was ahead of its time and did not have the market or the marketing to sell the concept of a mirrorless camera which will accept both new and legacy lenses. Sony has done that, and now almost every prominent manufacturer is in the game.
01-03-2019, 12:28 AM   #175
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QuoteOriginally posted by GeneV Quote
I agree that the styling was not the main issue with the K-01. Though I bought one, the primary issue for me was the lack of any kind of eye-level finder. Everything else was no big deal. The problem for Pentax may have been that it was ahead of its time and did not have the market or the marketing to sell the concept of a mirrorless camera which will accept both new and legacy lenses. Sony has done that, and now almost every prominent manufacturer is in the game.
In use my K-01 with a hood ( from B&H ) at eye level and a variety of my old Tukamar lenses, screw thread East and West Zeiss, Zeiss-Kmt lenses and the current generation of automatic plastic pentax lenses without aperture rings.
I just long for a full frame ML with an EVF like all the other brands have
01-03-2019, 07:09 PM   #176
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I'm not sure it's helpful now to do yet another post-mortem analysis on the K-01, which has been done many times already. From where I sit, it had a long laundry list of relatively minor problems, none of which individually would have been fatal. But they added up. I mean, if some percentage of camera shoppers thought it was overpriced at launch, and some percentage thought it was too big for a mirrorless body, and some percentage didn't like the style, and some percentage didn't like the ergonomics, some percentage had difficulty using it in bright sunlight, and some were put off by the robotic hunting whirring autofocus, then you have to wonder what percentage remain who would be ready and willing to buy.

FWIW, I liked my K-01. It was fun to use, produced excellent images, and did a few cool and unusual things. Sometimes I wonder if I made a mistake in selling it, but I just had too many cameras. There were a lot of other good cameras that it had to compete against.
01-05-2019, 10:05 AM   #177
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QuoteOriginally posted by GeneV Quote
I agree that the styling was not the main issue with the K-01. Though I bought one, the primary issue for me was the lack of any kind of eye-level finder. Everything else was no big deal. The problem for Pentax may have been that it was ahead of its time and did not have the market or the marketing to sell the concept of a mirrorless camera which will accept both new and legacy lenses. Sony has done that, and now almost every prominent manufacturer is in the game.
Yes, summer 2015 I purchased a K-30, only because the K-01 lacked an eye-level viewfinder - with a viewfinder I would have purchased a K-01 instead. Too many people focus on what the camera looked like ..... the most important thing is what it does.
01-07-2020, 08:37 AM   #178
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I hope, if Pentax will make mirrorless, it will join l-mount alliance.
01-07-2020, 08:58 AM   #179
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QuoteOriginally posted by i83N Quote
I hope, if Pentax will make mirrorless, it will join l-mount alliance.
I thought it was L-mount...
01-10-2020, 12:59 AM   #180
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I hope it will come on the market soon. I‘m tired with the issues of my A7rIII...
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