Here you get my story
Spec-wise the K1 fits perfectly my hopes and wishes - with two exceptions. I once said in a post I'd like to see a 24MP sensor and second I hoped for a more lightweight body.
The first was driven by the expectation that the camera would cost a lot more and the sensitivity would be worse. Now we face that the price of the body is hot for such a camera and sensitvity should also be great. Beyond that I get nearly the same pixel amount as with my K5 using the APSC crop mode. Enough for everything I do today.
Moreover I can use my three legacy lenses in FF mode plus my DFA100WR. That's just great. The price I have to pay is 925g vs. 660g of the K5 (740g with battery and memory card). And of course the most new FF lenses are very pricy. On my wishlist are DFA 24-70 and DFA 150-450. Until now in germany we don't get any rebate. So I'd need 1.999,- € (K1) + 1.299,- € (DFA 24-70) + 2.199,- € (DFA 150—450) in total 5.497,- € / 6.120,- USD to get all the stuff I'd like to have - shocking!
For someone who does not earn his money through photography that's very much. So, don't go the FF route? What will I do, what's my strategy?
I can afford the K1 and it seems to offer a lot of advantage compared to my K5 (5 years old, got the DA18-135 kit new for about 1.650,- €):
- Better autofocus, white balance, ...
- FF-use of my FF lenses
- Big viewfinder (love that of my ME Super)
- High ISO
- No Anti Aliasing filter
- Pixel Shift
- Wifi- and GPS-Support
- Swivel Screen (nice for my macro work) with focus peaking
- Pixel Shift
Video, fast shooting and top notch flash system are not on my wishlist.
In short: IMO this is a really great upgrade path for people like me using older cameras like the K5 and legacy glass.
I believe Ricoh/Pentax tries to build a broad base of Pentax FF users fast and if successfull they go further with even more advanced FF cameras. Taking all the positive posts into account I think they could succeed. Well done Ricoh/Pentax!
If the ergonomics are nice for me I'll support them buying this camera this or next year. My strategy is to buy one piece every year as I did in the past five years. Until now I didn't prioritze the K1 against DFA 150-450.
Sorry for being that lenghty - just a summary of my thoughts since the official K1 FF anouncement. By the way - I think I won't put my small and lightweight K5 APS-C package aside. And I for sure won't buy into another system to get a FF.