[biz-engineer]

I was satisfied to have switched from apsc to full frame, until I recently looked into the possibilities and costs of large format film (4x5, 5x7 or 8x10), now I see the difference between apsc and full frame digital rather insignificant. Everything digital is small, designed for convenience and speed, no so much for absolute image resolution. I might be been better staying with my apsc lenses, upgrading my K3 to a K3-III and spending the K1 money on large format film.

[Waffles]

Ive never used a K1 but I did own a Canon 5D mkiii and can say, without reservations, I much prefer my K70. I enjoy APSC and even prefer the field of view with most commonly available focal lengths so I have no interest in going the full frame route again. Prints come out perfectly fine in my experience, though it just depends on what youre going for, really. Nice that the options are there

[quillasophink]

I was satisfied to have switched from apsc to full frame, until I recently looked into the possibilities and costs of large format film (4x5, 5x7 or 8x10), now I see the difference between apsc and full frame digital rather insignificant. Everything digital is small, designed for convenience and speed, no so much for absolute image resolution. I might be been better staying with my apsc lenses, upgrading my K3 to a K3-III and spending the K1 money on large format film.

biz-engineer - indeed. The trend I’ve noticed especially using the Zeiss/G Master/Nikon Z lines of top end glass seems to move towards ‘RPG/Matador’-like hefty and large cylinders bordering the medium/large format kit once you start packing all the required accessories into a carrying solution at the end of the day.

In my case as my current subject interest is in small wildlife and random curiosities, DFA* 70-200mm is permanently mated to my K1ii for the last 4 months.

Crazy as it may sound - I’m deliberating having a smaller APS-C (perhaps a KP due to the articulating screen feature and more Live View shooting to get away fro. The smaller viewfinder) in the wider angle/street role with the ‘stack of primes’ Limited 20-40mm. I know this would make some of us cringe at being reminded of the old days when you had to carry an extra film body + lens for the film speed but this time it’s for not faffing around with switching lenses…

Maybe I’ll just stick to the phone for this sort of thing…for now…

[photogem]

Sorry for necro, but for my personal use, I'd say I would've been happy with a kp and going back to APS-C. The compactness really does it for me. I haven't really touched my K1 all that much if I'm going to be truly honest with myself.

I do understand this very well.
I got a K1 (I) and have good lenses for it but due to weight/size/age my most used Pentax is my KP.
First I had difficulties with the grip (I still find the K5-Series the best to hold in my hands) but I got used to it.
I had a K3 and the K3II but was very happy when the KP came out.
Also it allows me ooc JPEG in really good quality.
On the K5IIs I miss KAF4 and focus-peaking which I use a lot with macro
If I'd have the choice for just 1 DSLR it would be the KP. No need yet for the K3III.
But I must admit, when I work with the K1 I am amazed how good it is!

[reh321]

Ergonomics trump size/weight every time.

I may go the opposite way.
For me, my KP is my primary camera, but weight is becoming an issue for it.
I am experimenting to see if I will be satisfied with what a “Q” gives me on birding walks with my wife.
At age 74, lugging the KP is too much, so I may otherwise have have a choice of not going or of not taking a real camera.

[Jonathan Mac]

I have used APS-C (Pentax and Fujifilm) for twelve years and just recently switched to FF (Panasonic Lumix S5) and I have to say I'm happy with the switch. Still, some of the differences I'm noting are due to the sensor size, some due to the camera being mirrorless and some due to the camera being much more modern than what I've used until now. It's not fair to compare a 2014 DSLR with a 2020 mirrorless and say "wow - FF/mirrorless is so much better!".

Advantages:

- Better image quality at low ISO
- Much better image quality at high ISO
- All my beloved old film-era primes now have the field of view they were designed to have and are far, far easier to focus - a real joy to use compared to APS-C (DSLR or mirrorless)
- Extremely fast and reliable AF
- Shallower depth of field when I want it (which is quite a lot)
- Virtually any DSLR lens can be adapted

Disadvantages:

- More expensive (though much of that is due to changes in the market: a K-3 III costs more than my S5)
- Lenses are generally larger
- I'm not so confident of the weather and dust sealing as I am with my Pentax gear
- Lens choice is much less (though that's mainly because it's the L mount) and partly moot anyway because of disadvantage #1
- Ergonomics are not as good
- Worse battery life, which I notice on the S5 but never really on my Fujifilm gear

All in all I'm very glad I made the change and I'm enjoying it. Part of me wonders why I didn't do it sooner though another part of me feels that now was the right time in many ways. I still have my nicest Pentax digital and Fujifilm gear to use and how long it stays around will depend on several factors but it's hard to see myself without at least one Pentax DSLR and a few favourite lenses. If my K-3 dies then I'll get a cheap used DSLR or revive my K200D and I'm still also using film and the majority of my film gear is Pentax. In short, I can't see myself ever not being able to call myself a Pentaxian.

[abruzzi]

I like having my lenses do what I expect of them. As a 95% film shooter, I have a bunch of film-era lenses that work fine on APS-C, but give you a very different field of view compared to my film camera. So I need to have an ultra wide lens to get a moderate wide field of view. In some cases, like using the Pentax macro bellows and slide copier, it actually makes it very difficult to find a lens that fits and works within the bellows limit of the setup. With FF, any of the 50mm lenses (preferably macro) works perfectly.

[jheu02]

As I have no place local to handle any of the current Pentax offerings, which might "feel" better in hands that are used to the K20D body? I've read a lot of comments about the K1 just having the right feel and ergonomics. Any of you used all 3: K20, K-3III, and K1II?

[AgentL]

I went from APS-C and M4/3 to FF (still have a small M4/3 body), though I didn't still have the KP when I got the K1 II, hadn't had it in about a year. But based on my time with the KP, here are my thoughts:

APS-C will pretty much always have an issue with the size and brightness of the viewfinder for me. Maybe the K3 III is an exception, I haven't handled one. But the K1 finder is much better. Also, the KP was actually kind of heavy for its small size - when your hand has less purchase on the grip, the weight is poorly managed. The K1 is a pretty hefty camera, but with a hand-filling grip which makes full use of my entire palm and fingers, so the weight is well-distributed.

IQ is understandably excellent, a very decent step above the 24mp APS-C models. Particularly, shadows have a ton of detail and the subtlety of tones is more fully preserved. This doesn't mean that images shot like you would shoot them with another camera and then displayed on the web at small to moderate sizes are necessarily going to look different or better. Think of it as more latitude, more potential. Of course, if you get great lenses, they will shine on the K1 sensor. On that note, there are fewer options for Pentax FF lenses, but if the lens stable stisfies you, then it can kind of help cure GAS because there aren't as many options for doing the same thing. Keep in mind the size and weight of FF lenses goes up pretty quickly if you're looking for large-aperture, modern zooms or wide angles. For better or worse, I think the FA Limited lenses are the best way to go for FF right now (saving up some $$ for that).

[jheu02]

I have a bunch of legacy FF glass that would be nice to use as designed. Wish I could get a hand on one of each to see which feels best. The K20 was a fairly large camera, but not quite the size of the K1.

[AgentL]

I have a bunch of legacy FF glass that would be nice to use as designed. Wish I could get a hand on one of each to see which feels best. The K20 was a fairly large camera, but not quite the size of the K1.

In the same boat here, as far as I'm concerned using legacy glass on APS-C cripples it. I don't appreciate the crop factor, the inherent flaws of film-era glass are magnified on a crop sensor, and the full-frame character of the lens, including the characteristics of the corners, are lost. Theory says you are cropping in on the sharpest part of the frame, sure, but I'm not interested in sharpest as much as I am in capturing the look and feel which that glass was designed to give. There's literally only one way to do that digitally with full support (i.e. not adapting to a mirrorless system) and that's the K1.

[oscaletrains]

Depends maybe on what you started with. I was very happy to get back the same feel I had in the K1000/ME days when I got my K1. But perhaps if I had started with a crop camera in the first place, the experience would have been different. I agree with the guy that posted...

Landscapes-FF
Macro-crop
Telephoto-Crop

but I would maybe modify that as....

Landscape-FF
Macro-Crop OR FF
Telephoto-Crop

and add...

Wide Angle-FF or Crop

[rvandenbrink]

I shoot a KP, and am kinda hoping for a K3 set of features in a new KP, or at least a K3miv with a tilt screen. A K1 just seems like a LOT of camera to carry, especially on a bike
That being said, there’s a lot to be said for a FF 50-60mp camera, if one should come out I’d be pretty interested, esp if they fixed the slow AF and went with a (much) faster storage media

[mlag]

As I have no place local to handle any of the current Pentax offerings, which might "feel" better in hands that are used to the K20D body? I've read a lot of comments about the K1 just having the right feel and ergonomics. Any of you used all 3: K20, K-3III, and K1II?

I went from a K10D to the K3-II smoothly. The biggest +impact = difference = improvement was the iso range. Much better low light performance. Feel was roughly the same...some new menu options/features to learn. K3III I expect similar as upgrade, same body size but even more iso range, improved autofocus and newer menus/features. But handling and lens behaviour would be similar, both have Aps-c sensor, same size,...

I think K1 would feel more "larger/ heavier/different".. as it is fullframe camera , and your existing lenses would suddenly yield ”wider” view ,
and if you have DA lenses they would only work in cropped mode (lower resolution) on K1 or cause vignetting....
Hence the change from Aps-c K20 to fullframe K1II, might feel quite less familiar....,
If you used 35mm film before your K-20, then the K1II is maybe closer , same lens-view angle behaviour but IMHO many film bodies were lighter than newer digital bodies.

In both cases K3 or K1: the image files get bigger due to the increase in megapixels, you will need larger and faster sdcards...and larger home file storage.

---------- Post added 09-18-22 at 02:40 PM ----------

I shoot a KP, and am kinda hoping for a K3 set of features in a new KP, or at least a K3miv with a tilt screen. A K1 just seems like a LOT of camera to carry, especially on a bike
That being said, there’s a lot to be said for a FF 50-60mp camera, if one should come out I’d be pretty interested, esp if they fixed the slow AF and went with a (much) faster storage media

I would say also for an Aps-c 50-60 mpixel camera...

[cyclone3d]

I shoot a KP, and am kinda hoping for a K3 set of features in a new KP, or at least a K3miv with a tilt screen. A K1 just seems like a LOT of camera to carry, especially on a bike
That being said, there’s a lot to be said for a FF 50-60mp camera, if one should come out I’d be pretty interested, esp if they fixed the slow AF and went with a (much) faster storage media

The K1-II focuses really fast compared to my K-30 in regards to screw drive lenses.
I also have the HD 28-105 for my K1-II and the focus speed is super fast.

Maybe I am just used to slow AF and the speed increase of the K1-II still doesn't make is fast compared to other brands?

I am glad I switched to FF. My only real complaint is that it seems harder to focus f:1.2 lenses @ 1.2 due to the even shallower DOF.