[PGWelch]

I will be receiving my new K1 kit in a day or 2 depending on FedEx. It is a very significant upgrade for me. The newest camera I own is a K10d bought in 2007.

I have been looking for an aftermarket book/manual for the k1 without any success. I love the magic lantern guide for my k10. Any suggestions?

Any must have accessories? A good cable release recommendation? Tips and tricks?

TIA

[Adam]

Congratulations on the upgrade- you will love the K-1!

We do have the in-depth Pentax eBooks right here on the forum. They are available below:

Pentax eBook Downloads - Now on PF! (purchase here for instant access) - PentaxForums.com

[robgski]

Get the Pentax K-1 book here on PF

[FozzFoster]

A good cable release recommendation?

Maybe use Image Sync for remote shutter release?

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

[Billking]

I will be receiving my new K1 kit in a day or 2 depending on FedEx. It is a very significant upgrade for me. The newest camera I own is a K10d bought in 2007.

I have been looking for an aftermarket book/manual for the k1 without any success. I love the magic lantern guide for my k10. Any suggestions?

Any must have accessories? A good cable release recommendation? Tips and tricks?

TIA

To get the best possible images from your K1 you should stick it on the best tripod you can afford when taking tripod supported shots. It isn't a light camera so flimsy tripods don't do it justice.

[pschlute]

Tips and tricks?

Hi. I also went from K10D to a K-1, but 6 years ago.

Having two card slots is useful, although I find that no. 2 slot is easier to use. Remember firmware updates must be done in no. 1 slot. When shooting, the camera will use the card you set for priority first. You set the priority by inserting a card into one of the slots and turn the camera on. It will continue to use that slot first, unless you turn the camera on with a card only in the other slot.

Get used to using the Function dial/Setting dial. I find this very intuitive for setting exposure compensation and bracketing exposures.

The Control Panel, accessed by the INFO button is also great for changing other settings quickly without having to dive into the menus. You can change the items in the Control Panel so that it is personal to you.

If you use processing software with raw files, you will find you need much less sharpening than what you used with the K10D.

Enjoy your camera.

[Oldbayrunner]

Be prepared to rethink your photography when going from Apsc to full frame. Most old F lenses do very well on it if they are in really good lens condition, The 28-105mm is surprising to say the least. A held off for awhile but couldn't resist the temptation of opening my wallet for 1st the Dfa 70-200mm 2.8 and then opted for the Dfa 15-30mm 2.8. Heavy? Yes but to me I marvel at how my captures turn out with them on my K1 mkll. With the acquisition of the 15-30mm I've gotten into doing more long exposure photography which has rejuvenated want to shoot more as I was in a slump for awhile.

My advise is to take your time to learn it before going crazy with expenditures unless your flush with $$$$$. I fell so in love with mine I sold my other cameras because they just weren't getting any use.

[Rondec]

I think the biggest thing that I had to remember was that I had to stop my aperture down more for landscapes compared to APS-C. As far as function, I think you will find the K-1 an improvement over the K-10 in every respect.

The big thing is just to shoot a lot and if something doesn't work, you can post questions on PF and folks will help out. Most of the basic functions will be very easy to figure out. Astro tracer and pixel shift may take a bit more effort, if you are interested in using those things.

[Rider0974]

I made the same move a few years back. The ebook sold on this forum is good.
As for tips,
First & foremost, read the manual, if only to learn what buttons & dials do what.
A decent tripod, & a head that will support the weight of camera & the largest lens
you intend to use,
The O-RC1 remote works with the K1, or the the CS-205 cable switch if you want
a wired release.
Enjoy your new camera

[ffking]

First & foremost, read the manual, if only to learn what buttons & dials do what.

To expand, not to contradict - you can read the manual in advance (available online) to familiarise yourself, but read it through also with the camera in hand and try changing the settings as you go - you'll remember much better that way. I know this is standard advice for anything, but it bears repeating

[Kevin B123]

Not specific to the K-1, but since you are making a giant leap some of these things may be new to you:
What camera functions have you discovered long after buying the camera? - PentaxForums.com

[photoptimist]

One tip is to spend a bit of time slowly stepping through the various menus and the "info" button panel just to get a sense of what is possible, looking up unfamiliar commands (e.g, what does "Highlight Correction" do), configuring the camera the way you want (maybe write these down in case something strange happens), and start forming memories of which controls are where.

A few of my favorite tricks:

1. If you don't want RAW images of every shot, you can set the camera to save JPEG and then selectively save a RAW if you like instant review image. Immediately after shooting a JPEG image, hitting the "AE-L" button brings up an option to save a copy of the last image as RAW if you got a keeper. (There's also the RAW button on the side of the camera for toggling between JPEG and RAW if you know the next picture should be saved as RAW).

2. Hitting the "info" button twice brings up some options for turning off the back panel display -- nice if you want to save battery or don't want the obnoxious glow.

3. Be sure to go through the "Memory" settings (second to the last item of menu 5 of the camera-icon menu set) to control which settings you want the camera to remember between On-Off cycles and which ones get set to the default values.

[Bob 256]

Maybe use Image Sync for remote shutter release?

https://youtu.be/c1Jrh8AjXnQ

You also have the option of infrared shutter control via one of the several IR transmitters Pentax offers.The K-1 has both front and rear detection ports so you can control the shutter from in front of the camera or from behind.

Another thing I use a lot is the ability to dial in the ISO with the top control knob. I usually shoot in program mode (which allows shutter or aperture override) and then use the knob to set the ISO I want or need. Stick to ISOs between 200 and 6400 for the best results, but even higher ISOs will work with the K-1.

[HazyJ]

You will love your K1. I do. I normally shoot in AvTv mode with the ISO capped off at 64000. Youe will find that you can get away with much higher ISO in the K1 than the K10D. I also find that focus peaking in manual focus on the LED screen and catch in focus using the viewfinder are great when using old legacy film era lenses that are plentiful, cheap and often very good if yu can fin them without fungus and scratches.

[wadge22]

I agree with a few so far that getting to know the uses of the function dial and setting dial (aka third control wheel) is key. Those are the two dials on the top of the camera on the right side. I use the third wheel for ISO when in M mode, and for +/- when in TAv, which one or the other of those is the mode I'm using 95% of the time. I also use the top control dials for setting the drive mode, turning on HDR, or switching between crop modes, when I do those things, which saves menu diving (even just the info button menu).

Another important thing to learn on the camera is setting up user modes. You have 5 of them! Those are great for having a setting ready to go for particular styles of photography, such as one for landscape, one for telephoto, one for astro or night shooting, etc. I will admit I don't use that function as much as I should, but it is definitely very powerful.

One thing that quite a few people really like, including myself, is setting up back button focusing. This makes it so that the autofocus only activates when you press the AF button (with your right thumb). I myself find this indispensable, although it takes some getting used to at first, and I know some people don't prefer it.
If you want to do this, it's in button customization (on camera setting page 5), AF Button, then choose AF2 (I wish it were a little less confusingly labeled than that). Even if you don't wind up liking that style of shooting, it's good to know what and where it is, since inadvertently setting that leads some people to think something is wrong with their camera/lens.

I'll finally mention the other button customizations. You can set the function of the RAW/FX1 button (on the left side of the camera near the AF/MF switch), and the FX2 button (down on the four way controller), to any of a few useful shortcuts. I find that having FX1 set to SR on/off is very helpful for me.
You can also set the function of the green button, as well as the front and back control wheels, for each of the regular modes (P, Sv, Tv, Av, TAv, M, B, X), which can make a mode you might not normally use become much more useful for you.