K1 first impressions?

Poit · 05-01-2016, 04:12 PM

I'd love to hear some first impressions / reviews from fellow Pentaxians who have the enviable claim to being 'early adopters'.

What's it like compared to the K-3 (or earlier bodies)?

Was it love at first sight / use, or does it 'grow' on you?

Was our lust over FF justified?

How's the AF?

Don't spare the details, enquiring minds want to know....

**kiwi_jono** · 05-01-2016, 05:48 PM

I don't have one (would love to!) but I see EphotoZine has their review out:
https://www.ephotozine.com/article/pentax-k-1-expert-review-28884

bobmaxja · 05-01-2016, 05:51 PM

Photo zine made their review with a preproduction.

**kiwi_jono** · 05-01-2016, 05:58 PM

Originally posted by bobmaxja

Photo zine made their review with a preproduction.

I don't think you are correct. The sample images show V1.00. Granted one of the display images show an earlier version but presumably they are just reusing external image from the preview.

pinholecam · 05-01-2016, 08:12 PM - **1 Like**

Impressions here as well the link to the user community in Singapore.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/190-pentax-k-1/319949-k1-singapore.html

bilybianca · 05-01-2016, 10:02 PM - **4 Likes**

First impressions, really have to underline first.
The evening before yesterday we had a social gathering at home, with a braai and bonfire. Traditional Swedish greeting of the spring, the bonfire is to chase the witches away. Snapshooting in low light. Mostly FA 50mm f1.4. Some with A 15mm f3.5.
1:st of May i shot the manifestation in town, a march with subsequent meeting, speakers and audience. Nice weather, good light. F* 300mm f4.5, A* 85mm f1.4, FA 20mm f2.8.

Autofocus: very fast, very accurate. A big step up from K5.
Manual focus: Easier than with K5 and Canon EEs screen. Very bright VF image.
Handling: in spite of the larger size and weight, as easy as the K5. I didn't experiment with settings, only used Av mode and center point AF. The new position of the playback button is a bit confusing, but I guess it's a question of getting used to it.
It felt very good to use my old FF lenses with the field of view they were built for. Now I remember why the 50mm was considered "normal".

PP: Downloading to the computer took a little while, but in no way as slow as one could fear. No reason to have a coffe break whilst downloading 100+ pictures (I dont spray and pray). Only DNG, no jpeg.
I had little time to work with the pictures yesterday evening, just made a quick and dirty PP to a couple. Looks very nice, sharp and crispy. I'll have to learn to stop down, depth of field is very narrow! Maybe reds are a bit oversaturated, need to adjust that.

Kjell

splash_fr · 05-02-2016, 12:59 AM

It feels hefty and solid, very well engineered!
Took me about 3 minutes to dial in my std settings.
Viewfinder is incredible! The gridlines flash red when AF is finished! Cool! And you can see a Frame of the selected AF Point all the time.

I only played around with the 35ltd (very usable when Hood is not fully extended), the D-FA100 and my bag of Takumars. They are lovely! MF is easy unless you have a 85/1.9 or 135/2.5. Needs practice with These.

The 100 macro is really fast and very silent on the new toy! That amazed me the most, I guess...

rgds,
Gerd.

Barry Pearson · 05-02-2016, 03:15 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by Poit

I'd love to hear some first impressions / reviews from fellow Pentaxians who have the enviable claim to being 'early adopters'.

What's it like compared to the K-3 (or earlier bodies)?

Was it love at first sight / use, or does it 'grow' on you?

Was our lust over FF justified?

How's the AF?

Yesterday I shot some photographs of birds, etc. I then posted them to the following thread.Have a look at any posts whose titles start "Photos ...".
Barry Pearson's K-1

I also posted observations, and a post called "Some comments on AF on the K-1".

I can't judge how other people will feel about the K-1. But my assumption is that anyone who went to the trouble of pre-ordering it and paying for it is probably the sort of person who was already likely to be enthusiastic about it!

robthebloke · 05-02-2016, 03:52 AM - **2 Likes**

Originally posted by Poit

What's it like compared to the K-3 (or earlier bodies)?

Very similar. It's a fair bit chunkier than the k-3, and you notice the weight difference, but after 5 minutes you won't care.
The GUI is much sleeker, and everything just feels more responsive (if you made a switch from the K-5 or K-3, you'll know that feeling already - it's the same feeling when switching up to the k-1 from k-3)

The buttons have moved around a bit. I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced all the changes have been for the better, but I think I would need to live with it for a while before I'd give a definite yay or nay.

The viewfinder is really big, and really bright. I do like that a lot!

The flippy screen is interesting. I can't see too much use for that myself, other than to confuse the hell out of my friends.

Originally posted by Poit

Was it love at first sight / use, or does it 'grow' on you?

Well you know, you'll be spending the first 15mins attaching the strap, setting the date/time, and fiddling with settings to get it to work how you like, so it'll take a little while.

Its definitely a camera that grows on you. Initially it feels a little bit like the k-3, but it is different enough that it'll take a little while to figure out where all the buttons have been moved to. It's similar to shooting with the K-3, but the experience is quite different (see autofocus below). It is after all a different format. The hit rate on my first day or two was much lower than it would be on the K-3. You will be relearning the behaviour of your lenses, so it does take a while to adjust your style to suit FF.

Honestly though, it's really grown on me. I'm very happy with it.

Once you get those first images into Lightroom though, you'll be smiling...

Quote:

Was our lust over FF justified?

Yes. The image quality is top notch. The subject isolation you can get with the FA limiteds is superb. The high ISO performance is mind boggling. ISO 8000? You just don't care. You'll know it will clean up nicely in Lightroom.

The K-1 is a beast, and I'm glad it's here.

I remember reading somewhere (DPR maybe), that the camera may out perform legacy glass. I think I might agree with that assessment (but I know there will be examples taken with old K and M glass that will look great). I've got a couple of non-limited FA's (28 and 135). They don't quite cut it in my eyes. Sharpness is all good, but the colours, contrast, and flaring just doesn't seem as well controlled when compared to the FA limiteds, DA*'s, DA limiteds, or DFA lenses. Indeed I'd say the lens coatings on the FA limiteds are slightly behind the DFA's and DA's. The older M, A, and K glass I've tried suffers from similar issues. (I've not used legacy glass in anger too much though, mainly the FA limited if I'm honest). I haven't been that wowed by the K's and M's I've tried (K18, A20, M40, K55 f1.8, K50 f1.4). I think there is some truth to the old adage that APS-C is using the best part of the image circle of legacy glass. Your favourite legacy lenses on APS-C, might not be quite so great on the K-1 (but the reverse may also be true: some lenses you didn't like on apsc, might be much better on the k-1). YMMV.

Two lenses I haven't tried are the plastic fantastic DA primes. I'd love to see how those perform!

Quote:

How's the AF?

Depends on what your needs are. Let's get the bad stuff out the way first: the focus points feel a little bit too squished in towards the centre of the frame. I can see this being a problem for people shooting sports, or those who need to track movement from one side of the frame to the other. As soon as you want to focus on something near the edge, you'll be switching to manual focus. So that's the bad bit out of the way.

Now for the good: the focus speed is much faster on screwdrive lenses than on the k-3. Accuracy seems to be better as well. I really like the new viewfinder confirmation for the focus points. Using autofocus for macro shots actually works (I haven't seen the DFA100 hunt once, it just locks on every time. On the k-3 this was a ball ache of a lens to autofocus, on the k-1 it's superb).

Tracking seems to be better, but I haven't used that in anger yet, so that's just my initial impression.

The autofocus in the K-3 is pretty decent all round (for me anyway). The K-1 has improved much of it, but the lack of frame coverage can be a little frustrating at times. (I'd imagine this is less frustrating than on the 645z though!)

RockvilleBob · 05-02-2016, 06:34 AM

Originally posted by Barry Pearson

Yesterday I shot some photographs of birds, etc. I then posted them to the following thread.Have a look at any posts whose titles start "Photos ...".
Barry Pearson's K-1

I also posted observations, and a post called "Some comments on AF on the K-1".

I can't judge how other people will feel about the K-1. But my assumption is that anyone who went to the trouble of pre-ordering it and paying for it is probably the sort of person who was already likely to be enthusiastic about it!

Any sense about an improvement in autofocus tracking with AF..C? Thanks

jcdoss · 05-02-2016, 07:33 AM

I've tried using one of these on a K30, and on the K-x, both of which seemed to be a shade too small for the strap. Anyone using one of these or something similar on the K-1?

tjstimbo · 05-02-2016, 07:53 AM

Well after a couple of days with my K1 and limited shooting time I feel quite comfortable with the camera. The menu system is very good and I agree the viewfinder is very bright and I really like the information in the display, it's there but doesn't intrude. My biggest pleasing aspect is that I can use the DA* 60-250 in full frame mode and don't seem to have any issues with dark corners, likewise my DA*300. However, using the 1.4 adaptor does give a lot of vignetting in FF mode but of course works well in crop mode.

I think I found a bug! My new DFA 15-30 F2.8 does not show up in Lightroom CC, not sure if that is a LR thing of a Pentax thing. All the other lens show up correctly, it's just the one.

Tim

kvetcha · 05-02-2016, 08:00 AM

I'm guessing the profile hasn't been added yet by Adobe. Should show up before too long.

virusn3t · 05-02-2016, 08:22 AM

Originally posted by jcdoss

I've tried using one of these on a K30, and on the K-x, both of which seemed to be a shade too small for the strap. Anyone using one of these or something similar on the K-1?

I dont have the K1 (yet), but i have one hand strap of these The Hand Strap for DSLR [ ARCIERE GRANDE ] - ULYSSES , i use it on the K3, and i will try to use it on the K1....

Barry Pearson · 05-02-2016, 08:48 AM

Originally posted by RockvilleBob

Any sense about an improvement in autofocus tracking with AF..C? Thanks

I've answered your same question on DPReview! But I'll repeat it here in case anyone else is interested.

Quote:
What do you mean by tracking?

I've been told (I think) that it refers to the ability of the camera to keep focused on a subject as it moves across the field of view. In other words, to switch from one focus point to another.

As I said above [DPReview thread]:
"In the past, I've used centre-spot focusing for nearly all my bird photography. That is simply because I got used to that while using Pentax film SLRs, and I carried on doing something I was comfortable with. That means I've been wasting all those extra AF points, and all the development effort in the latest Pentax cameras designed to help with the sort of photography I do!"

So I've never seriously used tracking until yesterday!

I've occasionally tried it to see what happens, but then found I didn't really understand what was going on, so rapidly reverted to centre-spot focusing.

If you are referring to the ability of the camera to predict the required focus as a subject moves towards or away from the camera, (which I thought was "predictive focusing"?), then the "birds in flight" photos suggest to me that the K-1 is better than the K-3II. Which I suspect is equal to, or better than, the K-3.

05-01-2016, 04:12 PM	#1
Poit Banned Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Canberra, Australia Posts: 423	K1 first impressions? I'd love to hear some first impressions / reviews from fellow Pentaxians who have the enviable claim to being 'early adopters'. What's it like compared to the K-3 (or earlier bodies)? Was it love at first sight / use, or does it 'grow' on you? Was our lust over FF justified? How's the AF? Don't spare the details, enquiring minds want to know....

05-01-2016, 10:02 PM - 4 Likes	#6
bilybianca Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Hassleholm, Sweden Photos: Gallery Posts: 334	First impressions, really have to underline first. The evening before yesterday we had a social gathering at home, with a braai and bonfire. Traditional Swedish greeting of the spring, the bonfire is to chase the witches away. Snapshooting in low light. Mostly FA 50mm f1.4. Some with A 15mm f3.5. 1:st of May i shot the manifestation in town, a march with subsequent meeting, speakers and audience. Nice weather, good light. F* 300mm f4.5, A* 85mm f1.4, FA 20mm f2.8. Autofocus: very fast, very accurate. A big step up from K5. Manual focus: Easier than with K5 and Canon EEs screen. Very bright VF image. Handling: in spite of the larger size and weight, as easy as the K5. I didn't experiment with settings, only used Av mode and center point AF. The new position of the playback button is a bit confusing, but I guess it's a question of getting used to it. It felt very good to use my old FF lenses with the field of view they were built for. Now I remember why the 50mm was considered "normal". PP: Downloading to the computer took a little while, but in no way as slow as one could fear. No reason to have a coffe break whilst downloading 100+ pictures (I dont spray and pray). Only DNG, no jpeg. I had little time to work with the pictures yesterday evening, just made a quick and dirty PP to a couple. Looks very nice, sharp and crispy. I'll have to learn to stop down, depth of field is very narrow! Maybe reds are a bit oversaturated, need to adjust that. Kjell Last edited by bilybianca; 05-01-2016 at 10:12 PM.

05-02-2016, 07:33 AM	#11
jcdoss Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,757	I've tried using one of these on a K30, and on the K-x, both of which seemed to be a shade too small for the strap. Anyone using one of these or something similar on the K-1? Attached Images

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05-01-2016, 05:48 PM	#2
kiwi_jono Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Christchurch, New Zealand Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,437	I don't have one (would love to!) but I see EphotoZine has their review out: https://www.ephotozine.com/article/pentax-k-1-expert-review-28884

05-01-2016, 05:51 PM	#3
bobmaxja Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Laval, Quebec Canada Posts: 2,171	Photo zine made their review with a preproduction.

05-01-2016, 05:58 PM	#4
kiwi_jono Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Christchurch, New Zealand Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,437	Originally posted by bobmaxja Photo zine made their review with a preproduction. I don't think you are correct. The sample images show V1.00. Granted one of the display images show an earlier version but presumably they are just reusing external image from the preview.

05-01-2016, 08:12 PM - 1 Like	#5
pinholecam Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: North Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,706	Impressions here as well the link to the user community in Singapore. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/190-pentax-k-1/319949-k1-singapore.html

05-02-2016, 12:59 AM	#7
splash_fr Senior Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 178	It feels hefty and solid, very well engineered! Took me about 3 minutes to dial in my std settings. Viewfinder is incredible! The gridlines flash red when AF is finished! Cool! And you can see a Frame of the selected AF Point all the time. I only played around with the 35ltd (very usable when Hood is not fully extended), the D-FA100 and my bag of Takumars. They are lovely! MF is easy unless you have a 85/1.9 or 135/2.5. Needs practice with These. The 100 macro is really fast and very silent on the new toy! That amazed me the most, I guess... rgds, Gerd.

05-02-2016, 03:15 AM - 1 Like	#8
Barry Pearson Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Stockport Posts: 964	Originally posted by Poit I'd love to hear some first impressions / reviews from fellow Pentaxians who have the enviable claim to being 'early adopters'. What's it like compared to the K-3 (or earlier bodies)? Was it love at first sight / use, or does it 'grow' on you? Was our lust over FF justified? How's the AF? Yesterday I shot some photographs of birds, etc. I then posted them to the following thread.Have a look at any posts whose titles start "Photos ...". Barry Pearson's K-1 I also posted observations, and a post called "Some comments on AF on the K-1". I can't judge how other people will feel about the K-1. But my assumption is that anyone who went to the trouble of pre-ordering it and paying for it is probably the sort of person who was already likely to be enthusiastic about it!

05-02-2016, 03:52 AM - 2 Likes	#9
robthebloke Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Sydney Photos: Albums Posts: 844	Originally posted by Poit What's it like compared to the K-3 (or earlier bodies)? Very similar. It's a fair bit chunkier than the k-3, and you notice the weight difference, but after 5 minutes you won't care. The GUI is much sleeker, and everything just feels more responsive (if you made a switch from the K-5 or K-3, you'll know that feeling already - it's the same feeling when switching up to the k-1 from k-3) The buttons have moved around a bit. I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced all the changes have been for the better, but I think I would need to live with it for a while before I'd give a definite yay or nay. The viewfinder is really big, and really bright. I do like that a lot! The flippy screen is interesting. I can't see too much use for that myself, other than to confuse the hell out of my friends. Originally posted by Poit Was it love at first sight / use, or does it 'grow' on you? Well you know, you'll be spending the first 15mins attaching the strap, setting the date/time, and fiddling with settings to get it to work how you like, so it'll take a little while. Its definitely a camera that grows on you. Initially it feels a little bit like the k-3, but it is different enough that it'll take a little while to figure out where all the buttons have been moved to. It's similar to shooting with the K-3, but the experience is quite different (see autofocus below). It is after all a different format. The hit rate on my first day or two was much lower than it would be on the K-3. You will be relearning the behaviour of your lenses, so it does take a while to adjust your style to suit FF. Honestly though, it's really grown on me. I'm very happy with it. Once you get those first images into Lightroom though, you'll be smiling... Quote: Was our lust over FF justified? Yes. The image quality is top notch. The subject isolation you can get with the FA limiteds is superb. The high ISO performance is mind boggling. ISO 8000? You just don't care. You'll know it will clean up nicely in Lightroom. The K-1 is a beast, and I'm glad it's here. I remember reading somewhere (DPR maybe), that the camera may out perform legacy glass. I think I might agree with that assessment (but I know there will be examples taken with old K and M glass that will look great). I've got a couple of non-limited FA's (28 and 135). They don't quite cut it in my eyes. Sharpness is all good, but the colours, contrast, and flaring just doesn't seem as well controlled when compared to the FA limiteds, DA*'s, DA limiteds, or DFA lenses. Indeed I'd say the lens coatings on the FA limiteds are slightly behind the DFA's and DA's. The older M, A, and K glass I've tried suffers from similar issues. (I've not used legacy glass in anger too much though, mainly the FA limited if I'm honest). I haven't been that wowed by the K's and M's I've tried (K18, A20, M40, K55 f1.8, K50 f1.4). I think there is some truth to the old adage that APS-C is using the best part of the image circle of legacy glass. Your favourite legacy lenses on APS-C, might not be quite so great on the K-1 (but the reverse may also be true: some lenses you didn't like on apsc, might be much better on the k-1). YMMV. Two lenses I haven't tried are the plastic fantastic DA primes. I'd love to see how those perform! Quote: How's the AF? Depends on what your needs are. Let's get the bad stuff out the way first: the focus points feel a little bit too squished in towards the centre of the frame. I can see this being a problem for people shooting sports, or those who need to track movement from one side of the frame to the other. As soon as you want to focus on something near the edge, you'll be switching to manual focus. So that's the bad bit out of the way. Now for the good: the focus speed is much faster on screwdrive lenses than on the k-3. Accuracy seems to be better as well. I really like the new viewfinder confirmation for the focus points. Using autofocus for macro shots actually works (I haven't seen the DFA100 hunt once, it just locks on every time. On the k-3 this was a ball ache of a lens to autofocus, on the k-1 it's superb). Tracking seems to be better, but I haven't used that in anger yet, so that's just my initial impression. The autofocus in the K-3 is pretty decent all round (for me anyway). The K-1 has improved much of it, but the lack of frame coverage can be a little frustrating at times. (I'd imagine this is less frustrating than on the 645z though!)

05-02-2016, 06:34 AM	#10
RockvilleBob Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Lewes DE USA Photos: Albums Posts: 1,780	Originally posted by Barry Pearson Yesterday I shot some photographs of birds, etc. I then posted them to the following thread.Have a look at any posts whose titles start "Photos ...". Barry Pearson's K-1 I also posted observations, and a post called "Some comments on AF on the K-1". I can't judge how other people will feel about the K-1. But my assumption is that anyone who went to the trouble of pre-ordering it and paying for it is probably the sort of person who was already likely to be enthusiastic about it! Any sense about an improvement in autofocus tracking with AF..C? Thanks

05-02-2016, 07:53 AM	#12
tjstimbo Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Daventry Posts: 84	Well after a couple of days with my K1 and limited shooting time I feel quite comfortable with the camera. The menu system is very good and I agree the viewfinder is very bright and I really like the information in the display, it's there but doesn't intrude. My biggest pleasing aspect is that I can use the DA* 60-250 in full frame mode and don't seem to have any issues with dark corners, likewise my DA*300. However, using the 1.4 adaptor does give a lot of vignetting in FF mode but of course works well in crop mode. I think I found a bug! My new DFA 15-30 F2.8 does not show up in Lightroom CC, not sure if that is a LR thing of a Pentax thing. All the other lens show up correctly, it's just the one. Tim

05-02-2016, 08:00 AM	#13
kvetcha Forum Member Join Date: Apr 2016 Posts: 92	I'm guessing the profile hasn't been added yet by Adobe. Should show up before too long.

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05-02-2016, 08:22 AM	#14
virusn3t Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 676	Originally posted by jcdoss I've tried using one of these on a K30, and on the K-x, both of which seemed to be a shade too small for the strap. Anyone using one of these or something similar on the K-1? I dont have the K1 (yet), but i have one hand strap of these The Hand Strap for DSLR [ ARCIERE GRANDE ] - ULYSSES , i use it on the K3, and i will try to use it on the K1....

05-02-2016, 08:48 AM	#15
Barry Pearson Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Stockport Posts: 964	Originally posted by RockvilleBob Any sense about an improvement in autofocus tracking with AF..C? Thanks I've answered your same question on DPReview! But I'll repeat it here in case anyone else is interested. Quote: What do you mean by tracking? I've been told (I think) that it refers to the ability of the camera to keep focused on a subject as it moves across the field of view. In other words, to switch from one focus point to another. As I said above [DPReview thread]: "In the past, I've used centre-spot focusing for nearly all my bird photography. That is simply because I got used to that while using Pentax film SLRs, and I carried on doing something I was comfortable with. That means I've been wasting all those extra AF points, and all the development effort in the latest Pentax cameras designed to help with the sort of photography I do!" So I've never seriously used tracking until yesterday! I've occasionally tried it to see what happens, but then found I didn't really understand what was going on, so rapidly reverted to centre-spot focusing. If you are referring to the ability of the camera to predict the required focus as a subject moves towards or away from the camera, (which I thought was "predictive focusing"?), then the "birds in flight" photos suggest to me that the K-1 is better than the K-3II. Which I suspect is equal to, or better than, the K-3.