Originally posted by BarryE # When you moved to the K-1, from which camera did you move.
# How did the K-1 perform compared with your previous Pentax SLR - for the same tasks. I accept different lenses may have to be considered, but in some cases compatible cropped and FF lenses will have been used.
# How close or distant did you find your older camera in it's handling, ergonomics etc.
1) I have previously owned a K30 and still own a K-x and a Sony NEX-6, all of which I used with Pentax lenses exclusively. I have a large collection of manual focus K- and M- lenses which is all I use now.
2) The K-1 produces much cleaner and much larger files compared to any camera I've ever owned. Higher ISO files have far superior quality and sharpness with less (but still present) noise. I haven't given Pixel Shift an honest try yet.
3) I haven't tried to do any comparisons, but I will make some comments.
The K-1 is way bigger than any of my previous cameras. For the past six months or so, I have been carrying a K-x and a film camera in the same bag, however that bag is not big enough to hold the K-1 plus another camera.
The camera is heavier than any of my previous cameras by quite a lot.
I find the camera to be somewhat uncomfortable to hold for long periods, but I have fairly small and dainty hands.
Battery life is awesome... far better than any camera I've owned.
Love the viewfinder, but I still find it difficult to hit critical focus with fast lenses at/near wide open. I use LV for critical shots, or pretty much any shot where I'm trying for shallow DOF. The adjustable screen is perfect for this, and the lack of any delay or mirror flap is a relief.
Jury is still out on the top control dials, but I'm leaning towards
. I use mine to set ISO (aperture on the ring, front dial for shutter, and rear for ISO), but I do switch it to WIFI when I want to offload/share jpegs, which is more often than I expected.
I know it's obvious that lenses are wider, but in ways I can't explain since I never used these lenses on film cameras until recently, their FOVs feel more natural now.
Despite being larger and heavier, all my manual lenses feel well-balanced and are a joy to use on the K-1. The K-x was good with smaller lenses, but started to feel a bit "top heavy" with larger ones (ie, K200/2.5). Every lens I own feels good on the K-1... from the M40 pancake to the M400/5.6 (which I've used hand-held a few times with decent results on the K-1).
Love the levels in the viewfinder!
That's all I can think of right now... maybe I'll update the list if something else occurs to me later.