[emsee]

As per major retailer stores timelines, the availability would be around April 11th (2 weeks away). Is there any early reviews? I assume that the camera is out for various reviewers including many in Asia.

I am a little bit surprised that no early reviews (or previews) are available other than CP+ reports.

I was about to order an additional K-1 and now decided to wait for 2 more weeks so that I can get a K-1 Mark II

-Emsee

[Fenwoodian]

.
I am surprised also. I don't think it's a very good marketing strategy. Sony does just the opposite and has proven that that works for them.

I used to be an early adapter. I purchased the K3II and K1 right away. Like you, this time around I'm going to sit back and wait for lots of reviews to come in before pulling the trigger on the K1ii.

I expect that Kenspo and other Pentax Ambassadors already have the K1ii. I don't know why they have not been unleashed to report on what they think of it.
.

P.S. Just did a Google search using the words "Pentax K1ii review". The newest so called "review" that was shown was dated February 21, 2018. It was not a hands on review, rather it was just a rehash of the features that Pentax released long ago on this new camera.

[OoKU]

Dpreview have got the K1 MarkII and DFA*50/1.4 ，waiting for the review.

[Adam]

I don't think the K-1 hides any surprises. The image accelerator with bring improved color/noise performance, while the hand-held pixel shift feature will allow you to capture high-res photos, without a tripod, if you have extra time on your hands to wait for processing.

We'll be posting our review relatively soon, but probably not before the camera is out. Ricoh says we can't share photos from pre-production units.

Adam
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[BWG]

As per major retailer stores timelines, the availability would be around April 11th (2 weeks away). Is there any early reviews? I assume that the camera is out for various reviewers including many in Asia.

I am a little bit surprised that no early reviews (or previews) are available other than CP+ reports.

I was about to order an additional K-1 and now decided to wait for 2 more weeks so that I can get a K-1 Mark II

-Emsee

If I send in my K-1 and have it converted to a II, what does it do to the warranty? Do I get an extra year or is the warranty date from the original purchase?

[Fenwoodian]

I don't think the K-1 hides any surprises. The image accelerator with bring improved color/noise performance, while the hand-held pixel shift feature will allow you to capture high-res photos, without a tripod.

Maybe there will be no surprises, but Pentax's pre-release claims can not always be believed.

For example - I remember before the K1 came out that Pentax claimed that the new K1 would be equipped with a new version of pixel shift that would allow one to photograph moving subjects. Before buying my K1, I had a K3ii and could rarely use pixel shift on the K3ii because most of the stuff I shoot moves slightly. So I purchased my K1 right went it came out believing their claim that I could shoot moving subjects with the K1 in the Pixel Shift mode. Well, we K1 owners soon found out how full of baloney Pentax's claim about shooting moving subjects with pixel shift mode on the K1 was.

I do not believe Pentax's pre-release claim that the K1ii will be able to shoot pixel shift "hand held". Based on their prior exaggerated claim about being able to shoot moving subjects in the pixel shift mode, I'm very skeptical about blindly believing their latest pre-release claim about shooting PS hand held with the K1ii. If some of the early adopters and reviewers can prove that hand held PS on the K1ii works without a hitch, then I'll buy one. But I'm not going to again make a purchase based on any pre-release claims from Pentax. Fool me once shame on me; fool me twice......

[emsee]

I don't think the K-1 hides any surprises. The image accelerator with bring improved color/noise performance, while the hand-held pixel shift feature will allow you to capture high-res photos, without a tripod, if you have extra time on your hands to wait for processing.

We'll be posting our review relatively soon, but probably not before the camera is out. Ricoh says we can't share photos from pre-production units.

Any surprises or real improvements in AF-C?

[Adam]

For example - I remember before the K1 came out that Pentax claimed that the new K1 would be equipped with a new version of pixel shift that would allow one to photograph moving subjects. Before buying my K1, I had a K3ii and could rarely use pixel shift on the K3ii because most of the stuff I shoot moves slightly. So I purchased my K1 right went it came out believing their claim that I could shoot moving subjects with the K1 in the Pixel Shift mode. Well, we K1 owners soon found out how full of baloney Pentax's claim about shooting moving subjects with pixel shift mode on the K1 was.

I don't believe such a claim was ever made by Pentax/Ricoh. Perhaps some sites spread false rumors or information. If you find the original source, I'd be interested in checking it out. Here was our report on MC:

You Tube

You Tube

The K-1 has a motion correction feature which effectively disables PSR in areas where motion is detected, thereby eliminating visible artifacts. It was later added to the KP and K-70 as well, and can even be applied to K-3 II files via PDCU.

I do not believe Pentax's pre-release claim that the K1ii will be able to shoot pixel shift "hand held". Based on their prior exaggerated claim about being able to shoot moving subjects in the pixel shift mode, I'm very skeptical about blindly believing their latest pre-release claim about shooting PS hand held with the K1ii. If some of the early adopters and reviewers can prove that hand held PS on the K1ii works without a hitch, then I'll buy one. But I'm not going to again make a purchase based on any pre-release claims from Pentax. Fool me once shame on me; fool me twice......

The hand-held PSR feature involves some serious processing (you can see this in our test video from CP+ below). Technically speaking this goes far beyond the prior motion correction, which just compares nearby pixels and can be emulated in post. However, there's no such thing as magic- tripod PSR is still going to be capable of a higher resolution than anything hand-held. How moving objects in the scene will be portrayed, of course, remains to be tested- but my guess would be that the camera will revert to no PSR in those areas, as in tripod mode. Per the interview:

Pixel shift on a tripod is more effective in getting higher definition, low noise, and false-color-free images than Dynamic Pixel Shift.

You Tube

You Tube

[Adam]

Any surprises or real improvements in AF-C?

This also remains to be tested, but think along the lines of K-3 -> K-3 II. Tweaks (or perhaps fixes) rather than overhauls.

[Fenwoodian]

.
Here's what the Ricoh Imaging website says about the K1 with motion correction - "Motion Correction function
When shooting an image with the Pixel Shift Resolution System, the K-1 provides a new Motion Correction function. When this function is activated, the camera automatically detects the amount of subject motion during continuous shooting and minimizes negative effects during the synthesizing process.*" While I can not prove that this wording was there before the K1 was released, I suspect that it was because these MC claims were the main reason that I purchased my K1 camera.

Also, just do a quick Google search and you'll find many early K1 reviews that express disappointment with the K1's motion correction feature.

.

Adam, I watched the video that you posted on K1 MC. In it you say MC "possibly eliminates motion artifacts in a scene". That's an exaggeration too. Why pretend that it works better than it really does?

[Rondec]

Well, motion correction does "minimize" artifacts. All you have to do is search for any early K3 II pixel shift images with water in them to see the beautiful artifacts that abound when there isn't motion correction. That was the whole point of motion correction, to automate the process of masking a single image for the parts of the image where there was movement with the areas where there wasn't movement. I thought it was pretty clear from the beginning, but I guess it could have been read in different ways based on their press releases.

[monochrome]

Maybe there will be no surprises, but Pentax's pre-release claims can not always be believed.

For example - I remember before the K1 came out that Pentax claimed that the new K1 would be equipped with a new version of pixel shift that would allow one to photograph moving subjects. Before buying my K1, I had a K3ii and could rarely use pixel shift on the K3ii because most of the stuff I shoot moves slightly. So I purchased my K1 right went it came out believing their claim that I could shoot moving subjects with the K1 in the Pixel Shift mode. Well, we K1 owners soon found out how full of baloney Pentax's claim about shooting moving subjects with pixel shift mode on the K1 was.

I do not believe Pentax's pre-release claim that the K1ii will be able to shoot pixel shift "hand held". Based on their prior exaggerated claim about being able to shoot moving subjects in the pixel shift mode, I'm very skeptical about blindly believing their latest pre-release claim about shooting PS hand held with the K1ii. If some of the early adopters and reviewers can prove that hand held PS on the K1ii works without a hitch, then I'll buy one. But I'm not going to again make a purchase based on any pre-release claims from Pentax. Fool me once shame on me; fool me twice......

Read their claim. It isn’t PixelShift. They never claimed it is. That’s made up Fake News. It is Real Resolution, similar to Super Resolution. The LCD shots show Real Resolution highlighted.

Real Resolution stacks 4 separate images in the camera. It uses the hand held motion sensor information from the IBIS mechanism (Gyros and Accelerometer) to align the 4 separate captures. That’s totally distinct from PixelShift.

It doesn’t move the sensor 1 Pixel to Capture more color information into one RAW. That’s PixelShift.

The article on the K-1 Special Site by the Japanese landscape photographer who tested Real Resolution said it improves the images about 75% of the time.

[NYNOIR]

If I send in my K-1 and have it converted to a II, what does it do to the warranty? Do I get an extra year or is the warranty date from the original purchase?

I also have this question, anybody have any info??

[monochrome]

They will release full information on the upgrades program shortly after the camera is available for sale.

[Oakland Rob]

Read their claim. It isn’t PixelShift. They never claimed it is. That’s made up Fake News. It is Real Resolution, similar to Super Resolution. The LCD shots show Real Resolution highlighted.

Real Resolution stacks 4 separate images in the camera. It uses the hand held motion sensor information from the IBIS mechanism (Gyros and Accelerometer) to align the 4 separate captures. That’s totally distinct from PixelShift.

It doesn’t move the sensor 1 Pixel to Capture more color information into one RAW. That’s PixelShift.

The article on the K-1 Special Site by the Japanese landscape photographer who tested Real Resolution said it improves the images about 75% of the time.

I think Fenwoodian's point was about pixel shift resolution and motion correction in the original K-1. And if I recall correctly in that camera's hype they were only ever talking about motion correctin in PSR images taken on a tripod, not something as shaky as hand held. So it's not made up; the quote he does supply from Pentax is clearly referring to MC on PSR. The K-1ii's handheld stuff is, as you note, different.

But those of us who've done stacking manually or semi-auto in post processing software know that deghosting and other problems can limit its effectiveness, even when we can do some manual motion correction. Expecting an automatic process in the camera to always nail it is optimistic. Although I have been surprised at times; my E-M5ii focus stacks pretty well in camera, although larger movement or light changes can befuddle it (wish we had that in Pentaxes).