[biz-engineer]

I wouldn't go that far. A wedding isn't a sporting event and a K-1 will keep up fine.

I agree. And I would add that we should not confuse actual camera capability and the arguments to support a purchasing decision. In sales, we know that 99% of a purchase decision is emotional and rational element serve as making an emotional decision look rational. It is easy to recognize the motive, just show the user that what he claims doesn't work actually does work, and he will either disappear or find another good reason to switch brand. I easily recognize pseudo arguments.

[Rondec]

I agree. And I would add that we should not confuse actual camera capability and the arguments to support a purchasing decision. In sales, we know that 99% of a purchase decision is emotional and rational element serve as making an emotional decision look rational. It is easy to recognize the motive, just show the user that what he claims doesn't work actually does work, and he will either disappear or find another good reason to switch brand. I easily recognize pseudo arguments.

I think people should pick gear that works for them -- that may have to do with auto focus capability. It may have to do with ergonomics. It may just have to do with what their friends are shooting. I just think once we've decided on something, we don't need to rationalize how the brand we left behind wasn't any good. The K-1 is an exceptionally capable camera and as you mentioned, top end photographers use medium format which doesn't have great auto focus and has very slow frame rates and is big and bulky -- but they make it work because they like the results.

[Billk]

Perfect for portrait, commercial, fashion, landscape, still life, wedding photography, and you may get your living from any of those.

Not great for events and sports, sure. But you're allowed to own more than one camera, BE!

If I could have an X1D (which I took this with) or a 645Z for slow shooting, along with my K1 and K3ii, I would. It takes one shot per second but if you are careful with your timing, they are rather nice shots.

[normhead]

Regardless, of what can be done, and you can get very nice results with a K-1 for weddings. But there are better options. Better implementations of face detection etc. since in wedding it's all about faces. I'm not saying you can't do it. I'm sure there are many examples of folks who do. But I wouldn't buy the camera specifically for that, if I were doing 20 or 30 a year, or even 10 a year. I shot a few weddings 25 years ago with my Program Plus, all manual focus. That doesn't mean I'd do that today.

[angerdan]

The K-1 isn't wedding friendly.

Even the K-5 is good for weddings, with the K-1 you have two SD-slots.
The K-1 is perfect for weddings.

[normhead]

Even the K-5 is good for weddings, with the K-1 you have two SD-slots.
The K-1 is perfect for weddings.

Good, you use it then, if I ever do another, I'll take Winder's advice and rent an A9.

[Rondec]

Good, you use it then, if I ever do another, I'll take Winder's advice and rent an A9.

You'd do better with a K-1. The thing is that the most important thing about shooting a wedding is the photographer, not the gear. And if you are familiar with your camera and lenses and know which you want to use when, even if some other camera can snag 20 frames a second, that is meaningless and in fact makes the process of editing the wedding after the fact much more difficult.

The goal is to take enough photos that you don't miss any while not taking a bunch of extras.

The formal shots are certainly not difficult with a K-1 and honestly most of the other moments are pretty easy to capture as well. But I suppose you can rent an A9 and the lenses you would need, although you'd better be charging enough to cover your cost -- just the cost of a seven day rental for your camera, grip and battery are going to be 300 dollars. The 24-70 and 70-200 G master lenses will be another 280 (from lens rentals) for a 7 day rental. And that's just a bare bones set up without any back up gear (I guess you'd use your K-1 as a back up).

[CNunez]

^ wedding photography is about planning more than gear.

You can have the best gear you like, but if you don't plan everything, scout all the good places to shoot etc. you'll have a lousy day anyway. I'll be using the K1ii for wedding in july.

[Rickster]

Due to medium format digital camera being the worst in terms of auto-focus and speed of operation, I've always wondered why professionals use them.

Because professionals do not need autofocus. ;-)

[dfp771]

After further testing and use, I have decided to keep my Pentax K-1. There are several minor things missing on the Fujifilm that I really use on the K-1. I am always hitting the Q button on the Fujifilm. It’s a nuisance. The camera settings on the back LCD are too small to read. There is a live histogram before the shot but not after. But , a big issue for me is that the Fujifilm will not work correctly in HSS sync above 1/2000 sec with the Elinchrom ELB400 and the Cactus V6ii triggers- there is some banding in the frame. With the K-1, I get very clean frames all the way to 1/8000 sec. I know Fujifilm responds quickly and does many firmware updates to their products ( look at the XT-2) so I will wait and see. But the K-1 is a great tool for the work I do.

[pinholecam]

You'd do better with a K-1. The thing is that the most important thing about shooting a wedding is the photographer, not the gear. And if you are familiar with your camera and lenses and know which you want to use when, even if some other camera can snag 20 frames a second, that is meaningless and in fact makes the process of editing the wedding after the fact much more difficult.

The goal is to take enough photos that you don't miss any while not taking a bunch of extras.

The formal shots are certainly not difficult with a K-1 and honestly most of the other moments are pretty easy to capture as well. But I suppose you can rent an A9 and the lenses you would need, although you'd better be charging enough to cover your cost -- just the cost of a seven day rental for your camera, grip and battery are going to be 300 dollars. The 24-70 and 70-200 G master lenses will be another 280 (from lens rentals) for a 7 day rental. And that's just a bare bones set up without any back up gear (I guess you'd use your K-1 as a back up).

Agree about being familiar with the genre (and thinking fast) rather than gear dependence.

I have taken a decent few weddings and pre-weddings from film days to K1 now.
Done it mostly on MF with an A7; Done it mostly with 1 lens; etc.

Overall, it was the knowledge of the gear and idea of what to expect in different stages of the ceremony that will carry me thru.
Also the willingness to use my voice, to call for attention/corporation/poses and even re-takes.

I don't appreciate machine gunning either.
It just increases the time sorting thru the pictures and that is decreased productivity.
I am not a commercial photographer, but even then, I appreciate getting it right with less junk shots and having more free time with my family.
If its commercial/paid work, thats even more important. It basically means more time for other clients or just ease the mind till the next job.

There will be those of us here on the forums, that will declare that the next latest and greatest is the essential tool for their photography.
Its a forum and there will be a wide array of users/personalities/needs.
For me, I still believe that we have really reached a very good point in photography gear that a lot of it is irrelevant and it is the human element that carries the day.

[awscreo]

I'm so happy my K-1 fits my needs lol. I'd hate to switch systems again now, I already suffered through selling off my mft gear piece by piece and having to build up my system from scratch. Good luck though, I really like what Fuji has to offer and see quite a few photographers around me with Fuji gear. I'd pick one up (a smaller/cheaper body, not flagship) for travel, but I need to finalize my ff kit first

[kooks]

IMO the K1 can deliver some lovely images for weddings if the camera is match with th right lenses.. but the down side about this camera is the buffer, weddings are much about action, and during the wedding that happens all around you, there are some ocassions when the buffer just dont clear fast enough and that sucks.. believe me .. that really really sucks.. missing a good shot because the buffer is stock writing is a pain in the ass situation.. I was specting that the MK2 could eventually fix that issue and give us a bigger/faster buffer but that did not happen. I love my K1, and I love the images, but that (&(*%& buffer sometimes drives me crazy, specially during the wedding exit, or during the entrance, key moments that cant be missed. For wedding portraits the sensor is lovely.. cant ask more from it, the images are really really nice, ISO managing is top gamer too.

[Kunzite]

The K-1 isn't wedding friendly.

Indeed; he'd rather go to a rock concert

[MJKoski]

If Pentax advertisement is to be believed, K-1 would rather go to shower.