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07-27-2016, 04:30 PM   #31
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Is the K-1 Purchase Worth It?

I am an amateur enthusiast type user.

I have the K-3 and recently acquired the K-1. To go with the K-1, I bought the Pentax 15-30, 24-70 and 70-200 all 2.8 lenses, and I still can't answer the question with certainty. I love both of the cameras.

I use my K-3 if I am going on a tight trip and feel pressed for space. I use the K-3 for faster action - sports and bird and animal photography. For these I like the K-3 better. I have a Sigma 50-500 that I use with the K-3. It is not a fast lens but I turn up the ISO and use it at 6.3. The K-3 takes and stores raw files a little faster for catching action.

I use the K-1 for most other activities. I am looking forward to using and processing Pixel Shift Resolution as well.

To sum it up finally. If you have the funds do it. It is a lot of fun and life is short. If funds are tight, do not do it.

07-27-2016, 04:55 PM   #32
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To the OP: the short answer is yes.

I have just come back from three weeks in England and Ireland with the K-1 and the following lenses:
DA10-17, DFA15-30, FA31, DA*55, FA77, DFA100WR and HD55-300

The 55-300 worked brilliantly in crop mode. The few times I used it in FF mode it was clear that it covers more than APS-C at all focal lengths, but not the full frame. The DA10-17 actually covers the full frame from about 15mm, but its edge performance suffers enough for me to still consider it a crop lens.

Some examples with the HD55-300 in crop mode:





And this was moving FAST towards me. This car won Le Mans a week or two before this was taken - we were staying with the boss of the Ford racing team



And with the DA10-17:





Your 40 and 50 (or do you mean *55?) are also FF compatible.
07-27-2016, 05:29 PM   #33
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I owned a K3 and a K3ii. I have now owned a K1 for over a month and have taken thousands of shots.

I would have been very VERY happy with continuing to use the K3ii. I only switched for one reason. I own a large format Epson printer and take photos to print LARGE and sell. Obviously, the larger sensor and resolution of the K1 enable my large prints to look better. The K1's larger files enable me to print my large prints now using a higher PPI which in itself results in greater detail in my prints.
07-27-2016, 09:48 PM - 1 Like   #34
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I own four Pentax DSLR's.

K5: very good
K5-IIs: Like the image quality a bit better than the K5.
K3: Really like it a lot.
K1: Definitely cream of the crop. Excellent camera. I just returned form Yellowstone and the K3 stayed mostly in the bag. The 28-105 was used the most. The 150-450 was the only other lens I used on it. The level of detail in each shot is amazing. I as still very happy with my K3, but the K1 is just so much better.

First shot was made using the 150-450 at 150mm. Second shot was made with the 28-105.

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07-28-2016, 03:54 AM   #35
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QuoteOriginally posted by Sandy Hancock Quote
Your 40 and 50 (or do you mean *55?) are also FF compatible.
Yes, my bad, meant *55. Should look into correcting that...

---------- Post added 07-28-16 at 06:59 ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by divert Quote
To go with the K-1, I bought the Pentax 15-30, 24-70 and 70-200 all 2.8 lenses...
Of those lenses which one do you consider the must have being that you already have APS-C glass?

---------- Post added 07-28-16 at 07:25 ----------

I want to thank everyone for their answers, I started to re-read these backwards and I thought perhaps answering each as I went probably wouldn't be the best thing to do.

I am a hobbiest but I have been on Pentax since the K-7 and though I loved the camera I have ever since (K-5, K-3) been searching for better low light performance.

If I had a style it's that I like taking casual shots, I'm not fond of staging and thus don't typically use flash because it disrupts the mood and environment. Also probably because of it I often find shots within shots that I like to crop out. So reduction in noise and resolution would be important to me, in that sense I am a pixel peeper. I do enjoy landscape and night shots as well.

Last edited by robr7; 07-28-2016 at 04:28 AM.
07-28-2016, 08:10 AM   #36
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QuoteOriginally posted by Michaelina2 Quote
The K-1 was made for you. Get it, dedicate the next six months to upping your post processing skills to 'world class' (easy to do BTW ) and don't look back !

Cheers... M
This is the best photographic advice I've heard on any photography blog in YEARS!
07-29-2016, 04:17 AM   #37
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So I'll repeat my self.....

It will be a much more memorable trip with a new K-1. That's all you need to know.

Life is all about experiences.... so go and have a great one!

07-29-2016, 10:51 AM - 1 Like   #38
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QuoteOriginally posted by noelpolar Quote
So I'll repeat my self.....

It will be a much more memorable trip with a new K-1. That's all you need to know.

Life is all about experiences.... so go and have a great one!
yeap and the experience is not just the camera (at least to me!)

One may discover more interresting thing is you are less inside the technical details of your gear And honestly if one doesn't think actively all day long "how much better it would be with that gear" or "How much worse I would be with that gear". Then once you are actually living the experience (here of taking photos), you pretty soon forget the details of the gear, and enjoy the trip.

Gear should just work.
07-30-2016, 04:45 AM   #39
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QuoteOriginally posted by Nicolas06 Quote
yeap and the experience is not just the camera (at least to me!) One may discover more interresting thing is you are less inside the technical details of your gear And honestly if one doesn't think actively all day long "how much better it would be with that gear" or "How much worse I would be with that gear". Then once you are actually living the experience (here of taking photos), you pretty soon forget the details of the gear, and enjoy the trip. Gear should just work.
You recently got a FA31, honestly, that's pure luxury, because the difference between a K1 and a K3 is a lot more than the difference between a FA31 ltd and a DA18-55 @31mm. The FA31 ltd cost 10x more than a DA18-55 WR, and the 31ltd is not even WR.

---------- Post added 30-07-16 at 13:55 ----------

One way to get an overview of the experience of using a K1 is to read this thread: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/190-pentax-k-1/326186-what-like-move-k-1-a.html

Last edited by biz-engineer; 07-30-2016 at 04:50 AM.
07-30-2016, 04:57 AM - 1 Like   #40
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QuoteOriginally posted by biz-engineer Quote
You recently got a FA31, honestly, that's pure luxury, because the difference between a K1 and a K3 is a lot more than the difference between a FA31 ltd and a DA18-55 @31mm. The FA31 ltd cost 10x more than a DA18-55 WR, and the 31ltd is not even WR.

---------- Post added 30-07-16 at 13:55 ----------

One way to get an overview of the experience of using a K1 is to read this thread: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/190-pentax-k-1/326186-what-like-move-k-1-a.html
The 31 is a spiritual lens...... one can't rationalise such things in that way......one has to be very carefull though when using a 31 on a K-1...... you may just vibrate straight into the next life.
07-30-2016, 04:59 AM   #41
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QuoteOriginally posted by noelpolar Quote
The 31 is a spiritual lens...... one can't rationalise such things in that way......
LoL, "spiritual" is exactly the right word that I couldn't find.
07-30-2016, 05:27 AM   #42
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@BarryPearson wrote above about his personal photographic history. I think of that as context. Nothing in life is universally 'worth it' but in your personal context something is the last thing that is 'worth it'. First, examine your own context. Here's mine:
  • This is a hobby
  • I want to make good photographs, but
  • The TAKING of photographs is the hobby - the enjoyment of the act, with the gear
  • Initially, around 1998, my goal was to try every lens I previously couldn't afford - buy, try, sell, buy the next
  • I still shoot film, mostly with 70's SMC lenses and bodies - same goal for cameras
  • I began keeping items that I enjoyed using
  • I kept an LX and an MZ-S
  • I kept the three FA Limiteds
  • I was given a K-3 and bought second-hand copies of the DA Limiteds for it
  • I experimented with Q
  • I kept an MX-1
The K-1 seems to have closed the 'Buy it, try it, sell it' phase of my hobby. Now I want a discrete set of cameras and lenses to use, not a random collection; a menu rather than a smorgasbord. K-1 allows me to use every lens I want to to keep,a without any compromises, and I don't need to keep lenses I don't want just because I have the body. As I learn to use K-1 my photographs will improve through practice and familiarity and the goal will move more toward photographs..

A K-1, the Holy Trinity zooms, the three Princesses and nothing else could be a logical, no-compromises, new-purchase kit. I consider that the base case. Work up or down from there.

Here's what works in my context.

GEAR LIST

Last edited by monochrome; 07-30-2016 at 10:02 AM.
07-30-2016, 03:16 PM   #43
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QuoteOriginally posted by biz-engineer Quote
You recently got a FA31, honestly, that's pure luxury, because the difference between a K1 and a K3 is a lot more than the difference between a FA31 ltd and a DA18-55 @31mm. The FA31 ltd cost 10x more than a DA18-55 WR, and the 31ltd is not even WR.

---------- Post added 30-07-16 at 13:55 ----------

One way to get an overview of the experience of using a K1 is to read this thread: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/190-pentax-k-1/326186-what-like-move-k-1-a.html
Yep that pure luxury, I fully agree. It is enjoyable, but at the same time before I didn't feel all the time... That DA35 f/2.8 ltd is soooo bad. Or even before hey really that DA35 f/2.4 made so borring pictures that terrible.

Sure it is quite difficult to describe what will give the experience, it depend a lot of people. And I guess if I, you, he really want it, the question is if it enable a truely greater experience once you have it or prevent a great experience before...

At least on my side, I didn't fell bad before while taking photos. So as biz-engineer said it, that's a luxury. I didn't need it.

And I can't help now that I have it to appreciate the rendering. That and FA77.
07-30-2016, 03:37 PM   #44
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In the end that's funny because I was at a house warming today, got some picture, and discussing of my camera that they said it was really nice (nobody has a reflex at the event, some a K30 that they left at home). Maria explained to me that she really wanted a polaroid like before and that her husband recently offered her one. So we got a few pictures with the pola too waiting for the content to actually appear ! She liked so much the 90's rendering here. The people were also happy and far from being serious...

So while I shot only FA77 and FA31... I gave a try to that type of rendering... And honestly it look as good if not better You see that maybe stupid, but that's also fun And if the dof isn't perfect or whatever, that's even part of the thing. Surely not for all shooting, but why not at time?

You'll not see the white border on that forum that arguably may be part of that rendering. But you'll see the type of color rendering and the heavy grain... Don't look too much into it... That"s a few snapshots Everybody got the camera, and that is part of fun.

Last edited by Nicolas06; 01-31-2017 at 02:03 PM.
07-30-2016, 10:03 PM   #45
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QuoteOriginally posted by Nicolas06 Quote
You'll not see the white border on that forum that arguably may be part of that rendering. But you'll see the type of color rendering and the heavy grain... Don't look too much into it... That"s a few snapshots Everybody got the camera, and that is part of fun.
Yes, I guess most people understand that. So, why did you want to kill the fun of other people when saying that shooting with a K1 changes your experience as a photographer? (that was basically the point for that thread "updgrade k3 K1 is it worth?).
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