[Merv-O]

Went full blast into FF & bought the K-1 Mark ii a few months ago. Sold my K-50 and my K-3 ii bodies and several lenses. Kept the DA SMC 18-135mm (a favorite of men) and the 50-200mm.

Believe it or not, I miss the renderings of my APS-C cameras--the IQ of the K-50 particularly. Should I buy a used Pentax APS-C body or use the 18-135mm in crop mode on the K-1 ii?

[twilhelm]

Since the K50 is 16mpx, only 1 more than the K1 in crop mode, I’m not sure I’d go that route. I still have my K10, K5 and K3, and they each have a use, but in my opinion, I like the rendering of the K1 more than any of them (okay, the K10 is special).

I do believe in having a back up body, and something like the K5, K70 or KP which are smaller and lighter make a lot of sense when you want a light all-around walking kit.

[ddamski]

Went full blast into FF & bought the K-1 Mark ii a few months ago. Sold my K-50 and my K-3 ii bodies and several lenses. Kept the DA SMC 18-135mm (a favorite of men) and the 50-200mm.

Believe it or not, I miss the renderings of my APS-C cameras--the IQ of the K-50 particularly. Should I buy a used Pentax APS-C body or use the 18-135mm in crop mode on the K-1 ii?

maybe buy a decent lens for the K-1?
what lens you are using on the K-1? and you say you like the IQ of APC better.. you mean the JPGs or edited raw files?

[BigMackCam]

Why not just use those DA lenses in crop mode on your K-1II? The pixel density, resolution and lack of AA filter will mean you'll get results broadly equivalent to a K-5IIs. The only downsides are the extra size and weight of the K-1II and the smaller area of view in the OVF (although you could use Live View). Otherwise, I'd probably pick up a K-5 or K-5II. They've become quite inexpensive, especially considering the robust build and lovely image quality...

[Kozlok]

The KS2 is an inexpensive (used), lightweight choice that includes more MP than your K1 in crop mode, and has a flippy screen.

[UncleVanya]

As others said the k-50 offers a 16mp 12 bit raw, with anti-alias filter experience. The sensor has big fat pixels not much different from the K-1. The K-1 in crop mode has slightly less resolution but very close. In RAW mode the K-1 will yield 14 bit files but otherwise should be hard to tell from the K-50.

On the jpg side each camera might have different rendering thiz might be something you can adjust. If you have tried crop mode you might post an image from both the k-1 and k-50 to show what you like better and maybe others can chime in on adjustments you can make.

As for a backup... Unless you shoot professionally or are very specific you can probably just pick up a newer used body when/if you need one.

[pres589]

I think the obvious answer is to get a DA 15 and run that in square crop mode on your K-1 II as well as the 18-135.

[aslyfox]

how often would you think that you would use a back up?

you might want to consider checking out the option of renting a camera body from a company like LensRentals.com

it looks like they are currently renting the K 1, the K 1 II, the K 3 II, the KP and the KS-2

LensRentals.com - Rent Lenses and Cameras from Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Leica, and more

[ it is not the only company out there that you might rent equipment from ]

you could then either rent a camera body when you want one or try out one or more of the APS-C camera bodies to see which one you might want to keep your eye out for in the forum's market place or other used camera sales markets to buy as your back up

[Barry Pearson]

Went full blast into FF & bought the K-1 Mark ii a few months ago. Sold my K-50 and my K-3 ii bodies and several lenses. Kept the DA SMC 18-135mm (a favorite of men) and the 50-200mm.

Believe it or not, I miss the renderings of my APS-C cameras--the IQ of the K-50 particularly. Should I buy a used Pentax APS-C body or use the 18-135mm in crop mode on the K-1 ii?

Hm! I use my K-3ii as my back-up for my K-1ii.

You appear to have ruled that out.

[ramseybuckeye]

Believe it or not, I miss the renderings of my APS-C cameras--the IQ of the K-50 particularly. Should I buy a used Pentax APS-C body or use the 18-135mm in crop mode on the K-1 ii?

Keep your eye out for a really good deal and go for it if you want to. Sometimes it’s really nice to carry two cameras and use whichever works best for the shot. I don’t have a K-1 but I’m sure the crop mode works well. Or if you can use without crop mode even better, then you can crop as needed.

[Dericali]

Went full blast into FF & bought the K-1 Mark ii a few months ago. Sold my K-50 and my K-3 ii bodies and several lenses. Kept the DA SMC 18-135mm (a favorite of men) and the 50-200mm.

Believe it or not, I miss the renderings of my APS-C cameras--the IQ of the K-50 particularly. Should I buy a used Pentax APS-C body or use the 18-135mm in crop mode on the K-1 ii?

Do you have any DFA (modern full frame lenses)? You'll want at least one of these to maximise IQ.

[UncleVanya]

Hm! I use my K-3ii as my back-up for my K-1ii.

You appear to have ruled that out.

He sold the K-50 and K-3ii and likes the rendering of the K-50 better. I don't see that as ruling out the K-3ii but he seems to lean to the K-50.

[Merv-O]

maybe buy a decent lens for the K-1?
what lens you are using on the K-1? and you say you like the IQ of APC better.. you mean the JPGs or edited raw files?

I bought several FA lenses: IRIX 15mm; the 50 f/1.8; 35mm f/2, Tamron 28-70mm f 2.8 & the Pentax 28-105mm. I also kept my SIGMA 70-300mm full frame as it was too large in APS-C format but a good economical telephoto to keep. I kept the DA lenses in case I didn't like the K-1 ii, I could always revert back. I like the K-1ii it's great. It's just large so for trips I take one of my Leicas even though the 36.5 mp sensor on the Pentax is a beast of detail.

---------- Post added 09-26-18 at 10:40 AM ----------

maybe buy a decent lens for the K-1?
what lens you are using on the K-1? and you say you like the IQ of APC better.. you mean the JPGs or edited raw files?

Yes bought several FA lenses (see response above).

---------- Post added 09-26-18 at 10:43 AM ----------

He sold the K-50 and K-3ii and likes the rendering of the K-50 better. I don't see that as ruling out the K-3ii but he seems to lean to the K-50.

I think the 16mp sensor in the K-50 or K-5iis renders better than the K-3 24.3. Since I have the K-1 ii for large/crop phots, I thought it would be a great back up.

[UncleVanya]

I think the 16mp sensor in the K-50 or K-5iis renders better than the K-3 24.3. Since I have the K-1 ii for large/crop phots, I thought it would be a great back up.

I never saw it that way. I went from the K-50 to the K-3 and found nothing worse only better. The K-3 may not handle high ISO quite as well I have seen examples showing you can downsample to 16mp if that really bothers you and gain more than you lost. The loss of 14 bit to 12 bit files is to me more significant which is maybe why the K-3 seemed able to hold its own.

In any case, any of the 16mp sensors will give pretty good results. You never clarified what about the K-1 rendering you didn't like as much as the K-50 - and if that was in JPG or RAW. Can you expand on this or did we misunderstand? As far as backup bodies - I rarely worry about it but I sometimes take two formats (APSC and m43) and an adapter for use on the smaller sensor camera.

[EssJayEff]

I think the obvious answer is to get a DA 15 and run that in square crop mode on your K-1 II as well as the 18-135.

This intrigues me . . . I still miss my Hasselblad square format years. I do not have a DA 15mm Limited. What are the pixel dimensions of the files resulting from that combination?