It's because so many are trying to put into words what is more tactile. it's like describing what sweet tastes like or what your favorite shade of blue looks like. the K1 doesn't do any one thing so much better that you can hold up two images and say "There, see!"
I can put my K10 images next to my K1 images on my 4k monitor and you'd be hard pressed to pick which one is which, BUT....
Part of what makes the K1 great is that getting to that same image was easier. From controlling the scene histogram-wise to post-processing, the K1 has made my life easier. I'll use my "Grand Canyon Glow" image. What may have required 3, maybe 4, 1/3 stop tweaks to get the histogram I wanted, took 2 because of the extra DR. It may be only 2/3 of a stop, but the extra 2/3 saved me 30 seconds. Those 30 seconds were invaluable because I can look at the 4 frames I took before and 4 frames I took after the shot and SEE the subtle changes in lighting, the change in position of the sun that change the whole scene. As twilight approaches it can be tough to "keep up with the light" and keep your histogram where you need it to be. The extra headroom in the data that the K1 gives, makes it easier. Maybe I still get that shot with my K3, maybe I don't because I'm chimping one extra time. But you can't "quantify" with images, because it's comparison is no image at all.
And then there's post processing. With the K10, K5iis and K3, I worked hard on some images. Not to "salvage" them, because nothing was technically wrong with them, but to get them to fit my taste. Maybe the analogy is of a chef insisting a piece of meat be an exact sense of tender. He can get there with lesser cuts, but it's more work, more time and sometimes results in "settling" or a compromise. K1 raw images are almost already "tender" and therefore I only have to worry about getting the seasoning mix right and cooking it to the right temperature.
I could probably quantify that with a 20 page step by step, 100 image dissertation showing histogram to RAW ACR to finished product, but I'm sorry, I don't like anyone on here that much to take THAT much of my time.
But in the end Norm, the is no difference between my K10 images and my K1 images because I know what I want me end result to be and my shooting workflow from exposure to post processing has been honed over the past 10+ years. But what I do know from personally transitioning from the K10, to K5iis, to the K3, to the K1 is that the K1 is the best camera Pentax has put out to date. It does the little things better, that makes the little things I do easier, more accurate and in the end, results in a marketable product.
What these fence sitters (and "K3 mercenaries") are asking for is for some of us K1 users to provide comparable images so you can subjectively assign an arbitrary value and quantify if the value meets an arbitrary standard of "better" to justify switching. I'm of the belief we will never be able to perform to your satisfaction. Why, because the comparison shot will never exist. Maybe if I take 10,000 images with a K1 and 10,000 images with a K3 at the exact same time of the exact same subject, I would be able to point to 1, or maybe even 100 and say see, this is the shot the K1 can get the K3 can't.
But if it's 1 out of 10,000 or 1 out of 100, is that "enough" to convince you to switch? Not if you don't care what the 1 shot provides. You used your AF example of all but three or four images being in focus. Well what if the K1 got one extra image in focus? What if it was "the one"? the K3 would have missed it. but how do you "quantify" that?
You've been around enough pro photogs to know that "the one" is the holy grail. Well the K1 gives me more confidence, the K1 is more responsive to the way I shoot, the K1 allows me to push the limits of my image creativity in small, subtle ways that I felt restricted by the K3. The K1 brings "the one" closer to reality. The K1 gives me the confidence that I will capture "the one" when the moment presents itself. That's what makes the K1 worth to me and that's why my K3 is for sale.
So how does one quantify more trust? How does one quantify more confidence? How does one quantify the ease in which the K1 responds to your vision? You can't.
That's why I have answered every single person in every single thread who has asked if the K1 is worth it with a "No." Because if you don't know the limits of your photographic style, if you aren't wishing your K3 or K30 or iPhone did "something" better, you should stick with what you have. The K1 won't MAKE a photographer better, but the K1 will ALLOW a photographer to BE better. If you don't know specifically what that means for you, you should stick with what you have.
