Pentax K-01, Ugliest Camera Ever

Yeah I do wonder how does pentax fare with their sales on this model.. Will be interesting if there are many takers on it. The risk they are raking is quite huge, perhaps the Japanese market loves it? They have been known to like unusual designs..
 
Note: this is coming from someone not up to date on the cutting edge of digital cameras.. And all I have to compare it to, from an experience standpoint, is a year or two of occasional use of a Panasonic GF-1 and 20mm lens (both of which I'm still impressed with!).

I used the Pentax briefly, that a friend rented. It had a 43mm limited lens on it.

It felt chunky to grip relative to other cameras, but not too funky.
The whole thing felt very solid, but not too heavy.
Autofocus was similar to the GF-1 from what I could tell. Pretty nice.
Manual focus was really easy with the 43mm, even without the peaking effect. Sweet LCD.
Image quality with the body-lens was way better than I'd ever need.

In short, I was impressed with the lens and photos and ease of use. The body does what it needs to do. It didn't make me want to add stuff to my other cameras to make them chunky, but it wasn't a big deal either. Leica M bodies feel chunky to me when they have a half-case. My GF-1 is still chugging along for what I use it for, but if it goes kaput, I could see it as a replacement.

Around the same time I used the friends Fuji xpro-1. I can't or don't rationalize/reason out my camera preference like some, but I can say I much preferred using the Pentax with 43mm lens.
 
I saw one somewhere recently and it looked different to what I imagined ... it wasn't ugly.

I'm not saying I'd own one but I certainly wasn't put off by it's looks!
 
I'd like to thank my fellow RFFers for disparaging and generally down rapping the Pentax K-01. You were successful in reducing the price to $346 at B&H so even though I don't do much digital, I couldn't resist the price (although it was $316 at Adorama on black Friday). Here are images 1 and 3 out of the camera:

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I finally got around to using my flash unit with my K-01. I have aperture ring Pentax lenses so as I bought the camera to use it with flash, I hoped these would be useful. They were: just set the aperture to the auto thyristor aperture setting and fire away. I used manual and hit the green button before shooting when indoors. I also set for an outdoor/indoor scene by setting ambient to the outdoor, of course leaving the aperture for the auto flash:

ambient balance:

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indoor:

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Ugly? Apart from the yellow grip version, I don't think so. And certainly at $315 or so it's a bargain for anyone with K mount lenses.

If you want ugly, go for the Cyclops Zeiss Contarex or the original Nikon F Photomic.
 
Pentax seems to have lost the plot these days, the K01, and that daft little CSC with "toy" lenses.
My MX and ME super were great cameras, but these days !!!!!!!!
Yup lost the plot, only a matter of time before they vanish with a whimper, shame really!!
 
this camera has been available now for some time, seen only one outside Internet: in a shelf of big camera store. to me, it looked just as bad in real life as the photos on the net.
 
I like the pictures on the net, so it is just as nice in real life?

Reading the reviews on the net it seems it is too much style over function. Not nice to hold, the screen isn'tgood enough and not small enough. The positves are image quality and good enough AF. A better grip, a (optional) EVF and better screen would make this a much better camera it seems. But then again, top of the line Nex and M4/3 cameras are just as good and much smaller.
 
Do you need an adapter to mount a manual focus K-mount lens? Is there any conversion for the sensor? (50mm lens = 50mm on camera?)
If so, I might get one of these.....

Kent
 
It is a K-mount camera, so you can use your manual focus lenses with all functions. However, it is APS-C, so your 50mm will have the FoV of a 75mm lens on film.
 
guess nobody argues about good IQ of K01. and once shot has been taken, who cares what was used to make it? but IMO big price drops tell tale that it wont sell otherwise, and looking the thing, no wonder. it has couple passionate fans over at pentaxforums though 🙂
 
jsrockit said:
Are you sure it is just as big?
Click to expand...

Almost as big, the about the same as a compact DSLR. Thick deep body. Not your usual flattened mirrorless CSC types.

Almost got one of these fugly Pentaces, but got a Samsung NX 200 instead. May have been one of my better decisions made. 🙂
 
I'll bet you know someone who loves a woman who you think isn't very attractive. Would you call her fugly to his face?

It was considered cool last year--even on the Pentax forums--to try to outdo the last guy in insulting the K-01's design. But it's been nearly a year since the camera's release, and more and more photographers have fallen in love with the camera and have found once again that beauty is more than skin deep.

So continue with the trash talk if you want--just keep in mind that the more great K-01 photos are made, the more your passé bad-mouthing sounds like sour grapes. 🙂
 
I actually have one and it is really a good camera: it fits my hand, it is simple compared to the DSLRs I've owned and the pictures are excellent. Basically there is very little difference between the final out put of digital so get what you want and forget about the hype.

This weekend, I never do sports, well amost never:

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