Pentax K-01, Ugliest Camera Ever

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I have hung onto my FA 31/1.8 Limited and when the K01 price dropped below $300 I pounced.

Kinda ugly, but pretty amazing with the Limited in front of it. Not that you can really judge it by the web-sized image above.

As I have noted elsewhere, this is pretty much the perfect winter camera - big buttons and controls, tailor-made for shooting with gloves. So it's a keeper for winter-time shooting.

Cheers,
Kirk
 
mike rosenlof said:
I'm kind of a manual focus, fixed focal length kind of guy. I am kind of liking that little 40.

I found what appears to be fairly good info on using MF lenses here:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/...-k-01-manual-focus-lenses-green-button-2.html

sounds like the pre-A K lenses are possibly the worst choice for use on this body. Even screw mount lenses may work a little better.

fun!
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K series lenses work great on the K-01 but you need to know the trick first. Compare the back of an A series or any autofocus lens with your K series lens. Take a small piece of thin tape and cover the portion of the mount on the lens where the contacts would be if your K lens was an A or F/FA series lens.

Now when you mount the lens on the K-01, there is no contact at the pins and the camera thinks you have an m42 lens mounted. The body won't hold the aperture open, allowing you to choose your f stop on the lens body with the camera in Av mode.

The display on the back will brighten itself to compensate as you select smaller apertures. Focus peaking still works and you get to see your dof in real time.
 
You guys are nuts if you think a digital camera is any different from any other, ugly or not. It's digital. The control is in the software. But, I like my RAW images processed through ColorPerfect better than any other converter (regardless of what digital camera I use). This is straight out of the RAW file in CP:

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charjohncarter said:
I usually use my in manual mode and hit the green button before shooting. I personally don't like some guy in Japan deciding what ISO, f-stop, shutter speed I use.
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To each his own but I don't understand this line of thinking and I hear similar things all the time. Usually it's someone who thinks shooting their DSLR in manual mode makes them a real photographer because they're making all the decisions.

That isn't you I know but I'm still confused. You're in manual mode, you've selected your ISO in the camera and your aperture on the lens body. Now you hit the green button so some Japanese guy isn't deciding how your photographs look.

The camera is then going to choose the right shutter speed for a proper exposure. Finally you hit the shutter and take your photo. The camera still chose the shutter speed for you. The same speed it would have chosen if you'd just used Av mode with a chosen ISO.

If you still want to be able to use the aperture ring, but not have to hit the green button every time you can use the tape trick I described earlier and cover the contacts on your F 28mm. Then you would have manual aperture control, but without having to hit the green button before every photo.

Also you don't need to keep your shake reduction off in fear of leaving it on while using a tripod. If you use the remote or the self timer the camera automatically turns it off for you. The shake reduction really is quite good on the K-01, useful as well.

I hope this info is helpful.
 
While many consider it ugly, it is so odd I actually like it. My buddy was considering getting one to mount to the back of his Pentax 67 lens' for fun.
 
Mattco26 said:
To each his own but I don't understand this line of thinking and I hear similar things all the time. Usually it's someone who thinks shooting their DSLR in manual mode makes them a real photographer because they're making all the decisions.

That isn't you I know but I'm still confused. You're in manual mode, you've selected your ISO in the camera and your aperture on the lens body. Now you hit the green button so some Japanese guy isn't deciding how your photographs look.

The camera is then going to choose the right shutter speed for a proper exposure. Finally you hit the shutter and take your photo. The camera still chose the shutter speed for you. The same speed it would have chosen if you'd just used Av mode with a chosen ISO.

If you still want to be able to use the aperture ring, but not have to hit the green button every time you can use the tape trick I described earlier and cover the contacts on your F 28mm. Then you would have manual aperture control, but without having to hit the green button before every photo.

Also you don't need to keep your shake reduction off in fear of leaving it on while using a tripod. If you use the remote or the self timer the camera automatically turns it off for you. The shake reduction really is quite good on the K-01, useful as well.

I hope this info is helpful.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I didn't know that the SR is off with the remote which I use when doing tripod work. But as I'm mostly a film guy, I have no reason to worry too much about these machinations of digital engineers. As I've said I like Aperture mode, because I have no appetite for action shots. Still this is an easy camera to use with minimal Japanese junk added on (not like my wife's Lexus):

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With a Vivitar Macro Flash.
 
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