Pentax K-01 Initial Impressions - Most Unique Camera
No matter what you think of it's different styling, the Pentax K-01 is a difficult camera to forget. I remember seeing it only a few years ago at release and, like most people, feeling extremely puzzled. The choice for Pentax to higher a professional designer to design a totally unique camera felt like an experiment.
Despite the somewhat negative first impressions I wanted one. I finally justified the purchase this week by combining it with another want of mine: That is, getting a dedicated infrared camera. More into the infrared later, let me just share my first impressions of the Pentax K-01.
Pentax K-01's Unique Styling
My very first impression of the Pentax K-01 when I took it out of the eBay box was it's size. It's small and... chunky. It's shorter in width than I had imagined. About 3/4" shorter than my Pentax K-3, which I regard as a fairly compact DSLR. Although that doesn't seem like much it does make the camera feel quite a bit smaller in the hands.
The depth of the camera is the same as my other APS-C Pentax DSLRs. That makes sense because while the Pentax K-01 is mirrorless, it retains the same K mount and flange distance as-if it had a mirror. It does appear chunkier, however, because the top of the camera is completely flat. Other Pentax DSLRs taper the body from the top down which gives them a slimmer appearance.
The grip will take some getting used to, and I'm not convinced I'll ever love it. It feels better than a film body that is completely gripless, but not much more. I am using substantial force on my thumb in the back to balance between my grip in the front. I took it out for a short trip yesterday and it never frustrated me, but also never felt totally comfortable.
The other chunky buttons and dials fit the aesthetic. It's a mix between toy camera and futuristic. It certainly looks like nothing else I've ever seen. The silver and black color scheme isn't my favorite, but at least it's more stealthy than the bright yellow variant. Though part of me says if you're using a camera that looks this ridiculous, bright yellow would be the way to go.
Using the Pentax K-01 and Image Quality
The actual use of the camera is intuitive if you have experience with Pentax controls and menus. The only "gotchas" so far have been the renamed playback button ("Play", instead of the blue triangle symbol) and the lack of viewfinder. Seriously, the last one is trippy. I use mirrorless cameras, some with or without viewfinders, so I am not a complete stranger to the idea. I think because the Pentax K-01 has most of what you would expect from a Pentax DSLR camera that I also expect the viewfinder to be there. Even the live view "click" sound and humming of the image stabilization remains the same as contemporary Pentax DSLRs. After all, despite the dramatic looks, the guts of the camera are typical Pentax tech.
Because you need to rely on the live view screen it is worth mentioning that in daylight it is difficult to use. I wouldn't say crippling, but certainly more difficult to use than a viewfinder. I have seen people attach large viewfinder devices on the viewfinder to solve this very problem. While I am sure that is effective, I am not sure I would want to lug that around on the camera. To each their own though.
As I teased at the beginning, this Pentax K-01 has been modified for full spectrum photography. I can't speak universally about image quality, but I will let the images I took the other day speak for themselves. I am sure a non-modified camera would impress equally. The raw files I have edited are as capable as other Pentax DSLRs I have used made around the same time.
I will be playing with this camera for the next few months, but expect a more in-depth look and video of it soon! Until then, happy snappin'
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I'm really interested in these cameras with nontraditional form factors. I think even though mirrorless cameras could look like anything these days, there's still a strong adherence to either an "SLR" style body or a "rangefinder" style body. Interesting though that Pentax didn't just go the extra step here and find some way to recess the hotshoe and popup flash. Almost makes you wonder what market this camera was created for. It pushes the envelope in terms of not really looking like a "dad cam" (no offense James haha), and it doesn't seem to have a spec sheet which is super standout for professionals either, especially with the lack of an EVF. Maybe somewhere in the experimental stages of prosumerism?
The full spectrum mod is super interesting though, and while I don't personally really understand the appeal, but I think the shots are so cool. Like how the copper rain flashing is a different color in the fourth image. I wonder if a sufficiently hacked photography camera could be used to make true thermal imaging pictures like one would get with a FLIR
Quote from Guest on January 4, 2021, 1:13 amI'm really interested in these cameras with nontraditional form factors. I think even though mirrorless cameras could look like anything these days, there's still a strong adherence to either an "SLR" style body or a "rangefinder" style body. Interesting though that Pentax didn't just go the extra step here and find some way to recess the hotshoe and popup flash. Almost makes you wonder what market this camera was created for. It pushes the envelope in terms of not really looking like a "dad cam" (no offense James haha), and it doesn't seem to have a spec sheet which is super standout for professionals either, especially with the lack of an EVF. Maybe somewhere in the experimental stages of prosumerism?
The full spectrum mod is super interesting though, and while I don't personally really understand the appeal, but I think the shots are so cool. Like how the copper rain flashing is a different color in the fourth image. I wonder if a sufficiently hacked photography camera could be used to make true thermal imaging pictures like one would get with a FLIR
^Oops sorry this was my post. Forgot to log in.
Quote from Guest on January 4, 2021, 1:13 amI'm really interested in these cameras with nontraditional form factors. I think even though mirrorless cameras could look like anything these days, there's still a strong adherence to either an "SLR" style body or a "rangefinder" style body. Interesting though that Pentax didn't just go the extra step here and find some way to recess the hotshoe and popup flash. Almost makes you wonder what market this camera was created for. It pushes the envelope in terms of not really looking like a "dad cam" (no offense James haha), and it doesn't seem to have a spec sheet which is super standout for professionals either, especially with the lack of an EVF. Maybe somewhere in the experimental stages of prosumerism?
The full spectrum mod is super interesting though, and while I don't personally really understand the appeal, but I think the shots are so cool. Like how the copper rain flashing is a different color in the fourth image. I wonder if a sufficiently hacked photography camera could be used to make true thermal imaging pictures like one would get with a FLIR
I have not looked into FLIR, I think that'd take a special type of sensor...
The fact that Ricoh Pentax decided to pay a designer with no experience in cameras, just a professional designer of many types of products, is super interesting. In many ways it's a cool experiment they did in behalf of the whole photography world. They asked someone with a very unique but professional perspective to design something like it hadn't been before. So, just that is pretty cool.
What I think would have been even better is if they let Marc Newson have full reign designing a fresh from the ground up camera, without the massive constraint that was the K mount. I mean, I totally get that they wanted to use the K mount. A new mount would've been an enormous investment for something I don't think they were trying to do with this camera. And there were less mirrorless mount alliances in full swing like there are today that you can hop onto. But I just think this hindered Marc too much and the design, while unique and cool, is more of a show piece than a practically impressive camera.
That's my initial take at least. We will see as I keep using it. I don't hate it at all, I really like using it for the most part, but there's no way I would choose this over the ergonomically superior K models.
I'm curious about the shutter. Since it's a mirrorless... made to look like a DSLR, kinda? Does it fein a shutter click or is it just completely silent? Really an odd addition to Pentax's line of cameras, very unique and interesting.
It still has a mechanical shutter, just not a mirror. So you don’t get the noise of the mirror moving in and out of the way, but there’s the shutter. It’s not very loud if I remember correctly. The camera died on me after only a few short months so I sold it for parts 🙁
I'm still using mine in Yellow. Unfortunately the data battery Is die,so every time i swap the battery It ask me date and time. I took It at camera repairmen but he said that, at least in Italy,there are no more battery for k01. So i don't know how resolve the problem
Quote from M4R597 on November 17, 2021, 7:27 pmI'm still using mine in Yellow. Unfortunately the data battery Is die,so every time i swap the battery It ask me date and time. I took It at camera repairmen but he said that, at least in Italy,there are no more battery for k01. So i don't know how resolve the problem
That’s unfortunate. I did a brief search, and it does look like you’d have to disassemble the camera quite a bit to replace that battery. That’s not very fun, but at least you didn’t have the shutter get stuck like happened on mine - rendered it dead without expensive repair 🙁
the "watch" battery in any DSLR should just be a standard button battery. I think if I were you I'd consult another camera repairman and see if you get a better answer. You should definitely be able to get that fixed, and hopefully quite easily and cheaply.
Thank you so much. I'll try another repairman
