K01 or wait to see if Pentax makes another fun Mirrorless camera

<p>I bought my K-01 in January, and love it!<br>

The card door is cheap, but if you're careful, nothing's going to happen to it. The fact that it does not have an optical viewfinder made me hesitate buying one, but when the price most sellers were asking went to about $300, I jumped on it, and am very glad I did. I got used to not having an optical viewfinder much faster than I thought; you take people pictures at arm's length. No big deal.<br>

I take most of my photos using a tripod, and the K-01, and its focus peaking feature were made for a tripod. Some people say the camera looks and handles like a brick; I say it has a solid feel to it. This camera also puts out excellent images. No camera is perfect, but if you're willing to adapt your shooting style slightly to what this camera requires, you will be getting an excellent camera for not much money.<br>

I do not think Pentax is planning a successor to the K-01; I think they considered it a failure due to slow sales. I believe this is why they reduced the price so drastically during autumn of last year. <br>

If anyone has a chance to buy one of these sleeper cameras, do so. You will not regret it.</p>

 

Mike,

 

I am annoyed at myself that I returned it so quick and now I dont see it for 3 bills anymore. I will keep my

eye out for a deal otherwise I might just go the 4+ bills and get it anyway just because it is a great sleeper

camera.

Andrew,

Thank you very much for the info.

 

as far as the 18-55 compared to the 14-42...you're right. I snapped off a few pictures today that I am very

happy with.

 

I didnt realize the Tamron's MM range would double on the Olympus...that is awesome. I needed to

know that.

 

So even though my Tamron lens has the aperture ring do you think I should go with the adapter that has

the Aperture adjustment just to have it in case I use a lens that doesnt have the ring?

 

I really dont see that happening very much or me using a the bigger lenses often. I got the Olympus to

reduce gear size not make it the same...lol

I'd still get an adapter with aperture control, there's no drawback, and who knows what you might want to try in the future.

 

The effective focal length is not double what it would be on a Pentax DSLR, it's like this:

 

On 35mm film SLR: 70-300 (1x)

On APS-C Pentax DSLR or K-01 105-450 (1.5x)

Adapted to m4/3 140-600 (2x)

 

Note that the actual focal length is always 70-300 -- the smaller sensors only record a smaller cropped portion of the view,

a narrower angle of view similar to a longer lens on a film camera.

<p>Speaking of using Pentax lenses on MFT cameras, I tried a few:</p>

<p><strong>DA 50-200</strong> - this lens suffers from spherical aberrations, but if you don't care about large images, the scaled down ones can look nice:<br>

On E-PL2 @200mm:<br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentiucristofor/7188116351/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7240/7188116351_fb3f74a47b_n.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="320" /></a></p>

<p><strong>DA 15</strong> - quite good:<br>

On E-PL2:<br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentiucristofor/7812785400/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8423/7812785400_c51a7972a0_n.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="240" /></a></p>

<p><strong>FA 100-300</strong> - better than I thought it would be:<br>

On E-M5 @300mm:<br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentiucristofor/8715819691/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7300/8715819691_7c72e10b03_n.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="240" /></a></p>

<p><strong>Tamron 70-300</strong> - this one is quite good under 200mm. I tend to use it at 180mm:<br>

On E-M5 @180mm<br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurentiucristofor/8721451651/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7291/8721451651_1693c7ff3c_n.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="320" /></a></p>

<p>For the DA lenses, I don't have any stops on the adapter, but I usually select an aperture by checking how the exposure time changes from wide open when I adjust the adapter lever. </p>

<p>Laurentiu,<br />Wow...very nice<br /><br />thanks for posting</p>

Hey, Christopher, don't beat yourself up over selling your K-01. Just buy another one if you can; it really is a very good camera.

Mike

<p>Yes Christopher you'll be able to find K-01 for probably $300 if you want a used one right now.</p>

<p>Its got a great sensor, its got decent video, its good for landcapes, potraits and other still life type shots.</p>

<p>It's cheap! </p>

<p>Overall it wasn't a bad camera and for $300 it's a pretty awesome camera when you factor in image quality. </p>

<p>so I got the fotodiox 10-PK-m43 with aperture dial and pit it on my Tamron.<br /><br />I destroyed my Tamron trying to take the damn thing off..<br /><br />:(<br /><br />The little lever didnt depress to easily to be removed.<br /><br />6 year warranty for a lens I have had for just about 7 years <br /><br />the warranty disclaimer also states not to add accessories to the lens<br /><br />So I guess i am out a lens. its my fault and at least the lens is only 200 bucks but its just very disappointing not to have at least fired off one shot.<br />I am a little leery to try it on another lens. I only have a couple and dont feel like finding out if the thing is defective or I am just a massive idiot</p>

Sorry to hear about this -- I agree the little mount release catches on these adapters can be a bit difficult, maybe less

precise than any Pentax K-mount body I've encountered. After reading this my advice to others is to be patient and

gentle. What broke on the Tamron? I hope it can be repaired.

<p>the aperture lever on the lens mount is fubar and I think I might have stripped a gear in the barrel of the lens itself.<br /><br />It might be repairable. I am not as upset about it today and I'll be sending an email to Tamron to inquire about their repair process and pricing.<br /><br />its only a 200 lens so it might be prudent o just buy a new one. <br /><br /><br /></p>

<p>Very sorry to hear of your misfortune, Christopher!</p>

<p>I hope it can be affordably fixed, but if not, shoot me an email... I'm in the process of thinning out my collection of photographic gear and I have a mint condition Tamron 70-300 that will be needing a new home in the near future.</p>

<p>Hi R.T thanks<br /><br />I'll keep that in mind. Shot me a PM and let me know what you want for the lens and what else you may have that you are looking to get rid of.</p>

<p>I sent a list to your photo.net inbox.</p>

<p>You can get a lot of used APSC DSLR's for $300 these days. If your goal is to use K lens, why not get a real DSLR, you also get the benefit of installing split focus screens.<br>

From what I've seen, peaking is more of a hit and miss. And K-01 isn't that much smaller than DSLR.</p>

<p>For what it's worth, at this point most of the used $300 models don't have a sensor as nice as the one in the K-01. I'm inclined to agree that peaking is maybe a little overrated and more challenging to 'get right' than a split-prism focus screen.</p>

<p>I, for one, love the focus peaking feature on the K-01. FP is almost invaluable for macro photography, and has brought my Lensbaby out of retirement. I think most of you here know what a Lensbaby is, but for those who don't, it's a manual-focus, manual-exposure lens. I have an older model, the 3-G, and at wider apertures, it can be very difficult to focus accurately. Since I began using my K-01 with FP, it has made focusing much easier, and I have taken some of my best Lensbaby photos in the 5 plus years I've had it. If you'd like to see some of them, either check out my portfolio here at photo.net or go to the Lensbaby site: Lensbaby.com. I'm registered there as, Mike Bokeh. You will also see some very unique images by other members too. You might even buy one. To each their own.</p>

<p>R.T , Andrew<br /><br />I sent in my lens to Tamron. 6 months out of warranty :(<br /><br />$70 Bucks to clean,lube, adjust and repair whats wrong. <br /><br />Thats better than buying a new one.<br /><br />I also ordered the rainbow imaging adapter and see how that works out.</p>

<p>R.T<br /><br />got my Tamron back and all is good.<br />I did get the Rainbow imaging adapter and it seems to be a better fit than that other one.<br /><br />one thing though.........I tried to contact Rainbow imaging directly but their "contact us" form isnt working currently<br /><br /><br>

the little instruction paper that comes with the adapter states<br /><br />"The installation instructions state to visit the camera menu, set up menu and enable the "release without lens" feature."<br /><br />I dont have anything worded like this in my camera and what is that feature for?</p>

<p>Glad to hear that you were able to get your Tamron fixed! That must be a huge relief.</p>

<p>That's annoying that Rainbow Imaging's contact form doesn't work; however, their email address is listed on the "About Us" section of their web site.</p>

<p>http://www.rainbowimaging.biz/shop/cms.php?id_cms=4</p>

<p>Regarding the menu thing: some cameras are set up so that they won't allow you to take a picture if no lens is attached to the camera. The lens adapter doesn't have any electronic contacts, so the camera thinks that no lens is attached. The setting in the menu allows you to tell the camera that it's ok to "release" the shutter (take a picture) even when there's no lens attached. </p>

<p>Now here's the thing: I could have sworn that I saw a menu like that in either my E-PL1 or my K100D... but I just went through the menus on both of them and can't find it on either of them. Weird. But as long as you're able to take pictures with the adapter, don't worry about it. It would only be an issue if the camera wouldn't let you take pictures with the adapter.</p>

<p>Relevant custom settings on a K100D would be something like:<br /><br />"Using aperture ring" - enable shooting with a lens not in 'A' position or without electronic contacts<br /><br />"FI with S lens used" - enable viewfinder in-focus indicator when lens without electronic contacts is in use</p>

<p>R.T...thanks that explains that. I already took a picture with the Tamron and the adapter. I was not happy with the results at 300 mm. I think if I use that on the Olympus I would need a tripod at that focal length. I am going to try the 18-55 and the 50mm lenses I have over the weekend and see how it is.<br /><br /><br />Thanks Andrew</p>

<p>When you were shooting with the Tamron, did you have Image Stabilization turned on, and did you enter the focal length in the camera menu?</p>