Pentax K-01 Review

April 10, 2012 | Mark Goldstein | Rating star Rating star Rating star Half rating star

Introduction

The Pentax K-01 is a new mirrorless compact system camera. Designed in collaboration with Marc Newson, the K-01 is based around a new 16.28-megapixel, APS-C sized CMOS image sensor and the Pentax K lens mount, as used in the company's long line of SLR cameras, making the K-01 compatible with no less than 214 lenses from launch. The striking Pentax K-01 also features an ISO range of 100-25600, 3 inch LCD with 921k dots, sensor-shift shake reduction, automatic dust removal, HDR mode, continuous shooting at 5fps, 19 digital filters, an external flash hotshoe and full 1080p HD video capture at either 24, 25 or 30 frames per second. The Pentax K-01 is available in three colour-ways, black with black grip, black with yellow grip and silver with black grip, for £629.99 / $749.95 body only or £679.99 / $899.95 with the new DA 40mm f/2.8 XS pancake lens, the world’s thinnest interchangeable lens. Other configurations include a bundle with the DAL 18-55mm lens for £679.99 and a double-zoom kit with the 18-55mm and the 50-200mm DAL lenses for £799.99.

Ease of Use

The Pentax K-01 has been designed from the ground up by Marc Newson, who works across a wide range of products and disciplines. This is his first attempt at camera design, and consequently the K-01 looks unlike any other current compact system camera, and indeed any other camera full stop. The K-01 has a love it or hate it simplicity, almost a toy camera look, with chunky dials and controls and an uncluttered interface that belies the it's extensive feature-set. It may have had its DSLR mirror removed, but it's still physically as big as many DSLRs, measuring 79 (H) x 121 (W) x 51 (D)mm and weighing 560g with the Li-ion battery and an SD card fitted, which isn't that much smaller or lighter than the Pentax K-5.

The large size is mostly because of the K-01's use of the K lens mount, which instantly makes the new system compatible with 214 Pentax lenses, 21 of which have been designed specifically for digital cameras. The K-01 doesn't rely on an adapter to fit the K-mount lenses, unlike Sony's NEX range and the A-mount lenses or the Olympus PEN and the full-size Micro Four Thirds lenses, which in turn means that the body has to be larger and deeper to accommodate the physically bigger mount and maintain the backfocus distance. If you're looking for a small and lightweight camera, the K-01 isn't it - indeed, this is one of the biggest and heaviest mirrorless camera bodies released to date.

The standard smc PENTAX-DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL lens that Pentax supplied for this review feels well-matched to the K-01, although it's a rather slow lens at both ends of the focal length, is also rather noisy in operation and is again large compared to the standard kit zooms of other compact system cameras (it is, after all, the same lens that many Pentax DSLRs ship with). We've also briefly tried out the new DA 40mm f/2.8 XS pancake lens, which although something of a technological triumph at less than 1cms thick, feels a little out of of place on such a large, deep body.

As soon as you pick the K-01 up, though, you can instantly tell that it's a serious camera, feeling very solid indeed, due to the stainless-steel alloy frame. The right and left sides of the camera are wrapped in a a grooved, textured rubber, with a slight bulge on one side forming the hand-grip that enabled me to use three fingers to hold it and my right forefinger to operate the shutter button. There is just a smooth, bare area where your right thumb sits, with the rest of the body finished in a textured matt black.

Pentax K-01 Pentax K-01
Front Rear

From the front the K-01 has a pleasingly sparse, almost simplistic look, with only the metal lens mount, tiny AF assist lamp and the infrared remote port in the grip interrupting its clean lines. The quarter-shaped lens release button cunningly forms the bottom-left corner of the lens surround, with a handy MF/AF switch secreted away on the other side of the lens barrel. The K-01 has single, face detection, and tracking AF options, with the ability to select focus points automatically or manually or fixed to the centre point. The face detection system can identify up to 16 faces within the image frame. Interestingly the K-01 offers a Focus Peaking option when manual focusing. This outlines your main subject in an increasingly brighter white outline the closer you get to setting the focus correctly - very useful for manual focus users. Rising up from the top-left of the K-01's lens mount is a vertical barrel that cosmetically supports the Shooting Mode dial on top of the camera.

On top of the Pentax K-01 is a small button for opening the pop-up flash, which also doubles-up as the image delete button. The flash sits behind the lens, has a guide number of 12 meters at ISO 100 and extends quite high above the lens to help minimise red-eye. Behind is a flash hotshoe which accepts a compatible external flashgun. Note that there is no viewfinder built-into the K-01, and it doesn't accept an external viewfinder either, relying instead on the LCD screen for composition. On the right hand side of the top of the K-01 is the relatively small shutter button, surrounded by the chunky on/off switch. Located behind the shutter button is the unmarked silver e-dial, which is predominately used to change the aperture and shutter speed, while alongside are the Exposure Compensation and red Movie Record buttons.

The small green button is unique to Pentax cameras. On the K-01 it has two uses - firstly, when shooting in Manual mode, a single push of the green button allows you to instantly set the correct exposure for the subject, as calculated by the camera, useful if you need a starting point for your own exposure. Secondly, the K-01 offers a Hyper Program function which instantly switches to either the Shutter-Priority or Aperture-Priority mode from the Program mode, simply by turning either of the control dials on the grip. Pressing the Green button then returns to the Program mode. Note that both the green and red buttons can be customised to suit your particular needs. There are also two well-designed strap eyelets on the left and right.

The Pentax K-01 follows conventional DSLR design by having a shooting mode dial on the top of the camera, which allows you to select either one of the advanced mode like Aperture-priority, Shutter-Priority and Manual, or the more point-and-shoot Auto and Program modes. There are 19 scene modes on this camera, signaling its intent as both a beginner-friendly and more serious photographic tool. The K-01 also offers a Bulb mode for longer exposures than 30 seconds, a Flash Off mode and an HDR mode, which takes 3 se per ate shots at different exposures and aligns and combines them into a single image with greater dynamic range.

Pentax K-01 Pentax K-01
Pop-up Flash

Top

On the right-hand side of the K-01 is the SD / SDHC / SDXC memory card slot, with the DC In, AV Out and HDMI connectors underneath, all protected by a large vertical rubber flap. The HDMI port allows you to connect the K-01 to a high-def TV set, but only if you purchase an optional HDMI mini-cable. One the left-hand side is a handy Mic port for connecting an external microphone, again protected by a rubber cover.

On the bottom of the K-01 is the battery compartment, housing the same rechargeable 1860mAh D-LI90 lithium-ion battery as used by the K-7 and K-5 DSLRs. The camera managed a good performance of over 500 shots using the supplied rechargeable Li-ion battery before being depleted. There's also a metal tripod mount that's perfectly in-line with the centre of the lens mount. Marc Newson's signature completes the bottom of the K-01.

The rear of the camera is dominated by the large 3 inch LCD screen. The K-01's LCD screen has a very high resolution of 920K dots, wide viewing angle and it remains visible outdoors in all but the brightest of conditions, making it one of the better LCD screens that we've seen on a compact system camera. The colour temperature of the screen can be modified if you think it doesn't match that of your calibrated computer monitor, but the contrast and gamma cannot be altered. The rear screen also doubles as a comprehensive status display, which can be called up by pressing the Info button in record mode. You can then change all the settings right on the screen using a combination of the navigation pad and the rear e-dial. This ingenious solution spares you the pain of having to enter the menu, and makes most setting changes very simple.

All of the K-01's rear controls are located to the right of the LCD screen. Starting from the top, there's a combined AF/AE-L button, handily placed for either auto-focusing or locking the exposure. Next is the self-explanatory Play button, followed by the the afore-mentioned Info button and then the Menu button, which accesses all of the 64 different menu options that the camera offers, reflecting the fact that despite outward appearances this a complex and customisable camera. Thankfully you will only have to set about half of the settings once and can then forget about them. The menu system has a fairly logical tabbed system with five main tabs, Record, Movie, Playback, Set-Up and Custom Setting, each divided into several sub-pages, and it's easily readable with a bright display and a large font size making it perfectly visible even in low light. The traditional 4-way navigation pad is split into separate buttons, providing instant access to the ISO speed, drive mode/self-timer, white balance and flash settings, with the OK button confirming actions.

Pentax K-01 Pentax K-01
Side Front

The Pentax K-01 can shoot Full 1080p HD video at 1920 x 1280 pixels at 30/25/24fps or 720p HD at 60/50/30/25/24fps in the MPEG-4 H.264 format. There's a built-in microphone for mono recording and also a socket for connecting an external stereo microphone. It also has an HDMI port for playback on a HD TV, using the industry-standard HDMI mini-out connection, but note that you'll need to purchase a suitable cable separately. You can also still connect the K-01 to a standard TV set via NTSC/PAL. You can autofocus during recording and the K-01 offers three exposure settings for movies - Program, Aperture-Priority and Manual - although just the shutter speed cannot be independently set by the user in movie mode, so you will have to rely on the camera's auto-exposure system while filming.

The Pentax K-01 features a built-in Shake Reduction system. Turn it on via the main menu option and the K-01 automatically compensates for camera shake, which is a slight blurring of the image that typically occurs at slow shutter speeds, providing approximately 2.5 to 4 shutter steps of compensation. As this system is built-into the camera body, it works with almost any lens that you attach to the K-01. In practice I found that it does make a noticeable difference, as shown in the examples on the Image Quality page. You don't notice that the camera is actually doing anything different when Shake Reduction is turned on, just that you can use slower shutter speeds than normal and still take sharp photos. The K-01 also displays a blur icon in the viewfinder to warn you that camera-shake may occur, regardless of whether or not Shake Reduction is on.

The K-01's Dust Removal mechanism automatically shifts the low-pass filter located in front of the CMOS image sensor at very high speed, shaking the dust off the low-pass filter. In addition Dust Removal can be set to activate whenever the camera is turned on, and you can also use the built-in Sensor Cleaning function to lift the mirror and clean the image sensor with a blower brush or third-party cleaning solution. Metering options include an impressive 1,024 area multi-segment metering mode, plus center-weighted and spot metering.

The Pentax K-01's High Dynamic Range (HDR) Capture option (only available for JPEGs) takes three images with different exposures, with three different strengths and three different looks on offer (plus an Auto mode), and then records a single image that combines the properly exposed parts of each one, expanding its dynamic range. It's important to always use a tripod to prevent camera shake from blurring the HDR image, and it doesn't work very well for moving subjects. Similar to Nikon's D-lighting, Sony's DRO, and Olympus' Shadow Adjustment Technology, Pentax's D-Range Setting allows you to correct the highlights (On or Off) and/or the shadows (3 different levels) before taking a JPEG or RAW image. Although this option is always at your disposal, remember that it is meant to be used in strong, contrasty lighting at base ISO. The Pentax K-01 also has a multi exposure mode that allows you to combine between two and nine different JPEG or RAW images into a single photo.

Pentax's Custom Images, similar to Nikon's Picture Styles and Canon's Picture Controls, are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. You can change the saturation, hue, high/low key, contrast and sharpness for each of the 11 options. The Pentax K-01 additionally offers seven different Digital Filters, which allow you to quickly apply an artistic effect to a photo before taking it (JPEG images only). Note that applying the Digital Filters slows the camera down somewhat, as it has to process the image for a few seconds after it's taken. The K-01 can also be set to automatically compensate for both distortion and lateral chromatic aberration of any DA- and DFA-series lenses.

Pentax K-01 Pentax K-01
Memory Card Slot Battery Compartment

The start-up time of the Pentax K-01, from turning the camera on to being ready to take a photo, is very quick for at around 1 second (providing you turn off the Macro Newson startup screen). Focusing is also quick and consistent in good light with the standard 18-55mm kit lens, and the camera happily achieves focus indoors and in low-light situations. Note that the 18-55mm lens has an annoyingly loud focusing mechanism though. The AF Assist lamp can be used even if the built-in flash isn't raised.

It takes about 1 second to store a JPEG image at the highest quality setting with no discernible lockup between taking shots, allowing you to keep shooting as they are being recorded onto the memory card. For RAW images the Pentax K-01 takes about 2 seconds to store an image and again there is no lockup between shots. In the continuous shooting mode you can hold down the shutter button and take 6 shots per second in the Hi mode or 3fps in the Lo mode. The camera does lock up for a few seconds once the maximum number of shots is reached, although you can continue to shoot continuously, just at a much slower rate.

Once you have captured a photo, the Pentax K-01 has a good range of options for playing, reviewing and managing your images. You can instantly scroll through the images that you have taken, view up to 81 thumbnails, zoom in and out up to a magnification of 16x, and see very detailed information about each image by pressing the Info button. You can also delete, rotate, resize, protect and crop an an image, view a slideshow and set various printing options.

There are an expanded range of 19 digital effects available which can be applied to JPEGs plus a Custom option to create your own unique effect. The camera shows you a preview of what the effect will look like when applied, and the effect is applied to a copy of your image, thus preserving the original intact.

The Index option creates an index print from up to 36 images and RAW Development converts a RAW file into a JPEG or TIFF with various conversion parameters available. Move Editing lets you divide or extract segments from your movies. Importantly the Pentax K-01 offers a histogram after taking a photo which is a great help in evaluating the exposure, plus any areas that are over-exposed flash on and off in the LCD preview to show you want you should be compensating for with your next attempt.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel Best JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 6.5Mb.

The Pentax K-01 produced photos of excellent quality. Noise is well controlled by the Pentax K-01, starting to appear at ISO 1600 and becoming more easily detectable at the faster settings of ISO 3200 and 6400 when viewing images at 100% magnification on screen (particularly in the RAW files). The fastest settings of 12800 and 25600 look much better on the specification sheet than in reality. Colour saturation is commendably maintained throughout the ISO range.

The 16 megapixel JPEG images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting. Image stabilisation via the camera body is a great feature that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. An added bonus is that it works with any lens that you attach to the K-01. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 15 seconds and Bulb mode allowing you to capture enough light in all situations. The built-in pop-up flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate overall exposure.

The Digital Filters quickly produce special effects that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, although some of them are less useful than others. The D-Range options help make the most out of both the shadows and highlights in a high-contrast scene (and it works for both JPEG and RAW files), while the HDR mode greatly expands the dynamic range of a JPEG by combining three differently exposed images in-camera. The multi exposure mode combines between two and nine different JPEG or RAW images into a single photo.

Noise

There are 9 ISO settings available on the Pentax K-01. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right:

JPEG

RAW

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

   

ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Pentax K-01 has 3 different JPEG file quality settings available, with Best being the highest quality option, and it also supports RAW (Adobe DNG). Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

Best (6.71Mb) (100% Crop)

Better (3.57Mb) (100% Crop)

   

Good (1.87Mb) (100% Crop)

RAW (13.5Mb) (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

   

Flash

The Pentax K-01's flash modes include Auto, manual (on/off), red eye reduction, slow-speed sync, rear curtain sync, high-speed sync and wireless sync. These shots of a white ceiling were taken at a distance of 1.5 metres.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (27mm)

Flash On - Wide Angle (27mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64
   

Flash Off - Telephoto (82mm)

Flash On - Telephoto (82mm)

ISO 64 ISO 64

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Red-eye Reduction option caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
   

Red-eye Reduction

Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Pentax K-01 lets you dial in shutter speeds of up to 30 seconds and has a Bulb mode as well, which is very good news if you are seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds at ISO 100. We've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Shake Reduction

The Pentax K-01 has a Shake Reduction mechanism built into the camera body, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Shake Reduction turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Shake Reduction turned on, the images are sharper than when it's turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length

Shake Reduction Off (100% Crop)

Shake Reduction On (100% Crop)

1/8th / 27mm
     
1/15th / 82mm

D-Range

Similar to Nikon's D-lighting, Sony's DRO, and Olympus' Shadow Adjustment Technology, Pentax's D-Range allows you to correct the highlights (On or Off) and/or the shadows (3 different levels) before taking a JPEG or RAW image. Although this option is always at your disposal, remember that it is meant to be used in strong, contrasty lighting at base ISO. Below you can see a comparison between Off and both highlight and shadow correction set to on/full strength; the difference is mainly noticeable in the shadowed areas on the left and right sides of the photo.

Off

On

HDR Capture

The Pentax K-01's HDR Capture option (only available for JPEGs) takes three images with different exposures, and then records a single image that combines the properly exposed parts of each one, expanding its dynamic range. Here is an example which was shot with the four different modes (Off, 1, 2 and 3). Although the K-01 can microalign images before combining them, allowing hand-held HDR shots to be taken, for best results it's important to always use a tripod to prevent camera shake from blurring the HDR image, and it doesn't work very well for moving subjects.

Off

HDR1
   
HDR2 HDR3

Multi Exposure

The Pentax K-01 has a multi exposure mode that allows you to combine between two and nine different JPEG or RAW images into a single photo. Here is an example:

Example 1

Custom Images

Pentax's Custom Images, similar to Nikon's Picture Styles and Canon's Picture Controls, are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. You can change the saturation, hue, high/low key, contrast and sharpness for each of the seven options?. They are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences.

Bright

Natural

   

Portrait

Landscape

   

Vibrant

Radiant

   

Muted

Bleach Bypass

   
Reversal Film

Monochrome

   

Cross Processing

 
 

Digital Filters

The Pentax K-01 offers seven different Digital Filters, which allow you to quickly apply an artistic effect to a photo before taking it (JPEG images only). They are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. Note that applying the Digital Filters slows the camera down somewhat, as it has to process the image for a few seconds after it's taken.

Off

Extract Colour

   

Toy Camera

Retro

   

High Contrast

Shading

   

Invert Color

Color

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Pentax K-01 camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Best JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Pentax K-01 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files in the DNG format. We've provided some Pentax RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

The Pentax K-01 can record HD video in the Quicktime MOV format. This is a sample movie at the highest quality setting of 1920x1080 pixels at 30 frames per second. Please note that this 19 second movie is 55.4Mb in size.

Product Images

Pentax K-01

Front of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Front of the Camera / Pop-Up Flash

 
Pentax K-01

Isometric View

 
Pentax K-01

Isometric View

 
Pentax K-01

Front of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Isometric View

 
Pentax K-01

Isometric View

 
Pentax K-01

Rear of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

 

Pentax K-01

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

 
Pentax K-01

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

 
Pentax K-01

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

 
Pentax K-01

Top of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Bottom of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Side of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Side of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Front of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Front of the Camera

 
Pentax K-01

Memory Card Slot

 
Pentax K-01

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Pentax K-01 is a bravely different but ultimately flawed entry into the mirrorless compact system camera market. Love it or hate it looks aside, the main issue with the K-01 is its sheer size - it's not that much smaller than a regular DSLR and is much larger than any other CSC currently available, prompting the question Why? Pentax have removed the mirror to make the camera smaller in terms of height, but otherwise the K-01 closely resembles a DSLR in size forgoing one of that format's main advantages, an optical viewfinder. Commissioning a non-camera designer to think outside the box has led to a refreshingly innovative look, but we can't help thinking that Pentax should have implemented a new, smaller lens mount and let Marc Newson design something that can compete on a more equal footing with the likes of the Sony NEX and Samsung NX APS-C systems.

Which is a real shame, as the K-01's image quality is excellent, producing noise-free images all the way from from ISO 100-1600. Noise starts to become apparent at ISO 3200, with a little more noise and smearing of fine detail at the higher settings of 6400 and 12800, while the fastest speed of 25600 is only really suitable for smaller prints. Very impressive results for a 1.5x sensor that brings Pentax up to speed with the competition in terms of low-light performance. Exposures were generally 1/3rd EV stop under-exposed, perfect for retaining detail in the highlight areas without sacrificing the shadow are as too much, and colours were accurate using the default Bright setting. The HDR mode makes it easy to create images with greatly expanded dynamic range, although you don't have too much control over the final effect and you really need to use a tripod to keep things sharp. The D-Range options help make the most out of both the shadows and highlights in a high-contrast scene, while the multi-exposure and creative processing modes and the vast range of digital effects are a nice creative addition.

The K-01 also offers the best video mode of any Pentax mirrorless or DSLR camera to date, with the inclusion of Full 1080p HD recording at a variety of frame rates, handy one-touch recording button, auto and manual focusing, the ability to change the aperture or shutter speed during recording, a socket for an external mic and an HDMI port for easy connection to your HDTV. We also really liked the excellent high-resolution LCD screen (important given the lack of any kind of viewfinder), the shake reduction system that's instantly compatible with any lens that you fit to the K-01, and the quick and very quiet burst shooting mode. We didn't like the price quite so much - £679.99 / $899.95 with a lens is quite a lot to pay for a compact system camera, and comparable to the excellent Pentax K-5 with the same kit zoom lens. Therein lies the K-01's main problem. While it may look refreshingly different, the Pentax K-01 falls unsuccessfully between two stools - ultimately we'd either buy a similarly sized DSLR or a much smaller compact system camera in preference to the K-01.

3.5 stars

Ratings (out of 5)
Design 3
Features 3.5
Ease-of-use 4
Image quality 4.5
Value for money 3.5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Pentax K-01 from around the web.

reviews.cnet.com »

The Pentax K-01 mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera (ILC) certainly makes an impression. While it definitely looks like a camera -- unlike, say, the Lytro -- it has a distinctive aesthetic that I think most people will either love or hate. And as a camera it inspires some ambivalence as well. It's capable of delivering outstanding photo quality for its price class, and the ability to use K-mount lenses without an adapter is more than worth the tradeoff of the huge body. But the autofocus and image processing is sluggish, and a camera this large really should have at least the option of an add-on EVF and/or an articulated display. Plus, there are some aspects of the design that simply annoy.
Read the full review »

pcmag.com »

Larger than its peers, but interestingly designed, the Pentax K-01 can capture sharp photos in all types of light and delivers full compatibility with every Pentax K-mount lens ever produced.
Read the full review »

stevehuffphoto.com »

The good news is that while shooting this camera I realized that the image quality was fantastic, the new 40mm f/2.8 pancake lens is superb and TINY! I believe that this K-01 may have the best IQ of any digital Pentax to date. If this is all that matters to you and you have a load of Pentax glass, go buy one now and skip the rest of this review. :) If usability, design and IQ matter, then keep reading to see why I was not inspired to want to own this camera.
Read the full review »

ephotozine.com »

The new Pentax K-01 is a brand-new mirrorless camera from Pentax, featuring a 16 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and K mount allowing you to use any K mount lens from Pentax. The camera is due to be available to buy in mid to end March, for £629 body only, or £679 with the new compact f/2.8 40mm lens shown. The camera is also available with an 18-55mm kit lens, as well as a 55-200mm zoom lens, the same lenses available with the Pentax K-r and Pentax K-5.
Read the full review »

Specifications

Type
Camera Type

Lens-interchangeable SL Digital-still camera

Sensor
Type High sensitivity CMOS sensor with a primary colour filter
Size 23.7mm x 15.7mm
Effective Pixels approx. 16.28 megapixels
Still JPEG: [16M] 4928x3264 pixels, [10M] 3936x2624 pixels, [6M] 3072x2048 pixels, [2M] 1728x1152 pixels
3 levels of quality in JPEG (good, better, best)
RAW: [16M] 4928x3264 pixels
Movie FULL HD: 1960x1080 (16:9) at 30/25/24fps
HD TV: 1280x720 (16:9) at 60/50/30/25/24fps
VGA: 640x480 (4:3) at 30/25/24fps
Sensitivity Auto, Manual: ISO 100 to 12800 (1/3EV, 1/2EV or 1EV steps)
Extended sensitivity: from ISO 100 to 25600
Shake Reduction Sensor-shift Shake Reduction
Compatible with ALL PENTAX lenses
Sensor Cleaning SP coating and CMOS sensor operations
Lens
Mount PENTAX KAF2 bayonet mount
Usable lenses KAF3, KAF2 (power zoom not compatible), KAF, KA mount lenses
Focusing System
Type Contrast detection AF
Functions

AF/MF switching
Face Detection, Tracking, Select, Spot
AF Autozoom (OFF/x2/x4/x6), Focus Peaking, when set to MF,
an image can be magnified by pressing the OK button.

AF assist Dedicated LED AF assist light
Screen
Type 3'' (7.6cm), TFT color LCD Monitor, wide angle viewing,
Approx. 921k dots, with AR coating
Brightness and colors adjustable?
Resolution Approx. 921 000 dots
Playback Single frame, Multi-image display (4/9/16/36/81 seg.), Display magnification (up to 16x, scrolling & quick magn.), rotating, histogram, bright/ dark area warning, copyright display, calendar filmstrip, folder display, display, slideshow
Shutter
Type Electronically controlled vertical-run focal plane shutter
Speed Auto: 1/4000 to 30 sec., Manual: 1/4000 to 30 sec. (1/3EV step or 1/2EV step), Bulb
X-Synchronization Sync Speed 1/180 sec.
Exposure system
Metering TTL image sensor metering, multi-segment metering, center weighted metering, and spot metering
Exposure Modes Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Manual, Bulb, HDR* (JPEG only)

Auto Picture mode: automatically selects from Standard, Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Moving Object, Night Scene Portrait, Night Scene, Blue Sky, Forest

Scene Modes: Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Moving Object,
Night Scene Portrait, Sunset, Blue Sky, Forest, Night Scene, Night Scene HDR*, Night Snap, Food, Pet, Kids, Surf &Snow, Backlight Silhouette, Candlelight, Stage Lighting, Museum
Metering Range EV -1 to 21 (ISO 100, F1.4 lens)?
Auto Exposure Lock Can be assigned to the AF/AE-L button from the menu.
Compensation ± 3EV (1/2EV step or 1/3EV can be selected)
Auto Bracketing 3 frames
Flash
Type Built-in retractable P-TTL auto pop-up flash
Guide Number approx. 12 (ISO 100/m)
Modes P-TTL, Red-eye Reduction, Slow-speed Sync, Trailing Curtain Sync., High-Speed Sync is also available with PENTAX dedicated external flash.

Sync Speed 1/180 sec.
Angle of View Coverage Wide-angle lens, equivalent to 28mm in 35mm forma?t
Exposure Compensation from -2 EV to +1EV
Exposure Parameters
Modes Single frame, Continuous (Hi, Lo), Self-timer (12sec., 2ssec.), Remote Control (0 sec., 3 sec.), Auto Bracketing (3 frames)
White Balance Auto (TTL by CMOS image sensor), Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Fluorescent Light (D: Daylight Color, N: Daylight White, W: Cool White, L: Warm White), Tungsten, Flash, CTE, Manual (configuration on monitor), Fine adjustment (+/-7 steps)
Digital Filter Extract Color, Toy Camera, Retro, High Contrast, Shading, Invert Color, Color
Movie
Recording FULL HD: 1960x1080 (16:9) at 30/25/24fps
HD TV: 1280x720 (16:9) at 60/50/30/25/24fps
VGA: 640x480 (4:3) at 30/25/24fps

3 levels of quality (good, better, best)
Editing Divide or delete selected frames, Capturing a JPEG still picture from a movie
Playback
Digital Filter Monochrome, Extract Color, Toy Camera, Retro, High Contrast, Shading, Invert Color, Color, Tone Expansion, Sketch Filter, Water Color, Pastel, Posterization, Miniature, Soft, Starburst, Fish-eye, Slim, Base Parameter Adjustment?
Storage
External Compatible with SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards
File Format

Image :
RAW (DNG), JPEG (Exif 2.3), DCF2.0 compliant, RAW+ JPEG

Movie:
MPEG-4 AVC/ H.264

Image sizes :
JPEG
[3:2]16M(4928x3264),12M(4224x2816),8M(3456x2304),5M (2688x1792)
[4:3]14M(4352x3264),11M(3840x2880),7M(3072x2304),4M (2304x1728)
[16:9]13M(4928x2776),10M(4224x2376),6M(3456x1944),4M
(2688x1512)
[1:1]10M(3264x3264),8M(2880x2880),5M(2304x2304),3M (1728x1728)
RAW
[3:2]16M(4928x3264)

File Name Date (100_MMDD…), PENTX (100PENTX...)
Special Features
Features
  • World time: 75 cities, 28 time zones

    Button/Dial Customization:
    Green Button (Green Button, One Push File Format, Preview, Focus Peaking, Custom Image, Digital Filter)
    Red Button (Movie Recording, One Push File Format, Preview, Focus Peaking, Custom Image, Digital Filter)

    AF/AE-L Button (Enable AF1, Enable AF2, Cancel AF, AE Lock)

    Playback View:
    Single frame, Multi-image display (4/9/16/36/81 seg.), Display
    magnification (up to 16x, scrolling & quick magn.), rotating, histogram, bright/ dark area warning, copyright display, calendar filmstrip, folder display, display, slideshow

    Delete:
    Single image, all, select&delete, folder, instant review image

    Digital Filters (Playback):
    Monochrome, Extract Color, Toy Camera, Retro, High Contrast,Shading, Invert Color, Color, Tone Expansion, Sketch Filter, Water Color, Pastel, Posterization, Miniature, Soft, Starburst, Fish-eye, Slim, Base Parameter Adjustment

    RAW Development:
    File Format (JPEG), Image Capture Settings, Lens Correction
    (Distortion, Lateral Chromatic Aberration), Custom Image, White Balance, Sensitivity, High-ISO NR, Shadow Correction,

    Edit (playback):
    Resize, Cropping, Index, Movie editing, capturing a JPEG from a
    movie, Saving RAW file data in the buffer memory

    Other:
    Copyright information.
Language English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, Russian, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese
Interface
Interface Connection Port:
USB2.0 (high-speed compatible) / AV output terminal, HDMI output terminal, Stereo microphone input terminal

USB:
MSC/PTP

Video:
Output NTSC/PAL
Power
Source Main: Rechargeable D-LI90 Lithium-ion battery

Optional: AC adapter K-AC1202E
Performance Approx. 500 shots with 50% flash*, approx. 540 shots without flash and 320 min in play mode w/ D-LI90

* Tested in compliance with CIPA standard. Actual result may vary according to the shooting conditions/circumstances?? ?
Dimensions
Height 79mm
Width 121mm
Depth 59mm
Weight 480g body only, 560g loaded and ready with Li-ion battery and SD card
Compatibility
PC Windows XP SP3, VistaTM and 7? (To be confirmed)
Mac OS X 10.3.9 or above? (To be confirmed)
Accessories
Included Software

SILKYPIX Developer Studio 3.0 for PENTAX

Kit Content Li-ion battery D-LI90, AC plug cord D-CO2E, USB cable, Battery charger D-BC90, Strap, hot shoe cover, body mount cover, Software

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