A few weeks ago, an older camera popped up from my watch list at MPB. It came out circa 2012, doesn’t have the best of anything, but it is the only mirrorless with a K Mount that Pentax ever made. If you aren’t familiar with Mirrorless vs DSLR (This explains it using Nikon for context).
The camera I ordered a while back, and received today is a Pentax K-01 (not to be confused with my old K-1 II – that I traded in for my K-3 III). The K-01 was Pentax’s attempt into the mirrorless ecosystem. Personally, I think they did “fine”, but they let an artist design the exterior of the camera, and it is not very functional. It isn’t as ergonomically comfortable as every other Pentax I’ve ever owned, and it lacks an eye piece to look through (you look at the back screen like a cell phone – not my gig man). With out an eyepiece I just don’t “feel” like I’m doing photography, I feel like I’m “taking pictures”.
There is a review of this camera over on PentaxForums if you want to see what they said about it in the way back machine.
I took a couple pictures of the camera with my phone (Pixel 9 Pro) while I was playing around with it (with the Sigma 17-70mm lens mounted on it). I think a smaller lens would make this a much nicer feeling camera to wonder around with. With the Sigma lens on there, it was pretty heavy. Before I left for work, I put a Pentax 10-17mm fisheye on their hoping it’ll be a little easier to haul around (the 10-17 isn’t as fisheye on an ASP-C sensor as it is on a full-size sensor (or 35mm film camera).
The autofocus is appallingly slow, and the “back button focus” is difficult to adjust to, but so far, I think the images have been nice (I will try to get them edited and put on here tomorrow’ish). I really like that they made sure to keep this camera feeling like a camera and not a cardboard or plastic box. Even with out a lens, it is weighted enough to feel substantial, and even though the ergonomics aren’t very good, the surfaces you need to hang on to are rubber, so it doesn’t feel like it will slip form your grasp too easily.
Overall, since the price dropped to where I felt okay buying it, I can’t complain. No buyer’s remorse on this one, it is what I expected, and should be fun to look at, use, and occasionally play with. When the K-1 iii comes out, I will have to figure out some financing because that is the camera I’m swooning for in 2025 or 2026.
Another reason this camera is pretty great is that unlike every other mirrorless camera out there, this one can use the lenses from the “olden” days just like my DSLRs can (1972 and newer lenses work). Nikon, Fujifilm, Sony, and canon (junk) all use different lens mounts for DSLR or Mirrorless. When those users went mirrorless, they also had to buy new lenses and that is not cheap. I will be moving to another ecosystem when I finally decide to go mirrorless, so I will have to buy new lenses anyhow, but not because I changed formats, because I changed brands.
The cameras that have caught my eye over the last year or so are the Fujifilm X-5T, Sony A6700, Sony A7CR, and the overpriced Olympus Pen-F. Until then, I am very happy with my Pentax stable of stuff, and can’t wait to make more photographs.
