Pentax K-1 Full Frame DSLR Camera (Body Only)

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Made the decision in late April to upgrade my imaging possibilities by purchasing the Pentax K-1. Coming from a Canon 5D with a 24-105 f/4 L lens this wasnt a decision made lightly. After much research decided to roll the dice and take the plunge. After receiving the camera May 5th, 2016, Ive put it through he paces (using mainly the new Pentax D FA 28-105mm F3.5-5.6ED DC WR HD Lens) over the past 3 weeks. Mainly shooting around New York City, especially during the middle of the night working on my NYC Nights ebook project. And, after spending this past week in Arizona and Utah shooting in a variety of sites far from civilization during the harshness of Southwestern daylight. Conclusion? Im still smiling about my decision. Pentax, what a home run of a machine youve created! The possibilities available with this camera - inventiveness of design, ease of layout, imaging options, customization, robust RAW file generation, ISO capabilities, user friendliness, dynamic range, solidness (can kinda go on and on in no particular order). What a pleasure it is roaming around any shoot scenario knowing you have a camera that can handle whatever is thrown at it. Battery life is ridiculous. I have 3 new batteries, pretty much used only 1 on my Southwest Trip shooting close to 2,000 RAW images on a single charge, around 1,000 on 1 of the other batteries. Dual memory card slots worked perfectly (using 2 SanDisk Extreme PRO SDSDXPA-064G-X46 SDXC Flash Memory Card with a SanDisk Extreme PRO SDSDXPA-128G-X46 SDXC Flash Memory Card as my backup). Ive attached a sample image from the trip from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon - 5 exposure image merged in Photomatix, post in Adobe Camera Raw, slight contrast and warmth in Adobe Photoshop CC 2015. Cant recommend this camera any more highly - you will be smiling all the time while using it :-) . . .

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Hi, Ive writing this review as someone who has been shooting with the K-1 for a few weeks. I also own a Pentax K3 ii, and K5 iis. Finally, I bring to the table experience with shooting most of the latest "semi pro" offerings, including Nikons D610, D750, D800 and Canons 6D and 5D mk-iii and Sonys A7R. For a summary of my thoughts, feel free to skip to the last section. --- General Impressions: The camera is extremely well built with a perceived build quality that comfortably rivals anything else even close in price. Nearly everything is metal and tolerances are tight. Ergonomics are like a K3 (generally excellent) but with a bit more bulk and a better grip; now my pinky can grip the camera without a battery module installed :) Buttons are the same as the K-3 but the live view and playback buttons are swapped; this required a temporary adjustment period. Pentax/Ricoh also added additional buttons and dials. One is a "lamp" button that can turn on little LEDs around the camera for nighttime use. It seems like a great feature to me. Another added control is a "third top dial" with a selector that decides what that dial does. Its very innovative but comes with a trade-off: a smaller top LCD that displays less data. Speaking of the back monitor, Pentax now makes it convenient to change the brightness. Pentax K3/K5/K7 accessories, like the battery, IR remote, etc, all "just work" so those who already shooting Pentax might literally be able to just buy the camera and be good to go. The camera also has good support for "DA" APS-C lenses. Versus an APS-C camera like the K3, you lose some resolution (15.3 MP vs 24), body compactness and that nice low price. You gain better autofocus coverage and the ability to see outside the frame. Also, many DA lenses can actually support full frame - the camera will let you try. I did some tests with in body shake reduction (which is now reportedly improved from 3 to 5 axis) and Im VERY impressed. Shooting at speeds like 0.5 seconds is giving me usable shots. This tech has really evolved into something special. --- Autofocus My original K-5 had issues with auto focus consistency. Ever since the K5-iis however, single shot auto focus with Pentax has been excellent for me. Ill note that Ive done many "head to heads" with cameras like the E-M1 and D750 and, for still subjects the Pentax is just as good and sometimes better (at least in dim light vs the E-M1). The K-1 feels like a slight improvement to the K-3. Moving subjects. My experience with Nikon cameras, particularity the D750, show that Nikon is still ahead in moving subject tracking. Ill note that mastering a cameras auto focus tracking system is not trivial and Im no expert. Im sure that I could improve with practice and settings experimentation. That said, the default setup with the D750 gives me an extremely high hit rate of kids and pets running through the frame. Ill also note that Ive seen impressive K-1 results online from other photographers so theres definitely potential there when not focusing on comparison aspects. --- Usecase: Macro For Macro, the camera is "as good as it gets", arguably the best. For starters, the macro lens selection is superb with many options. This includes the 100mm f/2.8 WR which is insanely good for the price (and, like the camera, its weather sealed). I currently have 4 macro lenses and each seems to have its use. The camera offers (optional) focus peaking and convenient 100% magnification in live view. Live view is smooth and responsive. There is also a near-instant 100% magnification playback review which is more uncommon in high end cameras than it should be. That tilting monitor comes to great utility when the camera is near the ground or in another awkward position. Sometimes I wish it was even more tillable but appreciated nonetheless. When it can be used (which can be often in macro), "pixel shift" mode brings out a level of detail that no other camera can match.. UPDATE (2016/10/12): Starting with firmware 1.3, Ricoh added a fully electronic shutter option. Complimenting pixel-shift, this allows another way to get completely vibration-free images. Using the mechanical shutter is fine in many cases, but one always has to think about motion blur when using a mechanical shutter regardless of camera brand - this is especially true with long lenses at macro distances where even the slightest movements can register in the image. Electronic shutter is only available in live view. All that said, the K3-ii is also an excellent choice for marco with a comparable feature set. The K-3 (and K3-ii) happen to have a tighter pixel pitch - meaning you can get a bit more "practical magnification" with the same lenses. Its also significantly cheaper making it a stronger value proposition. If macro work is the main usecase, the K3-ii might even be the better overall choice - with trade-offs of course. --- Usecase: Landscape For landscape the K1 is an incredible body, strongly arguable "as good as it gets". It has weather sealing. It has a tiltable LCD for high and low tripod setups. There are LED lights for night work. Theres built in GPS for location astrotrace for clear star images. It has image stabilization for a better hit rate on "opportunity" shots that are off the tripod. Lens selection is behind Canon and Nikon but honestly good enough for non-specialists (e.g. someone who needs tilt-and-shift options). The most modern choices are the 15-30mm, 24-70mm and 28-105mm. I personally prefer the smaller size of primes which currently means older designs for me. In primes, Im finding the 31mm f/1.8 to be an excellent choice; pixel-sharp even though it was designed for film. I also have the 20mm FA 2.8 which requires more attentiveness for good corners. I also happily found the 10-17mm fisheye works well at 15mm and above (where it looks like 10mm on a K3). There are many more options as well, too many to list them all. Also, If you are willing to explore the used market for legacy Pentax lenses (M and A series), the choices becomes even greater. Most of these older lenses work best stopped-down but landscape images are generally shot this way anyway. --- Usecase: Portrait Portrait is solid with good focus and excellent IQ. There are some hold backs though. One is the auto focus point coverage; its not bad but a bit more spread would be ideal. A second thing is that a dedicated focus point joystick would help make point selection more fluid. Id also love to see modern 85mm, 105mm, and/or 135mm portrait-focused prime lens. In the mean time, one can do well with the 77mm limited, 100mm macro, 70-200mm and many legacy options. --- Usecase: Sports & Wildlife The Pentax K-1 is not designed to be a sports camera and it shows in multiple aspects. The frame rate of 4.4 FPS (full frame) is OK but not competitive with a sports camera Lenses cover the basics (with a 150-450 and a 560 plus many legacy options) but lack the comprehensive telephoto lineup of Canon and Nikon. Auto focus is fine for still subjects but sports cameras (such as Nikon D5, D500, D750. Canon 1 DX II, 7DII, 5DIII) are better-equipped for tracking moving subjects. One can definitely get nice sports and wildlife shots with the K1 and many have demonstrated this by posting excellent images. Still, with the large amount of $$$ needed for top sports lenses, I hesitate to recommend a camera that is not custom built to support those lenses - it just comes down to individual priorities. --- Usecase: Video Video capability is incrementally improving with audio monitoring and improved ergonomics. That said, recording specs are dated for 2016 (1080 60i) and clearly not where engineers placed their efforts. Similar to sports, if you occasionally need video, it will accomplish the task but there are better options for those who are serious about video. --- Wrapping Up As this review covers many aspects I think its important to wrap up with my general feelings. This is an excellent all-around camera that is a very strong contender in most applications. The weak point is currently sports and wildlife, where I would call it a "good" camera but not a clear choice dedicated sports shooters. This appears to be exactly inline with the goals Ricoh had when designing this camera, so well-done Ricoh!

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Just a magnificent camera! Coming from a K-3, the autofocus is incredibly fast and accurate. Continuous autofocus, in particular, just doesnt let me down. I love the feel and ergonomics. The high ISO is amazing, and files are just breathtaking in color rendition and sharpness. I have found exposures when using automatic modes to be more accurate in difficult lighting situations, and auto white balance is incredibly spot on. A few features that I especially love: -screen brightening, when shooting outdoors in bright sunlight -tilting screen, combined with awesome live view (You can hold the camera way up and shoot directly down on things and are actually able to see what youre shooting.) -the third dial. I know others dont like it, but it is really handy to set it for ISO and not have to press a button and a dial. This camera feels intuitive. Whenever I pick up a Canon or Nikon, they dont feel right in my hands and there are things that are buried in the menus that I can easily get to with a push of a button or dial on my Pentax cameras. Coming from a k-3, I was able to figure everything out without going to the owners manual. This camera can compete against cameras that cost twice as much in terms of autofocus speed and accuracy and image quality. Well done, Ricoh!

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Former Nikonian blown away by the quality and features of this camera. Ricoh knocked it out of the park. Check the recent DxO reviews and comparisons. The extra dials and new button placements take awhile to get used to but are more efficient once learned. The LEDs save my time and hands out at night. I love astrophotography and this camera delivers. Havent had it long enough to get any milky way pics but I will soon. The pixel shift mode produces detail I cant describe. Wonderful camera at a great price.

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So, last year, almost to this date, I purchased my K1. I have been SO happy with this body and my lenss that I have used for it. This is not the be all end all of bodies (there will never be, but the Nikon D850 is trying its best, but I dont want to spend three thousand dollars on a camera body when i am an enthusiast and not a professional). This was an upgrade over a K50 which was an admirable crop sensor camera that took very good photos for a sub five hundred dollar kit. I had bought a 35mm 2.8 for it but I was itching to have something a little better. Enter in the K1. I was not actually trying to enter the full frame market per say. I wanted a camera with more options, and better features than the K50. Pentax was coming out with the K70 I knew, and I had known that Pentax had the K1 out for over half a year when I was looking at cameras. I could have bought used Nikon or Canon bodies for less than I spent on the Pentax, BUT WHEN I TRIED OUT THE K1 I FELL IN LOVE WITH ITS SIMPLE USE, EASY FEATURES, AND INTUITIVE DESIGN. Since we are talking purely about the body here, let me reiterate that. If you are a user of another brand, and you get a K1, you will indeed feel like things are simpler. If you already are a Pentax user, you will love the design and it will be easy to learn. The color and detail on this 36 MP sensor are incredible. The modern lens autofocus with the body work great. The ISO is about the best ISO for the price point Ive seen. Wow. The K1 has useful options too. Ive used Astrotracer a few times now and it really work well. This camera is a dream for landscape, still portraits, and astrophotography. I have a 14mm Roki and its exposures are amazing. Even on a full-moon night, the galaxies bleed through. Another useful feature, though very limited and takes a little bit of cross software to utilize, is PixelShift, created huge files but awesome images to blow up on canvas, etc. You can thank me now, but when the K1 first came out, users were frustrated that in stills taken with slight wind or movement, the Pixelshift (4 images taken in sequence) image would have distortions in it. Lightroom did not support a correction for this. But, RawTherapies now supports this feature. The native software that comes with the K1 does too, but its a mess and buggy. RT is easy to use and then you can export as a TIFF file to then be edited in LightRoom. I am so pleased with the image results of this body paired with my 77mm Limited, 35mm 2.8 cheapy-but-goodie, 14mm Roki, and Tamy 90mm macro. That 90mm macro produces INSANE detail. If you are not shooting fast moving objects, the K1 will be a dream. There are now more FF modern lens than before, so it is indeed a good purchase to make. Support Pentax. They are really a camera-man-womans camera maker. Video is ok. If I were anyone who wanted 4K video and all the bells and whistles, Id tell you get a real Video Camera then. Less than two thousand spent on this camera allowed me to get a line up of lens to use immediately with the K1 and I am more than happy so far.

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UPDATE: Ok I have lots of Pentax Cameras. I have the K100, The K01, The K5 and the K30 in addition to my new K1. Ok This Pentax K1 has them all beat solid. This is the absolute best low light Pentax Ive ever seen. More over this is the best low light camera I have in my whole inventory of Nikons and a few Cannons. This Pentax rules in low light. I used this Pentax in a very dark museum where flash was not allowed. I had just assumed Id get tragically horrible pictures given the light was really low and I mean LOW! Almost movie theatre dark low light. But I was desperate and I wanted the shots even if they were graining and full of noise. I just wanted the pictures for the memories. So I took a whole bunch of pictures of all the art. Sculpture, prints, paintings everything that was not nailed down and some stuff that was nailed down I got a picture of it all. I was having a great time so I did not really look at my pictures while there because we were time limited and I did not want to get depressed if the pictures were going to be bad as I expected. So my brother and I were on the bus back from the art show and for kicks I said lets look at the pictures on my new Pentax K1. These low light pictures were so consistently good they blew my hair back! My brother remarked there is not a bad low light picture in the bunch. The pictures are not just nice they are phenomenal considering I am an novice photographer at best. I know a great picture when I see it and these were great. I dont know if you could force this Pentax K1 to take a bad picture. YES THIS PENTAX K1 Camera is THAT GOOD! CONTINUED First I put the order in for this camera and got it within one day. That is the fastest Ive gotten something from Amazon.com and I have been an Amazon.com customer since 1999. WOW! Now that said this is a GREAT Camera and I LOVE it! Ok I must start off by saying this camera is NOT for everybody because; Pentax is in effect a specialty camera for what one could call a niche market. This is a legitimate Full Frame Cemera meaning this all digital camera has the same basic photo sensing area as used by old 35 mm film. The auto focus is slower if you use old 35mm lenses via an adapter where possible. The few Pentax lenses made for digital pictures are available and work fine. My brother has Pentax Full Frame Lenses not many of a few. If you want an Full 4K HD quality movie camera this Pentax is NOT for you. There are speciality video cameras that do better. This Pentax makes a good quality basic HD video but NOT 4K HD quality. Actually I brought this camera because I wanted superior still images from a full frame sensor. So why am I so head over heals about this camera. Well I like taking pictures of static objects outside or inside. I will take pictures of people rarely. I dont do many live action shots because I have cerebral palsy and not perfect vision unless I focus. I love taking pictures of buildings, bridges, tunnels, objects, art, interiors and mostly anything that wont up and fly away or move off. I dont need a camera that is great at capturing fast action with the auto focus. This camera is slow at taking pictures with the auto focus. This camera does not have the joy stick that helps in managing the auto focus if capturing fast events. The best thing about this Pentax full frame camera is it is built like a tank. The Pentax camera is not light weight it is almost heavy even for me but I love the solid feel in your hands. Finally this camera does well everything I ask of it. This Pentax takes a most excellent almost noise free picture even in low inside light. This camera on full automatic mode takes exceptional pictures.The colors are rich and bright. This Pentax full frame camera really lets you "compose" a shot to near perfection. The 36 mega pixels insures quality blow ups of the image. Raw mode is fast and the quality is high. The two SDHC slots are fast and awesome. Best of all there is a extra battery attachment available to accommodate 4 AA size batteries or another Pentax battery. This Pentax camera is also feature rich and lets you go to out of the way places without the fear of a dead battery. This Pentax Camera is a great camera for beginners who want to step up to serious photography but want a simple basic instrument. I wanted a solid basic full frame camera with a high Mega Pixel rate that took a really awesome picture without much muss or fuss and this Pentax meets my needs to a T! I wont lie there are better full frame cameras out there for not much more money but for ease of use, picture quality, tank like durability and feature set you cant be this Pentax. The weather sealed body allows this camera to stand up to a slightly rougher user than most cameras. While this camera still needs TLC this Pentax is the camera to take on hikes in the outdoors or treks through the Amazon in South America and darkest Africa. There are plenty of expert photographers views on this camera. Im just a photo buff who wanted a great basic yet feature packed full framew camera that is also easy to use.

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Ive been shooting Pentax since my ME Super that I got in high school from my grandpa. When the K5 IIS came out - I finally had a camera that could tempt me away from my Nikon digital cameras that I had been shooting for years. It wasnt the full-frame that I really wanted, but, it was competing with Nikons FX sensor cameras at the time, so I jumped. When they finally announced the full-frame camera - I eagerly read reviews and finally ordered one for myself. So happy I pulled the trigger. Build quality is fantastic. Yes its got its Pentax quirks - but its a fantastic camera for still and landscape photography. Ive used this thing in the rain, and it didnt skip a beat. I can pack one kit when traveling - including my 35mm film camera - and swap lenses between them all day long with no problems. My old manual focus SMC lenses work perfectly on the K1, as well as my Leitax converted lenses - and every single one benefits from the in-body Shake Reduction. I havent used the pixel-shift feature much, but from my limited testing it is definitely promising.

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The Pentax K-1 is a triumph of Japanese engineering, and a pleasure to own. Its ergonomic, well-built, and weather sealed, making it the perfect FF DSLR for adventurous street or landscape photographers (such as myself). The intuitive placement of the cameras control settings make adjusting exposure settings on fly almost effortless, and as far as image quality is concerned, it only really has one serious rival—and thats assuming youre willing to spend considerably more money on a camera. Two of these photographs were taken using a Pentax D FA 24-70mm F2.8ED SDM WR, and one with a Pentax SMC DA* 55mm f/1.4 SDM.

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I love this camera. It has exceeded my expectations for a full-frame camera. It is loaded with features that makes this camera adaptable for just about any situation. I will be using it for astrophotogaphy and have been able to test its functions and imaging only for a short while. The camera takes both photos and videos. I will not go into detail of the photos until perhaps a later time. It has WiFi and GPS which makes it very handy for determining the location for proper polar alignment for a telescope tracking system or to just know where the images where taken for future reference. There are two SD card slots and you can select how you want to save images utilizing both, example you can save the RAW images to one and JPEG on the other or some other sequence. There are 5 user definable camera settings available and that is useful for quickly setting up the camera for oft used situations. This and the K-3II have Astrotrace which minimizes star trails. Apparently it uses a three dimensional pixel shift technology that is exclusive to Pentax. It is an impressive feature. There is another feature that I like which is the built in level and that makes it much easier to set up the camera properly. The screen is very unique and quite handy as it pulls out and with some very clever engineering allows one to position it for the best viewing angle. I am looking forward to getting to use this camera more and perhaps will be able to supplement this review at a later time. This is an impressive camera, so if you are thinking about it I would highly recommend it. You will glad you did. To be fair, I did send the original back for a replacement because there was a speck that was showing up in the photos and I thought at first that it something on the lenses, however discovered that it was something on sensor. Whatever it was it did come off, but rather than take a chance that the speck might show up again, I decided to return it for a replacement and will update this at a later time.

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First off I want to say Ive been into cameras and doing my own Dark room and of lately, Light room work. All through the years, without exception, I have always, and I mean always have gone back to PENTAX. I have used YASHICA electro 35 (my first camera as a matter of fact) the CANON F1 and than the F1n, The NIKON fn2 & F3hp And last but by no means the least MINOLTA my 9000 and my 9xi. The Pentax cameras are elegant, simple, rugged and they work. They work the way YOU want it to, And since you are the one taking the Photograph, Shouldnt it be that way?? You need a stable purchase while taking your picture but you left your tripod at home? ,well if you opted for the Canon or Nikon, to get the image stability without a tripod its going to cost a few hundred extra when you buy a lens, you see there shake reduction (which gives the higher image stability) is in some of there lenses, NOT the camera body. Pentax took a different route, Shake Reduction is built into all of the bodies (since the K10d) So if you need it, turn it on. But Pentax didnt stop there with the K1 shake reduction, They gave it the ability to straighten your horizon line, or if you are doing Macro work and you are just a hair off? the K1 can take care of that for you with the same system it uses on shake reduction, it can even do Astral photography without the streaks, And this is because of that system and the built in GPS. And this is just one thing out of many that make the K1 a camera that is in many ways above the others.

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