> > It seems that most everyone that complains about some feature or other > are looking at the camera bodies and complaining that they don't do > everything, rather than there are situations where a particular body > works better than other ones. > > I like the Q, but the sensor is too small, and it doesn't work well with > my K-mount lenses. > > I like the K-5, but it's too expensive, and while Live View is very > handy at times, the delay between shutter press and taking a photo is > way too long. > > I'd love to have a 645D, but it won't fit in my pocket, and the 645 > glass is way too expensive. > > The K-01 is nice and cheap, and just small enough with the new 40 that > it would be easy to carry around, but it wouldn't work well with my bigma. > > Many of the people complaining that the new body, that will probably hit > a street price under $600, won't work in every situation, are the same > people that would turn around and drop $800 on a specialty lens, be it > macro, telephoto or whatever. > > Let's look at where it could come in handy. You're taking a trip, and > you want to have a spare body, but space is pretty limited. Besides, the > K-5 is just a little too big to conveniently fit in a jacket pocket, or > a fannypack, when you're walking around a strange city and don't want to > carry your camera bag. > > You do a lot of macro photography, particularly of things close to the > ground, where you can't easily look through the viewfinder. > > You do a lot of indoor photography, in low light. You can't use the > focus assist light because that's too distracting to the subjects, or it > makes it hard to take a candid when the camera shines a green light in > someone's face. It's really too dark to focus manually through an > optical viewfinder, so you need a live view that actually works. > > You, or someone close to you, wants a camera with better image quality > than most point and shoots without dropping $1,000 on a body, but the > person using the camera isn't really a camera person and really wants > features like face detection focus. > > There are a lot of cases where this actually would be the right tool for > the job. Complaining that the K-01 doesn't do everything well is like > complaining that an 8" crescent wrench isn't very good for hammering in > nails when you're framing a house. > > > -- > Larry Colen [email protected] (from dos4est) >
I understand the point you're making and in generally agree, BUT, would you rather have a bunch of fanboys who worship Pentax and therefore think they can do no wrong? I can buy a lot of 8" crescent wrenches or other hand tools for the price of a K-01, K-5, you name it. The price of ANY expensive tool will normally give a prudent prospective buyer pause to consider, analyze, and view the item critically. Yes, no camera is the perfect tool for any job. Agreed. I think the main issue for most is that we were hoping for something perceptibly above a K-5, i.e., a new flagship, or barring that, a mirror-less body that still had some significant compelling features above a K-5. That does not seem to have happened. My guess is that any possible small iterative image quality/performance improvements are likely offset by the lack of a viewfinder (for most people that already have a K-5). I don't have a K-5, just a K-7, but I can't see moving to a K-01 over a K-5, for the simple reason there's no viewfinder. While I generally don't mind composing on an LCD screen except in bright light, I wish not to be forced to. The Q had it's cool factor, even though I still think it gives little bang for the buck unless size is a heavily weighted top priority. In my mind the NEX-7 has probably got it about right if one wants a mirror-less removable lens system. It offers a fairly big reduction in body size and weight, and a significant increase in resolution, and has a built-in EVF. Yes one needs to buy into new e-mount lenses if one wants maximum versatility. If I wanted something to save space and didn't care about removable lenses I'd lean toward the Canon G1X. A little bigger than 4/3 sensor and still a 4X zoom (not much but more versatile than a fixed focal length lens). All that said, for some the K-01 will be a winner. For me the lack of a viewfinder makes it a no-sale (I already have a NEX-5 and hope to get a NEX-7 assuming they ever catch up to demand before a newer model is available). Tom C. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
