Pentax unveils blue and white K-01 in Japan

awesome - come to europe!!!

I have actually to thank Pentax for having made an impossible to sell item from what is an otherwise excellent camera. I am not a Pentax guy, but this baby will be mine the second it goes south of $250. As ugly as it is, this might become the ultimate sub $500 tool with the right lens.

There's a whole lot of people posting on here about a camera they have never touched who have more opinion than brains.

This is a fantastic camera to use. Great photos, great quality, and believe it or not, you can actually take pictures without a viewfinder!

Oh, and for those that think they are creative types, yet think cameras should only be black, I've got news for you. You aren't.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2ClsUlay59Q/S_xz1YebG2I/AAAAAAAAA_U/T0P7V6Lr9gQ/s1600/2526160472_f68648e5b1.jpg

So nostalgic...

Ricoh is a publicly owned company, with thousands of shareholders, and it just finished its huge restructuring after several rather larger acquisitions.

For those who are interested in more than ignorant rant, it would be good to see what investors and market analysts have suggested to Ricoh for the fiscal 2013: not to aggressively go into the camera market, which is very unstable at the moment. Ricoh already is profitable in its camera divisions, spreading across Pentax and Ricoh brands, and is also noting an increase of market share.

So what we'll see in near future are solid improvements that yield in secure income. Thus projects like the resurrected K-01, made by popular demand, require zero new cost but secure income. There are many who love the camera just because it's quirky, and because it's different than anything else.

It hurts me to say that Pentax must have had this planned for a long time to announce it after they already canceled development on the body. It's blue. Planned for a long time. Yeah, let's all just move on.

It's like one of those cheap horror movies: when the bad guy has been "killed" and you know he's just going to stand around the next corner AGAIN.
it's not even funny.

Maybe pentax should hire a different designer... just hinting,.

Dammit Pentax... GTFO with this joke and that comes from one which like some of the Ricoh compacts though not some of the more questionable products like Pentax Q etc.

While I generally dislike following the herd in my judgements, this time I agree with crowd wisdom. This camera is simply wrongly conceived from the very start. Using PDAF-optimized lenses with CDAF results in poor AF, huge flange distange results in aesthetic/ergonomic disaster, lack of viewfinder makes the focus-peeking assisted MF difficult.
Pentax got the concept of mirrorles completelly wrong

Let me know when the "Hello Kitty" version comes out. My g/f loves pink.

:)) OFFICIALLY DISCONTINUED body.... but re-borned and repainted... :)) IMHO... that means that Ricoh is unable to make a new REAL product for the market...

I own one and paid pretty well full price when it came out. It actually creates decent images. I don't care about all that external crap people are bitching about, for me, it uses my Pentax lenses, and I use a Hoodman for the viewfinder when shooting video. At 895.00 with the 40mm 2.8xs it was not worth it, but at the current of about 400 or so, it's a decent little camera.

I'm not a Pentax fanboy by any means, I just like the camera. I also shoot Nikon and Olympus - I think Pentax got some pretty bad raps about this camera, but all in all it's not that bad.

Still ugly as hell

A giant leap for mankind

.

It's quite cheerful, really. Nice one, Pentax.

Right, because replacing the 16-mpix Sony sensor from NEX-C3 with 16-mpix Sony sensor from NEX-5r (with PDAF), and writing firmware so the PDAF would actually work, was too much work for 18 months. They'd rather build it in a few more colors.

Re-posting an answer of mine from below, why do I think this is a failed product:

1. Because there are others who can do better.
2. Because Pentax could do better.
3. Because its lifespan measured months (except for Japan, apparently).
4. Because hardly a year after announcement it sell for half its initial price.
5. Because the nicely build metal body was overwhelmed by funny plastics.
6. Because the design belies its enormous capabilities.
7. Because it's a genuine idea spoiled by bad execution.
8. Because there are SO many things Pentax could have done right and didn't.

And to be clear, I truly admire and love Pentax, a K10D is the camera I've had used the most of all the cameras I had. But as I said, I admire them, not worship them.

This is a great entertainment item and has an enormous PR value. According to all posts below.

Those crying for new features like articulated LCDs and dual controls dials also miss the point. The camera is a specific, artistic (like it or leave it) DESIGN. Deviating from that like you would with any plain-jane black DSLR would corrupt the design. It would be like putting four doors on a 1970 Corvette. It might make it more acceptable for some users, but would compromise the design.

Pentax only added a blue grip on the white model and people are carrying on like they just released a paisley print camera with fuchsia accents and a tangerine colored kaleidoscope lens.

If blue is not your thing, great. But why announce to the world just how drop dead boringly conservative your tastes are? Or repeat the same jokes that have now been made 100 times?

No, this is not the Hasselblad Lunar or some bizarre psychedelic ET space camera. It's a white K-01 with a light blue grip!!!

Nobody cares if it offends your scary good taste or aesthetic sensibilities.

Wasn't the K-01 discontinued a short while ago ?

Attention DPR forum shoppers: relax, this product is not intended for you. It seems that the DPR news department is trolling its own site!

What a pile of crap
Im holding out for the purple fade camo edition with the strawberry pentaprism and gold accented highlights.

To all the close minded people, this is a great camera. It has a way better fit and finish in the hand than any of your plasticky Panny-Canikons. It takes better pictures than any of your m4/3's. I can't help that for a creative hobby, none of you allow the least bit of uniqueness in the camera itself. I'd take this over your boring black boxes any day. And for the size, I'll get better pics as well.

It is so beautiful. Please sell it outside Japan too.

Sky blue cars, scarves, shirts, and pants. So why not cameras too? Such a cheery color. Cameras need not be all black or silver, like autos in Korea. The phobia towards different colors must reflect some people's advanced age: growing up with the Model T, they never new any color but black. Not even a high court decision would change their "just the usual, please" minds.

Newson is Australian, so the design and colors may be in sync with taste down in the land of OZ--where folks delight in bright shades of emerald, ruby, yellow, and azure--and where black and white serve only to designate witches.

Hundreds of comments aesthetics wise,but..best value for money ever! OHh and Canon M+22/f2 $299 !! ..A notice to all wannabe experts: Be smart and buy!!!

Well at least i don't have to say "smile" anymore taking picture with this camera.

Why? JUST WHY?

Even to Pentax users and fans, sometimes it seems the Pentax is run by Monty Python. Like all The Pythons in their way, Pentax is incredibly talented and capable engineering bunch, but they just want to have a fun with it.
And you never know, even in moments when they don't seemingly fool around, whether they're serious, or having fun with you again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zP0sqRMzkwo

Back in 2004/05 when I was 100% novice (now only 70% novice), I went to Jessops and tried the then all powering Nikon D70. It was great, I was set to buy, but then I saw a Pentax: the *ist DS. It was smaller, I liked that. It sat nicely in the hands, I liked that. So, despite the AF being a bit crappy by comparison, I bought the Pentax. And thus started a 6 year love affair that only ended when I decided to take wedding photography seriously, and moved to the Canon full frames.
So here's the thing: Pentax were the leaders a few years back in beautiful small primes, everyone in the forums were desperate for a FF camera to put the 3 legends on (the 31, 43 and 77) but it never happened. Then small, mirrorless cameras came along, led by Olympus: surely a market perfect for Pentax? But again, it didn't happen, until... the K-01. I just can't understand how Pentax failed so badly.
I'm praying that Ricoh help them design a great small camera

Pentax Q10 Evangelion edition Type. 01 "Rei"

http://www.pentax.jp/japan/news/announce/20121221.html

I new I'd seen that color scheme someplace before.

Pentax may have missed a trick by not finishing this in a dinky Wedgewood pattern.

A pantheon of relevant Greek gods dancing along the bottom might raise the cam from its Hello Kitty roots.

Or perhaps a satin-steel stealth finish might be better.

Here is hoping there will be a follow up K-02. The K-01 I have is getting used mostly everywhere I go now.

Autofocus will still be hilarious. Same as highlight clipping.

Still looking for the greatly rumored and high anticipated "Hello Kitty" cam...

Better than no color at all...

Canon announces a new sensor that will change the face of the mirrorless market, and Pentax announces powder blue?

This old Pentax fan just wants to hide.

Pentax is such a different company. Not sure what to think anymore.

where is the b****y harm? All the good things about this camera are very good, and the bad things are pretty bad. I enjoy the sweet and sour, the black and white, which my copy is. I could have got black, but I thought this a clever adjunct to my stylish grey coif. waiting for the blue rinse maybe.

if you have any kind of Pentax system, this is cheap backup not to be ashamed of.

"Serious" photographers who simply must have all cameras in black on black are no different than the average driver today who seems incapable of choosing a car unless it is white, black or grey. It's depressing that so many people are lock-step conformists, terrified of what their friends or neighbhours might think if they deviate from the "norm."