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Robust an very well designed camera

Started Feb 15, 2021 | User reviews
PeterT4363 New Member • Posts: 5
Robust an very well designed camera
10

I use the Pentax K-1 Mark-II next to my Olympus OM-D E-M1-II. The enormous detail display of the images in particular is the reason why I bought this camera as a second camera after many considerations.
I use the camera with the D FA 28-105MM F / 3.5-5.6 ED DC WR lens. This is a good combination with the body. Although the weight may be high by today's standards, the combination of the body and lens is in a good balance. I used the camera for the first time on a long hike. In addition, I had the combination constantly on my shoulder, along with my backpack. At no point did I feel that the weight of the camera with lens was a burden. The use of the OP/TECH camera strap may have played a role in this (?).
I mainly use the camera to capture the landscapes during my hikes. The photos taken with this camera are really beautiful. Rich in detail and alive, with a natural color rendering. I would like to mention that I shoot in RAW and Adobe RGB. I usually process the photos in Capture One and sometimes in DxO Photolab up to sRGB jpegs. I have no experience with OOC jpegs.

The pros I experienced:
The camera is extremely robust
The camera is simple and easy to use
The movable LCD screen is very easy to use
Extremely good image quality
Beautiful lifelike image reproduction
Beautiful clear prism viewfinder

The cons I experienced:
The autofocus is accurate, but not fast (compaired to the Olympus OM-D E-M1mk2).
The IBIS is fine, but noticeably less than the Olympus IBIS (due to the larger sensor surface?)

Summarizing; very, very good image quality in a robust and very well designed camera

 PeterT4363's gear list:PeterT4363's gear list
Fujifilm X-T4 Pentax K-3 Mark III Pentax 16-85mm F3.5-5.6 WR Fujifilm XF 35mm F2 R WR Fujifilm XF 16mm F2.8 +2 more
Pentax K-1 Mark II
36 megapixels • 3.2 screen • Full frame sensor
Announced: Feb 21, 2018
PeterT4363's score
5.0
Average community score
5.0
bad for good for
Kids / pets
great
Action / sports
okay
Landscapes / scenery
excellent
Portraits
excellent
Low light (without flash)
excellent
Flash photography (social)
unrated
Studio / still life
excellent
= community average
Pentax K-1 Pentax K-1 II
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Pentax645 Contributing Member • Posts: 968
Re: Robust an very well designed camera
2

An accurate summary of my K-1 experience.

A heavy hitter landscape tool and remarkable value when it was introduced, and also today.

Larry

 Pentax645's gear list:Pentax645's gear list
Pentax K10D Pentax K-1 Pentax smc DA 16-45mm F4 ED AL Pentax smc DA 12-24mm F4.0 ED AL (IF) Pentax smc D-FA 100mm F2.8 macro +6 more
John McMillin Contributing Member • Posts: 738
Re: Robust an very well designed camera

I can't imagine there's a better "kit" lens than the DFA 28-105. But at $500, you ought to get a lot of kit!

Lately, my favorite two-lens kit is the 31 Limited and the DA 50-135. The latter has a usable FF range which I don't recall, but at 1:1- which I use surprisingly often - it covers the whole square at all zoom settings. Of course, these crop to 46 and 75-202 mm, which fill in the gaps nicely. That's the hidden bonus of the K-1. It gives you two image shapes and twice the focal lengths of your FF lenses. You can do this in post, of course, but I'd rather work with direct visual framelines, rather than cropping afterwards.

 John McMillin's gear list:John McMillin's gear list
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX8 Pentax K-1 Pentax smc DA* 50-135mm F2.8 ED (IF) SDM Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG Aspherical HSM +5 more
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