Pentax K-01


Pentax K-01 is a mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera announced in February 2012. It uses the Pentax K mount.
The camera was listed as discontinued in February 2013, but the following July was reintroduced to the Japanese market in a new white and blue colour variant.

Lens compatibility

The Pentax K-01 is the first interchangeable single-lens mirrorless camera which is compatible with lenses from a typical SLR camera without the use of an adapter. This differs from cameras from other manufacturers such as Nikon's Nikon 1 or Pentax's own Pentax Q, where the manufacturers designed a new lens mount specifically for the new camera system.
The camera is compatible with all K mount lenses; K mount lenses started being made in 1975. Lenses without the "A" aperture setting will only meter properly using stop-down metering. Manual focus lenses will continue to function as manual-focus only.

Image quality

The K-01 features the same sensor as the Pentax K-5 and Nikon D7000 DSLRs, a Sony 16 MP sensor. DxOMark has rated the potential image quality of the K-01 as slightly lower than the K-5 and D7000. However, compared to other MILCs, the Pentax K-01 is rated slightly better than the Sony NEX-5N, and slightly below the Sony NEX-7. DxOMark's Sport rating placed the K-01 first among all MILCs at the time it was tested.

Design

The camera body was designed by Marc Newson.

Awards

The K-01 was selected as a Product Design winner at the 2012 red dot design awards, and for a Gold award at the German Design Award 2013.

Variants

The Pentax K-01 was released in four body colour combinations: black body with silver top and black grips, black body with silver top and yellow grips, silver body with black top and white body with black top and black grips. A blue and white version was released in July 2013.

Reception

Almost immediately upon its release, the K-01 became one of the most controversial Pentax offerings, with criticism focusing on the Marc Newson design, which many considered made the camera too heavy and uncomfortable to hold, with poorly-placed controls, while acknowledging its strong image quality and low-light / high ISO performance. Other reviewers complained about slow autofocusing. Positive aspects of the K-01 included its image and build quality and its compatibility with all existing Pentax K-mount lenses.