To SLR or not to SLR – Pentax K-01?

I have become fascinated with the Pentax K-01. Having used an SLR since the 1970’s I just naturally always assumed that an SLR or DSLR was necessary for “serious” photography but I recently discovered that Pentax has come out with a new non-SLR interchangeable lens camera that may offer serious photographers another alternative.

Most photo reviewers so far have compared the K-01 to other non-SLR interchangeable lens cameras but unlike most of them the Pentax K-01 uses the same full size APS-C CMOS sensor that is used in the K-5, Pentax’s top of the line DSLR.  To be fair Sony, Fuji and a couple others also make interchangeable lens cameras with similar sized sensors and some of them even have viewers so that are almost 21^st century rangefinders.

Now the ASP-C sensor is not the same size as a 35mm negative of course. Sensor’s that big are only found in a handful high end “professional” DSLR’s costing thousands of dollars but the APS-C sensor has become the new standard for most DSLR’s. With 16MB resolution these sensors are capable of producing images approaching the state of the art for 35mm film produced images. 

Technology being what it is I would expect to see 20+ MB APS-C sensors become commonplace shortly. At that point pictures produced by these sensors should be every bit as good as those produced by the best 35mm cameras.

What that really means is that the Pentax K-01 may be considered a viable tool for the professional photographer looking for a smaller lighter camera.

The K-01 has a couple other things going for it too. Because Pentax designed it to use the K lens mount it can not only utilize the wide selection of lenses available for all the Pentax DSLR’s, it can also use every K mount lens produced for Pentax K mount cameras over the past 40 years. Naturally legacy lenses can only be used in manual mode

The K-01 is also smaller & cheaper than comparably equipped DSLRs, doesn’t go “klunk” every time you push the shutter and if all that that isn’t enough, it’s unique design is the work of the world famous designer, Mark Newson.  Frankly, I never heard of Mark Newson but I do kind of like the look of the Pentax K-01. I think I’ll take mine in basic black instead of his “signature” yellow though.

No, I’m not going to rush out and buy one. I still shoot film (remember), but I am going to try to find one in a store somewhere to play with and if it feels as good as it looks I may end up with one eventually, especially if Pentax comes out with an upgraded 20+ MB sensor for it. After all, as I have said on this blog over and over I am not anti-digital I just haven’t found the right digital camera yet.