A New Found Love For Photography [Pentax K1 MK ii Review]
I know what you’re thinking “Here we go again, another pentaxian here to tell us about their weird little niche club”… And yes that’s exactly what this is, The Pentax K MK 1ii is not a camera for everyone. For the the right quirky photographer however, this is the end all be all camera. This review is going to cover why I switched, The perks of the camera, the quirks of the camera, and my thoughts after owning the K1 MK ii for roughly 6 months now.
Why I made the switch
I started my photo journey on the Sony A7rii and as you can imagine I shot everything wide open, I fell into every trend, and somehow Brandon Woelfel was goals? it was dark times. After learning how to actually take a properly exposed photo (Ya I’m calling you out underexpose everything and fix in post gang) I had started taking some photos I was proud of, I got some cool opportunities with companies including Sony trying out their new at the time A9 and 400mm GM. At the end of the day though I just wasn’t fully satisfied with Sony. It had a “too perfect” feel in its images. I found I really had to edit photos to get the feeling in an image I was trying to convey which is something I do not like doing. I want to capture as close to final product as I can in camera and do as little in post as possible. So I looked to other brands.
I found myself at first trying Canon with the EOS R and was nothing but disappointed with it. I was not a fan of the feel, the controls, or any of my images I captured with it in the short time I used it. I then grabbed a Fuji XPro 3, This camera I did and do love. Fuji has secured their own corner in the photography world and dominate the APSC field. The X Pro 3 was nearly a perfect camera and is a camera I would still own to this day if I had the money to support two camera systems. I however, missed full frame and wanted something better suited for landscape work. The Pentax system had always been on my radar from the very beginning. Its features seemed well ahead of their time and others quite quirky. I decided to finally take the leap and ordered the Pentax K1 MK ii.
Why Pentax?
While the big 3 are constantly battling each other for the most advanced camera on the market, us Pentaxians enjoy life out of the limelight. We enjoy a system with a flagship camera that isn’t constantly being one-upped every 6 months. We enjoy our tightknit community on the old school Pentax forums that will instantly bring you back to a mid 2000’s nostalgia when we all used forums to learn niche things. We enjoy the almost unbelievable durability of our cameras that can withstand just about anything you can throw at it. Most importantly however is the Pentax K mount. The K mount has been the mount of choice for all Pentax SLR and DSLR cameras since 1975. If you shoot film you more than likely have some K mount lenses, you can use these on your new Pentax camera with no adapters. This was huge for me as I have a huge collection of vintage glass. What was a bigger deal for me was the sleek m42 adapter to use all of my old Asahi Pentax screw mount lenses on my K1 MK ii flawlessly. This gave me access to nearly 20 lenses in my collection before even buying a newer auto focus lens. As a poor college student this was a huge plus.
Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse
Pentax K1 MK ii + Pentax 43mm F1.9
K1 MK ii Features and quirks
Let’s first look at some of the positive features of the camera and then we’ll look at limitations and quirks.
Features
36 Megapixel sensor (Great for landscapes)
14 bit raw capture and .DNG RAW files (Great for post production editing)
5 Axis Sensor shift Stabilization (Works incredibly well)
33 point AF system ( It’s laughable compared to some other cameras but this AF system works very well for what it is.)
Hand held pixel shift mode for HDR capture (Really cool feature if you don’t have a tripod handy)
other worldly weather sealing
100% viewfinder with 0.70X magnification (Perfection In my opinion)
K mount (45 years of lenses at your disposal)
Grip (Feels just right in your hands, you’ll never feel like you’ll lose grip)
Quirks and Cons
5 Axis Sensor Shift Stabilization (When you pick this camera up for the first time you’ll think it’s broken when you hear the sensor rattling around)
4.4fps shooting (Not the most ideal for sports)
Astro-tracer (You’ll feel like and idiot waving your camera around trying to calibrate it, and increasingly grow angry when you have to do it a 2nd and then a 3rd time. Once it is set up though it works quite well)
Heavy (2.23lbs) She’s dummy thicc
Video recording ( at its best it does 1080p/30fps. Not a video camera. Want to shoot video? buy a video camera.)
Stabilized footage (Looks very poor, But if you’re looking to do video please refer above.)
Built in Noise reduction (This feature has been known to reduce detail at higher iso)
K Mount Lenses
With 45 years worth of lenses to choose from you have tons of options to choose from to match any budget. I myself have two autofocus limited lenses, the 43mm 1.9 and the 77mm 1.8. I also have 3 old manual focus lenses that perform excellently on my K1 MK ii and barely cost me more than a burger and beer. Below are some sample images from these cheaper lenses.
Pentax K1 MK ii + Pentax SMC-A 70-210mm F4
Pentax K1 MK ii + Pentax SMC A 35-105mm F3.5
I love the horrible coating on this lens
Pentax K1 MK ii + Sears 135mm F2.8
Goes to show even with much older manual focus only glass you can still get incredibly sharp images. As a mainly manual focus shooter myself, auto focus isn’t the biggest selling point to me. With the older Pentax line from their film era cameras that were only manual focus, I find myself at home. I highly recommend the SMC-A line. they allow for automatic aperture but are a fully manual focus lens. Another lens I was pleasantly surprised with was the Bower 24mm F1.4, I gave this lens a try when shooting Little Sable Point Lighthouse with the Milky Way this past September. I was really impressed with its performance.
Little Sable Point Lighthouse
Pentax K1 MK ii + Bower 24mm F1.4
This was shot at iso6400, you can see especially in the bottom left, the noise issue. As a big film shooter though this hasn’t bothered me in the slightest. Bring on the grain!
After 6 Months
After owning this camera for 6 months I can say that I regret absolutely nothing. This camera constantly exceeds my expectations and performs incredibly well in a variety of different scenarios. The only situation I find myself not wanting to bring my Pentax is when I am out street shooting. But that’s what my Rolleiflex and rangefinders are for. I would go as far to say that this is the best camera I have ever personally owned. It may not be as fast, as sharp, and definitely not as popular as other cameras on the market. But for the small group of people who march to the beat of their own drum, this is the perfect DSLR for you.
