Pentax’s new K-1 Mark II arrives some two years after the original K-1 — that seems to be the general update cycle for all but the entry-level models — with only two real enhancements. Even those are made possible by a single hardware change. But these updates may possibly mean a big improvement for people who need better low-light quality or who use Pentax’s Pixel Shift Resolution mode. Otherwise, it’s identical to its predecessor in all ways but the name badge.
The price has gone up a little. When the K-1 launched in April 2016, the body cost $1,800 and in the interim rose to $1,900. Now it will cost $2,000 when it ships in March 2018, or $2,400 for a kit with the 28-105mm f3.5-5 lens. ($2,000 is about £1,450 or AU$2,600 converted, with real UK and Australian prices TBD.)
Pentax inserted a processing accelerator in the image pipeline between the sensor and the image processor that “optimizes” the data. Since noise-reduction quality is limited by processing time — the more time you devote to it, the better it is — the accelerator allows for improved noise reduction. The result is a claimed native sensitivity of ISO 819,200.
